It is broadly recognized on both sides of the political aisle that the Obama campaign dramatically altered the political landscape partly due to the way it leveraged the Internet and new media. The campaign’s use of the Internet encompassed much more than just “messaging.” In fact, its ability to utilize the Internet as a tool for organizing the ground game may have been the difference, despite the fact that YouTube videos got all the press.
The question for everyone else is how do we replicate that success? Furthermore, for many state and local races, the real question is how do we do so in a manner that fits our budget without constraining our capabilities? The answer is, as we have discussed elsewhere, you hire the kids and provide them some parental guidance and you leverage Web 2.0 functionality from some of the leading providers.
We help you provide that guidance by "jump starting" your Internet presence across many of the dimensions required for launch. Our quick launch methodology gets your campaign up and running fast.
For more information or to schedule a no obligation conference call, contact us by phone or email.
Most campaigns have websites, however, now the standard has been set higher. A poorly done website hurts more than it helps. What a campaign needs is not a static website but rather a publishing platform (see Build your Brand on Broadband). The website needs to be easily modified and extended by campaign staffers without the need to hire expensive technical staff. In addition, your campaign needs a multi-use publishing platform, one that serves your website, blogging and other new media needs. Your ability to connect with voters is enhanced when your website publishes relevant and current content about your position on the issues.
We help campaigns launch professional looking websites and improve their messaging strategies by enabling them with a publishing platform, and by quickly training staffers to effectively and efficiently create their own content. We recommend Typepad because of its multi-use capabilities.
All campaigns need the ability to raise money quickly and effectively. One of the best ways to accomplish this goal is to make it drop dead easy for people to contribute using the same point and click functionality they use to purchase online. With a campaign PayPal account and PayPal buttons on your website you can start accepting online contributions on day one. The Obama campaign proved the wisdom of enabling small contributors. Adopting a similar strategy for state wide or local campaigns will prove equally effective. We help campaigns incorporate the ability to accept electronic contributions by using the same technology already used by millions on a daily basis.
What does “social media” mean? We don't have a precise definition. It really doesn't matter so much what we call it, we are far more interested in what it can do for your campaign. You can think of social media as digital media, new media, interactive media, read/write media or Internet media. Social media is one of the most cost effective ways to have a dialog with voters.
Social media is simply a set of tools that help you communicate with voters and other campaign stakeholders using the global communications infrastructure of the Internet. Blogging is social media. YouTube is social media. LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter are all social media. All of these tools provide communications services. They help your campaign connect with the people you need to reach. We help your campaign quickly establish a social media presence using a methodology that campaign staffers can quickly extend.
Email is still the Internet "killer app" and is foundational to your campaign’s communications capabilities.We recommend Google Apps which is free and provides Gmail as a “branded” email solution (i.e. using your own campaign domain name). Google’s email tagging and search capabilities will also help your campaign organize and quickly find critical emails.
Google Apps also contains functionality that supports personal/event calendars for the candidate and for all staffers that require it, as well as the capability to create whatever other specific calendars your campaign may need. Campaigns have what may seem like an endless set of tasks to complete. Google Apps has recently added a task manager and there are also free third party task managers that tightly integrate into Google's calendaring system. Want to be notified of email and calendar events on your phone? No problem. Google provides two way communications between personal devices and the cloud.
We help campaigns quickly establish their communications backbone so that you and your staff can focus on mission critical campaign activities and not the technical capabilities required to accomplish them.
Most campaigns need a collaboration space where the myriad of complex activities needed to run a successful campaign can be coordinated and where campaign collateral can be stored. Collaborating using ineffective tools eats up campaign time which is better spent on accomplishing objectives. Collaboration spaces are mission critical to establishing a successful ground game in that they provide the tools necessary to effectively coordinate the required activities and to securely share ground game information.
We help campaigns establish and effectively use collaboration spaces with Google Apps. These spaces help you organize to win.
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