With the 2012 U.S. primary season about to get under way, campaign organizers are already gearing up their messaging and fundraising efforts. Several key states such as Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina are jockeying for position on who goes first, but primary elections are clearly going to happen earlier than usual. This means that political consultants, strategists and campaign fundraisers need to move even more quickly.
An important part of the campaign is targeting the candidate’s platform message to sympathetic voters who are most likely to help turn the tide of your campaign. For many, this means not only appealing to the base but also communicating the right message to the Independent voters who will most likely be sitting on the sidelines until it comes time to vote. Providing a clear, concise message that clearly resonates with the voter will bolster poll numbers and fundraising as well as bring more constituents into your camp.
Campaigns require resources, and resources in politics are defined as both working capital and volunteers. It is important to use all the tools and all the marketing channels available to strategically reach the largest possible audience using the most cost-effective means to improve your resource base. That's why multi-channel campaigns make the most sense.
The nature of campaigns has changed since 2008 when the Obama campaign opened up the digital advertising world to politics. Direct mail and telemarketing became de-emphasized in favor of email marketing, Facebook and Twitter. While direct mail and telephone call centers still play a role, cost benefit analysis often tells the campaign to adjust its media strategy. The challenge, however, is determining which volunteers, donors and voters you need to reach through which mediums.
Semcasting's MARKETmatrix is a free tool that can help campaign organizers do just that. It's easy to use: simply upload the information from the voter file for those who are known supporters, or those who you suspect may be sitting on the fence. MARKETmatrix uses Semcasting's proprietary offline database, which contains information on over 227 million individuals with more than 500 publicly available data points - including 12 years of voter registration and voter contributions data. MARKETmatrix creates digital profiles that help campaigns find the voters who best match the profiles of supporters. This enables the campaign to identify which constituents would best be served by a personal phone call or a brochure, and which may be better served with a simple email message, allowing organizations to maximize both their funds and their outreach in time for the primaries.
Ray Kingman