Internet Marketing: Political Search Marketing Follow-Up

Following the Pennsylvania Democrat Debate last night we ran an experiment on Google to test the power of volatile search trends.  Needless to say – It worked! 

For the grand total cost of $0.32 SpectricsConsulting.com sat on Google in the top three results for over 11,000 searches. 

There were several weaknesses to our campaign that I am happy to share:

1. We used debate specific terms like ‘abc debate’ and ‘democratic debate’ to post ads targeted at political campaign operatives.  So people were most likely searching for news and we were offering services.  The relevancy of our campaign was painfully low.  But it’s fair to assume that politcal operatives were searching the news and our ad might catch their eye. 
2. The idea to ride the debate search wave didn’t strike me until almost Midnight CST.  So many of the searches had already occured and people were on their way to bed.  We’ll be better prepared for the next event. 

However, to the point, we introduced Spectrics Consulting to 6 individuals in at least three different states. 

Who wouldn’t do that for $0.32?

The best part is campaigns could really take advantage of this strategy with the assistance of web analytics to take control of their message with potential voters.

If you are interested in learning more call directly at (501) 425-0861.

Internet Marketing: Political Campaigns

So tonight Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama duked it out in a 90-minute debate in the hotly contested state of Pennsylvania. 

The truth is, I didn’t watch and I don’t know the first thing about it.  I was more concerned with the American Idol results (Spectrics officially cheers for David Cook). 

But I did notice this, if you go to Google Trends the results are covered with results about the debate. 

Are the candidates taking advantage of this?  No!  Absolutely amazing. 

Dear Hillary and Barack (and any other campaigns this may reach),

In 21st Century America, Americans are addicted to search engines.  Some of us can’t prepare dinner or find any news without them.  So naturally, they are a key tool for helping us decide the Leader of the Free World. 

Have a strategy to bid on relevant and timely keywords.  The term ‘Pennsylvania Debate’ would cost about $0.03 per click right now on Google! 

Your ads and landing pages would allow you control the conversation with your potential supporters.  You could even control the conversation on specific issues – like being a stronger candidate for the general election.

Once the traffic poured into your website you could analyze your Google Analytics data (both candidates have Google Analytics on their site) to determine what messages and issues resonated more with potential voters.   

If you are interested in how a poltical campaign could develop an efficient search engine strategy for rocking the vote please don’t hesitate to contact me.