You Wanna Talk About Marketing?

I just recently returned from a three day music festival outside of Nashville, Tennessee. One of the most amazing things about this gather of over 80,000 people was the fact that the concert did not advertise using traditional mediums. The only way they communicated information to people who were interested was via the festival's website and via bi-weekly email newsletters.

To spend such low amounts of money on advertising and have enough buzz and viral marketing to attract so many people is virtual brilliance. Obviously, professionally produced musical gatherings are not the only entities that utilize powerful internet marketing campaigns. However, the particular marketing strategy appealed to me greatly because of its simplicity and subtle draw.

If political campaigns were to have enough time (appx. one year) to finesse their base the same way this music festival did for me, I think we could see intriguing results.

NOTES TO PONDER: How much time and energy does an incredibly well thought out and dispersed marketing campaign take? Is it worth it for smaller campaigns and entrepreneurs to pay the price for that type of targeted marketing? Where is the balance?

Buzzzzzzzzzzzz

For those of you who are not familiar with it, Michael Cornfield, in his presentation on blogs, draws some insightful conclusions about blogging and its relation to Buzz. This analysis fits nicely with the buzz chapter in Emi and Phil's.

"There are several reasons to think that the force wielded by the political blogs has a lot to do with buzzmaking. First, the internet is a great place to roam for buzzworthy topics...Second, the blog as a net form is conducive to buzz...Third, adjacency develops out of shared interests, as do audience followings...Fourth, the A-list bloggers occupy key positions in the mediascape...Finally, it is hard to see what other than buzzmaking that blogger power could spring from."

Buzzmaking, in high capacities with a high turn over rate, is decentralizing. Traditional forms of media cannot compete because they dictate rather then discuss and listen. Buzzmaking requires numerous players and no real controlled direction. It is like gossip in many ways, but it has more depth and is more analytical. Imagine if the biggest gossiper you can think of, say the cast of Desperate Housewives, had a blog to fill their buzz. No longer would it be such a mystery on Wisteria Lane.

NOTES TO PONDER: Is buzz deeper or more trustworthy then gossip? Is it possible to have a true democracy if chaotic buzzmaking is someone organized?

Inverse Relationships

One of the greatest powers of having a good press section in a web site is that it gives the reporters a place to go for answers. When a reporter is researching an issue or an issue affiliated story directing them to a location where they can access the specific information they are looking for gives the candidate or elected official the power to direct the issue oriented story the way that they want it to be presented.

Many people forget that the press needs the candidates and elected officials as much as they need the press. This inverse relationship means that both the reporter and the person being reported on are dependent upon one another. The internet, via a web site, can help a candidate or elected official gear the subject matter of the story in the way they see fit. Conversely, with the power of the internet, a reporter can research the specific information that they seek.

NOTES TO PONDER: How does technology affect the inverse relationship between candidates/elected officials and reporters? How do public discussion forms, such as blogs, enhance this inverse relationship?

Interviewing Online?

Many of the class readings have discussed the power of the internet, specifically in regards to blogs. When considering the role of bloggers as an alternative to main stream media (MSM), it seems it will only be a matter of time before many of the roles that the MSM are implemented in the blog-o-sphere. One of the most critical roles of the MSM, in terms of candidates and elected officials, are interviewing and conveying messages.

With more and more attention being paid to the blog-o-sphere I think its safe to say it is only a matter of time before we will see online debates, interviews, and town hall meetings. However, with the change in medium, there will surely be a change in tactics and the actual practices of these age old political outreach attempts.

NOTES TO PONDER: How will interviewing techniques, on both the part of the interviewer and interviewee, change as blogging technology is implemented? What different tactics may come about with this change in interviewing mediums?

Getting E-mail Address

In The Political Consultants’ Online Fundraising Primer, Greene makes a good point about aquiring e-mail addresses for mailing lists. Many campaigns and organzations adhere to a false premise about websites: "if you build it, they will come." With the massive expansion of the flow of information, unless you effectively market your website, it will be lost in a field of dreams. Though a website is important in any campaign, marketing, e-mails, and out-reach technology is what brings you to your target audience. Therefore, obtaining e-mail addresses is crucial to the success of an online campaign. In my expirience, the best way to build a voter e-mail list is the same way you build a volunteer list, pass out information cards that require an e-mail address. Online information cards, as well as the good old fashion hard written cards, are one of the most precious parts of any campaign.

NOTES TO PONDER: What ethical implications come from buying voter e-mail lists? What are other ways to get information, especially e-mail addresses, from to potential supporters?

Humor and Political Messages

In The Political Consultants' Online Fundraising Primer Purpuro talks about the power of humor in online marketing. He discusses how viral marketing, the concept of sending your base supporters an email that they will forward to their friends, is often successful when it involves humor.

JibJab is a perfect example of this concept. The Washington Post quoted that the website had been viewed millions of times by as many people. Though the actual production did not contain much political message beyond just making fun of George W and John Kerry, the humor was contagious and spread in a very powerful way.

NOTES TO PONDER: Is humor used differently in online marketing then other forms of old media marketing?

Keeping Up With Trends and Gossip

With the increase in communication capabilities from the internet, it is always interesting to think of the effects on pop culture. Fads and trends move fast enough already, but with an even faster process to spread those fads and trends, what consumer will have time to keep up? Indeed the internet has become one of the best hosts for word of mouth, or rather, as John Hersey put it in one of our readings, "word of mouse," exchange.

With the even faster rate of information exchange it seems as though there is less time to not only keep up with all of the trends and gossip, but to weigh their significance and importance. In many ways, with a faster rate of information exchange we lose the important thought processes that come with determining our own feelings and opinions on that information.


NOTES TO PONDER: How will the internet "word of mouse" power effect marketing strategy? Is this gossip-like form of information flow controllable, especially by politicians or corporations?