Falling short, online
As I finish preparing, er I mean rehearsing, for my speaking engagement/panel discussion tomorrow on The Impact of Creativity on Social and Political Policy, I can't help but be reminded of how far political campaigns have come online...and how far they still need to go.
I've been fortunate to have been involved with helping a number of high-profile, regional candidates in leveraging the Internet for not only strategic advantage, but to better connect with their constituents. Even in "earlier" elections, like the 2003 Mayor's race in Philadelphia - emerging technologies, communications lifecycles, permission-based communications and online surveys were utilized to foster communications, mobilize volunteers and boost campaign contributions. Today, the grab-bag of Internet solutions being leveraged by political candidates is staggering. One problem though. They're really dropping the ball on the execution of those solutions.
At tomorrow's presentation, I'm going to share a host of examples of candidate sites that "get it" with regard to utilizing new technologies such as Podcasts, RSS, Online Chats, and MeetUp. Ironically, these same candidates are really blowing it when it comes to the execution of these same technologies. I'm given the impression that they're doing these things in an effort to be "up-to-date" or "hip" and don't understand the power of the mediums that they're dabbling with.
Once candidates and their staff realize what a powerful strategic advantage emerging technologies can be to a campaign, I'm confident that things will change. In the next 18 months I see improvement in the "typical", such as Websites, SEO, SEM, Podcasts and Email Communications. In the next 18 months I see rapid progression in Value-based MashUps, Interactive Polls, Issues-based Microsites, Online PR, Reactive SEM, Multimedia Grassroots Marketing, MeetUp/MySpace Communities, Online Chat/Click to Talk.
To win, political campaigns need to market just as successfully as any other organization. That means engaging conceptual advertising, integrated marketing communications, value-based communications lifecycles, and online marketing mastery. When it comes down to it, they're selling a product just like the rest of us.
