By Bruce Murdy
Marketing Matters

Boy, did I think it was going to be different. Based on everything I was hearing and reading in the marketing industry, this was going to be the year of the online political campaign.

Look what focused blogging did for Ned Lamont against Joe Lieberman back in July in the Connecticut democratic primary. Surely this is the year, right?

Well, right … and not so right.

This fall, we are in the midst of a political avalanche of advertising. But the vast majority of the ads we’re exposed to are not on the web but on TV. Yep, television is still where the greater part of political advertising dollars are being spent.

Spending estimates for TV ads are in the $1.4 billion range, which is about 150% more than the midterm elections of 2002. This spending level could eclipse what was spent in 2004 during the presidential election. And $311 million has already been spent in political advertising between January and June for U.S. House, Senate and gubernatorial campaigns alone.

We’re also noting that since this is the biggest “one-day sale” of the year, most seasoned political marketing experts are just not willing to risk their candidates’ success on anything other than a sure thing: the TV audiences.

However, while only small slices of a candidate’s budget may make it into digital platforms, it is still a growing and useful tool. Especially if you’re a challenger who has to do something different to get attention, stretch dollars and talk to a younger audience.

Some experts have indicated that about 1.5% of candidate media spending will be digital during this campaign. That’s still a lot more than 2004. And that doesn’t measure the true impact of bloggers, candidate-driven or independent. It also doesn’t begin to measure the effect of the mass video-sharing sites such as YouTube.com, where many of these TV ads are being uploaded and shared on the free service.

An interesting new tool the Democratic National Committee has launched is called PartyBuilder. It’s a site that helps candidates at any level access and utilize digital tools more efficiently. So whether it’s for social networking on a blog site, e-mail “listservs,” online events management systems or helping create podcasts or RSS feeds, the DNC is providing digital tools to help market their candidates better.

Of course, as with everything else, content is critical; perhaps even more so with Internet media. A blog that’s not updated often is the kiss of death. Setting up RSS feeds and providing no information make it seem that candidates are not “connected.” E-mail lists where people didn’t ask to be e-mailed candidate info are simply spam.

Spamming, lackadaisical content updating or ignoring those who have signed up for real-time information may actually harm a candidate’s chances. And while there has been much debate about quality vs. quantity in digital content, I would argue that the same debate could be made for more traditional candidate marketing. Think about it: When was the last time you truly believed what you heard in a candidate’s TV ad?

Many of the major candidates now employ a full-time staff just to produce compelling content and keep their blogs humming, to insure their MySpace and Facebook profiles are current and connected, and to make sure they’re attuned to YouTube and taking advantage of additional tools provided by their party.

One source indicated that 97 percent of senate candidates have live Web sites which also need to be kept updated. That makes you wonder what the 3% who don’t have sites are thinking.

Digital marketing is growing at an exponential pace, there’s no doubt about it. Even as I am drafting this article, John Kerry has just sent me a “personal e-mail” on his e-letterhead. The “viral” ease of digital communication is the new age of grassroots marketing.

So, while we’re all being bombarded by political candidates’ TV commercials again this year with broad-based shotgun marketing that actually works, their campaigns are also embracing the community-building, relationship-building, individual-empowering digital world—a great lesson for all of us as marketers.

Bruce D. Murdy is president of Rawle-Murdy Associates Inc., a Charleston-based marketing, advertising and public relations firm. E-mail him at bmurdy@rawlemurdy.com.

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