A presentation I gave on direct marketing, political campaigning and digital advocacy to a group of inbound marketers at a monthly marketing event called #InboundTO. I discussed identifying your audience, segmenting and micro-targeting and leverage paid and social media to drive qualified inbound traffic to your website or cause.

1. DIRECT
MARKETING
& POLITICS
Converting your audience when you’re selling ideas

2. A little about me

3. Campaigning

4. Measure public opinion

5. Manage crises and online
reputations

6. Execute ‘political’ campaigns
for corporations and orgs.

7. 3Today I want to talk about
three things

8. Segmenting & identifying
your audience1

9. Micro-targeting &
micro-messaging2

10. Fostering engagement &
building community
3

11. But first...

12. A little bit about the opinion
environment in politics

13. In politics you deal with all kinds
of people

14. Immersed
Angry
Apathetic
Supportive
Engaged
Hostile

15. ImmersedApathetic Engaged
ENGAGEMENT SPECTRUM
Opposed Supportive
SUPPORT SPECTRUM

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

17. Who do you activate and how?

18. ImmersedApathetic Engaged
ENGAGEMENT SPECTRUM
Opposed Supportive
SUPPORT SPECTRUM

19. 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.

20. Where do you make up that gap?

21. 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

22. SEGMENT
&IDENTIFY

23. 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?

24. 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?

25. MICRO-TARGET&
MICRO-MESSAGE

26. 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

27. FOSTER
ENGAGEMENT&
BUILDING
COMMUNITY

28. 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)

29. 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.

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

31. 5Lessons I’ve learned from politics

32. Manageable is better than
masterful.5

33. Speed kills.
4

34. Tracking over time is the
best barometer for
measuring success.3

35. Pivoting is better than
beating a dead horse.2

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

37. Q+A