Politicians Slow to Hop on the Internet Advertising Bandwagon

The 2004 Presidential election is less than two weeks away so let us reflect on the candidates and their use of (or lack of) advertising on the Internet.

The Web as a whole has played a vital role in the campaign efforts of our major presidential nominees, Bush and Kerry. After the success of Howard Dean’s online fundraising and the popularity of weblogs (blogs) and meet-ups, those of us in the online industry thought to ourselves “It’s about time! Now maybe they’ll start spending some of their ad budget here too.”

Unfortunately, politicians have made little advance by way of Internet advertising; this is rather disappointing considering how well it has succeeded in garnering voter support through other online marketing channels.

A recent study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project showed that, between January and August 2004, the two campaigns spent more than $100 on television ads for every dollar they spent on web ads–$330 million to $2.66 million. Kerry outspent Bush by a 3:1 margin–$1.3 million to $419,000. Moreover, these online ads generally asked for $25 to $50 campaign contributions rather than a direct action.

Why is it so important for politicians to advertise via the Web? The Web can reach very targeted groups of people in subtle, unobtrusive ways. This is a perfect opportunity for politicos to implement online ads. As the Pew Internet study reported, “…online ads can reach new, undecided, and wavering voters in the demographic and geographic niches where they are thought to reside.”

Nowadays political television ads bombard us during commercial breaks while enjoying “Seinfeld” reruns or a new episode of “The Apprentice.” Odds are these interruptions aren’t going to make a positive impression upon us nor will they sway our voting preferences.

In order to reach undecided voters, it’s best for advertisers to seek them out on various, yet pecific, sites on the Web and advertise there. We ARE using the ‘Net to find out election information and read the news. Twenty-six percent of Internet users go online for news and 13 percent for regular news about politics, reported Pew Internet in a January 2004 study.

Not only did these campaigns fail to adequately advertise via the the Internet, but they failed to employ effective messages. Pew’s examination of the campaign ads had some interesting findings:

• No campaign ad contained a political endorsement
• No ad issued invitations to political events/meetings
• Few ads attempted to build voter enthusiasm during primaries
• Few ads contained messages targeted to groups, states, or other segments that are strategically important to the campaigns
• Only one ad invited viewers to click to a specific message
• These findings are quite disturbing to an online marketer. Good ads should have direct calls to action (in this case a call for the undecided to choose a particular candidate and/or register to vote), build enthusiasm for the product/service, take into consideration demographics and geo-targeting, and deliver a strong brand message.

With finely constructed online ads published on the appropriate sites, candidates have the worthwhile opportunity to have their ads seen by bloggers. Undoubtedly some of the most influential people on the Internet these days, bloggers search the Web in depth looking for news and ideas to write about on their respective blogs. Furthermore, these bloggers can help turn an undecided voter into a decided one. So it absolutely helps to run some great online ads.

Let’s not forget the importance of targeted search engine text ads. Engines like Google and Overture sell text ads that are targeted to specific search keywords. Bush and Kerry should have taken the opportunity to purchase valuable key terms.

For instance, not only can paid search engine advertising be targeted to specific election issues such as social security, weapons of mass destruction, stem cell research, taxes, homeland security, and Iraq, they can also be geotargeted on Google AdWords (which also powers AOL and Ask Jeeves sponsored links).

The Kerry or Bush camps can easily geo-target such relevant informational advertising to swing state search engine users in Ohio or Iowa, or even down to Dade County, Florida.

Paid search allows advertisers to perpetually target different users. We already know that these presidential hopefuls are throwing vast amounts of money into their campaigns, why not put some aside for PPC?!

The outcome of the 2004 election is currently up in the air; each candidate’s popularity ratings are too close for comfort. The only sure thing is that the real loser of this presidential election was online advertising.

RELATED LINKS:

Pew Internet: Presidential Campaign Advertising on the Internet

Pew Internet: Cable and Internet Loom Large in Fragmented Political News Universe.

WEBADVANTAGE.NET RELATED ARTICLES:

Political Marketing and the Internet Presidential Hopefuls Log On To Internet Campaigning

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