How To Optimize Your Marketing Strategy During A Political Year

Picture this: You’ve allocated a significant portion of your marketing budget to a prime-time TV slot, only to find your ad overshadowed by a deluge of political campaign ads. Then, when you meet with your TV rep, you find out that many of your ads were bumped and your ads were given “make good” spots in less desirable placements.

If you’ve ever felt the sting of having your ad dollars evaporate into the abyss of political ads, you’re not alone. Election cycles notoriously hijack traditional media, pushing small business ads to the sidelines. That creates significant challenges for business owners, who are suddenly faced with increased competition for ad space, lower visibility for their brand, and a higher cost to advertise.

Fortunately, there’s a way to navigate the chaos of a political year. Digital marketing offers a sanctuary from the relentless onslaught of political ads, allowing your brand to take back control of its advertising and stay top-of-mind with your consumers amidst the noise of an election campaign.

Let’s briefly look at the ways that a political year impacts advertising for businesses and explore the ways that you can optimize your marketing strategy to maximize your ROI.

UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF POLITICAL ADS

Every election cycle, political campaigns pour massive amounts of money into advertising, buying up prime ad space and inventory across traditional media channels. Political candidates and their supporters are willing to pay top dollar to get their message out, which drives the price up for everyone.

For small businesses, that means possibly paying higher rates to compete or risk their ads being pushed to less desirable times. This often leads to small businesses’ ads getting bumped or even canceled making it harder for businesses to stand out and have their messages heard.

OPTIMIZING YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY

Unlike traditional media, which casts a wide net hoping to attract customers, digital marketing offers robust tools to precisely target audiences.

The precision in targeting by demographics, locations, and interests is especially invaluable during a political year when other marketing channels are filled with general political messages.

Digital marketing often proves to be more cost-effective than linear advertising in general, but this is particularly true during an election cycle. Not only that, digital marketing allows for unparalleled flexibility for small businesses, you can launch, pause, or adjust your campaigns in real time based on performance and trends.

On top of all that, digital marketing lets you bypass the clutter of political ads altogether! By marketing directly to your targeted audience you avoid the competition of political ads and are delivering your message to consumers most likely to be interested in your products or services.

MARKETING STRATEGIES THAT HELP BUSINESSES STAND OUT

Let’s dive into the simple ways you can begin optimizing your marketing strategy with digital marketing immediately.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM):

SEM is a powerful tool that allows business owners to stay visible to their audience and drive traffic directly to their website.

Businesses can cut through political messages by utilizing pay-per-click advertising in SEM, which allows them to use keywords to target their customers. With PPC, businesses can appear high up in search results, creating immediate visibility.

Marketing campaigns have greater flexibility here because SEM offers metrics to be analyzed, allowing businesses to quickly respond to trends or market changes. That offers a lot of control over marketing costs and ensures that your business remains visible!

OTT/CTV:

For businesses that have video content, OTT/CTV can be your new best friend during a political year.

OTT marketing is simply streaming media services provided via the Internet (bypassing traditional cable or satellite television) like Pluto TV, Hulu, or Paramount+. CTV refers to smart TVs, those that are connected to the Internet and can deliver content, like Roku and Amazon’s Fire Stick.

Unlike traditional TV, OTT/CTV ads are delivered to individual users. They never get rescheduled, overshadowed, or canceled, even during political years. You know exactly how many people saw your message (and if they later went to your website too).

OTT/CTV is highly targeted, meaning you can market to viewers based on anything from their interests, demographics, or the areas where they live.

As a bonus, OTT/CTV ads are less likely to be skipped compared to traditional TV. Viewers are generally more engaged with the content and interactive ads can be delivered, allowing your audience watching your content to engage directly with the ad.

Social Media Marketing:

Because brand awareness can be a challenge during political years, social media is an excellent way to to engage with your core audience and maintain your visibility.

This is a good time to take a close look at the social platforms you???re using and make sure that you’re creating consistent, quality content. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook thrive on high-quality images and videos, so if you find yourself lacking in those areas it’s a good idea to plan and schedule a media day to update your content library.

Take the time to be more responsive in your communication with your audience by responding to comments. This can go a long way to building authentic relationships and brand loyalty with your customers at a time when they may be experiencing advertising fatigue thanks to all the political ads!

Political years don’t have to be a losing battle for your marketing efforts. With simple, strategic tweaks to your current marketing budget you can sidestep the chaos of the political season and help maximize your ROI. Federated Digital Solutions is here if you need a hand optimizing your marketing strategy to get the most out of your budget and stay top-of-mind with you customers. Contact us today to find out how we can help!

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