It’s only February but we’re already seeing stories around political advertising. At this point, it has been become fairly obvious that digital should be a key element of campaign outreach. However, as Jenny Smuland notes in her article ‘In 2014, target your budget where the clicks are,’ digital should not be viewed as simply another box to check on the campaign marketing list.
Smuland writes, “The audiences your campaign must reach are moving far faster than most political professionals realize or would like to admit. As these audiences grow more technologically savvy, we have to keep up with them. We must deliver messages how and when they want to see them, rather than as an afterthought once the TV dollars have been allocated.”
Campaign advertisers need—and are beginning—to view digital with a more sophisticated eye. In fact, we're seeing many campaigns across all levels – state and local, for candidates and issues – starting to take a more thoughtful and mature approach to their digital marketing. One of the things campaigns are starting to do much more effectively is combine their online and offline data to reach discreet groups of overs with very targeted messages online – down to the neighborhood level.
It’s no longer enough to simply incorporate digital as a bolt-on or afterthought to a campaign. It’s also not enough to use digital to preach to the converted. Campaigns are beginning to recognize that they can reach new pools of voters more effectively than ever and that is going to have a major impact as the 2014 cycle really gets rolling.