DIRECT MARKETING & POLITICSConverting your audience when you’re selling ideas

A little about me

Campaigning

Measure public opinion

Manage crises and online reputations

Execute ‘political’ campaignsfor corporations and orgs.

3Today I want to talk about

three things

Segmenting & identifying your audience1

Micro-targeting & micro-messaging2

Fostering engagement &building community3

But first...

A little bit about the opinionenvironment in politics

In politics you deal with all kindsof people

ImmersedAngry

Apathetic

SupportiveEngaged

Hostile

ImmersedApathetic Engaged

ENGAGEMENT SPECTRUM

Opposed Supportive

SUPPORT SPECTRUM

The trick is to identify those most supportive and empower them to activate their network

Who do you activate and how?

ImmersedApathetic Engaged

ENGAGEMENT SPECTRUM

Opposed Supportive

SUPPORT SPECTRUM

IN POLITICS:

TAM = All eligible and registered voters

But really... ~50% turnout... so TAM/2

Of these 2/3 are indisposed in an equal market

So now we’re at TAM/6 who support you and will vote

To win you need >TAM/6... you need ~2.5x times that.

Where do you make up that gap?

A FEW THINGS:

First, the market is not equal.

The composition of the ~50% who vote can be manipulated

“Gap” voters straddle between parties and blur policy lines

With some voters the challenge is persuasion...

With others its getting them getting them out to the polls

SEGMENT& IDENTIFY

SEGMENT

Of voters who needs convincing and who needs to be activated?

Of the entire voter pool, which best align with our message and our policies?

How can I break out audience into more measurable chunks?

What’s the advantage of segmentation?

IDENTIFY

What is my voter’s profile?

Where do they live online?

What type of content are they viewing and how can they be reached?

MICRO-TARGET & MICRO-MESSAGE

MICRO-TARGET / MICRO-MESSAGE

If the air war is covering vast geographic regions and broad interest categories, then online we can do the inverse.

Message construction is often tailored the largest common denominator of the voting population... the X% we need in order to win.

Micro-target sub-sections with secondary policy message tracks... or additional value propositions

Micro-message! ID those audiences and talk to them about supporting value propositions

FOSTER ENGAGEMENT &BUILDING COMMUNITY

FOSTER ENGAGEMENT

Leverage social media and your social audience to get your message out.

Be available and responsive to your supporters... ignore your detractors

Reward your audience for engaging -- let them know you’re listening

Create a sense of community (and be platform agonistic about it)

BUILD COMMUNITY

In politics, you can’t win without passionate advocates.

The same holds true in marketing.

Communities aren’t defined by borders online, but if your product is geographical -- mirror that geography online.

And don’t forget to measure, measure, measure, measure, measure, measure, measure.

5Lessons I’ve learned from politics

Manageable is better thanmasterful.5

Speed kills.4

Tracking over time is thebest barometer formeasuring success.3

Pivoting is better than beating a dead horse.2

Winning is better than losing(so set yourself up for success)1

Q+A