13 Ways Digital Ads Outperform Political Mailers
- November 5, 2019
- Digital Ad-Targeting
Time for a Change
We get it, change is hard, especially in a well-established industry like political campaigning. If a method garnered votes in the past, why rock the boat? Well, much like your dad’s polyester leisure suit from the ‘70s, paper mailers have not stood the test of time. They are outdated, expensive, and flammable. Lucky for you, there is a better way. Digital advertising is growing at a rapid pace – and for good reason.
Here 13 ways digital ads outperform political mailers:
#1 MORE COST EFFECTIVE
Digital viewable ad impressions are 70x times less expensive than political mailer impressions. On average, it costs $5,300 to print and mail 10,000 6×9 cards. That figure doesn’t include other costs like strategy and creative design and doesn’t factor in the time spent negotiating and coordinating with vendors. Digital frees your staff from those time-intensive tasks and can reach thousands (or tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands) of voters for a fraction of the cost.
#2 GUARANTEED CONNECTION
According to eMarketer, Americans of voting age spend an average of 6 hours and 35 minutes a day consuming digital media. There is no need to worry whether or not your voters will look through their mail or mindlessly immediately recycle 90% of it. Without question, your voters are online, consuming digital information up to a third of their waking hours.
6 HRS 35 MIN
DAILY DIGITAL MEDIA CONSUMPTION
#3 FREQUENCY OF IMPRESSION
With digital ads, you have the opportunity to reach and influence voters up to 2 times per day. That is 2 ad impressions, per voter, per day. A 90 day campaign push before Election Day means 180 impressions before voter walks into the booth. What more needs to be said?
100%
#4 DELIVERABILITY
1-to-1 digital voter ad-targeting offers a 100% delivery rate, something the US Postal Service cannot guarantee. In fact, once received, 27% of US households indicate that they discard direct mail without looking at it (source: USPS Household Diary FY17). Digital ads aren’t depended upon device, either. Instead of one piece of paper in one mailbox, voters can be reached through Internet TV, PC, phone, and tablet.
#5 SPEED TO MARKET
An ad can be created and published online within an hour. Direct mail must be designed, ordered, printed, and mailed at the right time to reach its intended audience. This saves time, money, and energy while giving you the power to get your custom message in front of your voters as soon as possible.
#6 BRAND MONITORING
Brand monitoring is something that cannot be provided in any meaningful, actionable way with direct mailing campaigns. With digital advertising, your campaign receives real-time analytics to positive and negative social responses/engagements.
#7 NIMBLE
Building on numbers 5 and 6, digital ads campaigns can respond quickly to revise and/or pull ads based on feedback and real-time analytics. Once a mailer has gone to print, it is really difficult to fix a typo.
REAL-TIME
ANALYTICS
#8 NO DEPENDENCE ON MAILING ADDRESS
Voters must register to vote every time they move. If they don’t, mailers will be sent to the wrong address, never making it to their intended audience resulting in ad spend waste. With digital, the Internet moves with voters. Digital ad impressions all get delivered to the intended audience – meaning 0% ad spend waste!
zero
CARBON FOOTPRINT
(DO IT FOR THE TURTLES)
#9 environmentally friendly
Digital campaigns have virtually no carbon footprint. No trees cut down, no chemicals used in printing, and no emissions in the delivery. You’re saving money, targeting the right voters, and going green. That’s a win-win-win!
#10 SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
How likely is it that a voter is going to take the political mailer they received and take it to their neighbor to make sure they see it? Or pack it in their carry on when they visit family across the country? Ok, maybe one very dedicated person will do that. But 10? 50? 500? With little effort, voters can comment, share, reshare, and expand your digital message.
#11 HYPER TARGETING SEGMENTATION
Print mail simply can’t provide the flexibility to specifically target smaller populations of voters. Digital voter ad-targeting provides the ability to segment and target voters by interests, demographics, and sociographic online data. For example, in a race for mayor, your candidate is running on a pro-education platform while their opponent has plans to cut funding to support a pet project. Your candidate is polling well with men, but not yet resonating with women. You have determined you want to get your candidate’s pro-education message in front of women with children under 10 who voted in the last two elections and are not straight-ticket voters. Paper mailers do not provide the flexibility to target a group that specific – and even if they did, you still couldn’t be sure the mail was received and read by the intended target. Digital can do that and more – add in race, age, household income…you get the idea.
#12 DYNAMIC CONTENT
Going digital, you have the ability to provide more than one static message. You can publish video, animated ads, and multiple versions of the same ad campaign. Direct mailers literally fall flat in comparison.
VIDEO, IMAGES, GIFS, OH MY!
#13 Avoids Inevitable Papercuts (ouch!)
They say it is the worst kind of pain.
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