This Election Season, Digital Advertising is a Potent Weapon

As Election Day approaches, political campaigns and public affairs organizers should take a page from brand advertisers’ playbook and embrace digital. In a recent interview with Alli Romano from Media Village, our Account Executive Manager, Amanda Peterson Beadle shares more on our “no waste advertising,” where every impression counts and why digital advertising is a potent weapon this Election Season. 

“With advertising, it all boils down to the same thing: You’re trying to make sure people know your message,” says Amanda. “You can’t get people to vote on an issue or you can’t get people to call their congressional representative or buy your product if they don’t know your message. We’re able to talk to the exact people you want to be talking to, not everyone who might be in the area while hoping to catch the right people there,” she explained.

So, how exactly do we do it at a4 Advertising? We utilize the latest digital tools, including cookie data, IP targeting, addressable OTT, geofencing, and many third-party data sources, to create audience profiles. Then, we place ads on mobile, digital, social, and connected TV, in effort to reach both the most appropriate users and households, all while using privacy-compliant methods.

In the rush to Election Day, many campaigns and issue-oriented groups go straight to radio, cable and local TV to place their ads. Radio and TV offer campaigns massive reach and a megaphone for their messages. In contrast, digital buys are highly targeted, reaching a slice of potential voters. And while that audience is smaller, they may be more interested and passionate, and therefore, the most likely to engage, Peterson Beadle noted.

For instance, if a school tax is on the ballot in a community, we can effectively target one message to the households with children and a separate one to households without them. Mass media can’t offer that level of customization, Amanda shares that “Digital gives us much more room to customize the messaging. You’re able to get so tight on the audience that you’re trying to reach,” she said.

Our platform is built to be nimble and reactive, which suits political and public affairs advertising well. We study analytics and quickly revise campaigns, shifting audience targets or changing platforms as needed. With granular, household level data and polling, we accurately track user response.

To develop audience targets, we access the National Online Voter File, third party data and create custom data sets. In addition to placing client ad creative in the right locations, we also utilize a text-based ad option that works well for some campaigns. The eye-catching alternative to commonly used creative formats is the organization’s AdMessenger, which runs a message across the bottom of a device’s screen, similar to a breaking news chyron or stock ticker.

Across all screens, we’re able to deliver campaigns. “When we can reach people with messages that are most relevant to them, the campaign is more likely to connect to them, they’re more likely to remember it, to feel good about it,” she said. “When they can see themselves in the ad, it’s something that relates to them.”

Paraphrased from an article originally published on Media Village on 6/1/2020  — Media Village