Digital marketing is always front and center in an election year, and 2020 has been no exception. Even so, the question remains, is increased digital marketing during an election a good strategy? During any election year, the advent of increased political campaign advertising makes many businesses question their marketing strategy. 

Will advertising amid the prevalent political ads offer you an increased advantage or is the reverse true? Let’s explore the world or digital marketing during an election with these tips to make the strategy successful for you and your company.

Helping Your Brand Break Through the Politics

In an election year, businesses need to focus on quality content in advertising in order to maintain visibility and relevancy in the midst of often astronomical political campaign spending by candidates and political action committees (PACS). This level of spending on political advertisements, particularly in a presidential election year or in areas where congressional races are extremely competitive, can lead to ad-displacement.

Regarding political advertising, keep in mind that some media will ban political advertising altogether, while others must follow FCC (Federal Communications Commission) guidelines which may mean even more political advertising. For businesses like yours, during an election year, this can mean less spots for your own marketing efforts. Often the advertising spots that remain are more costly due to the increased demand, making them out of reach for smaller businesses.

Digital marketing for your brand can break through the political advertising and reach your target audience, remaining visible with fresh, relevant content,  but only if you selectively choose the most impactful advertising. These tips can help you accomplish all three – keeping your digital marketing campaigns clearly visible and completely relevant to your audience:

• Stand Out with Digital Marketing – In the midst of an election, digital marketing can help your business stand out and stay fresh and relevant, particularly when much of your audience is inundated by political advertising at every turn. You’ll still need the premium quality content, while aiming for inbound, organic channels and avoiding the higher cost of paid channels. Keep in mind, many members of your target audience will be suffering from political advertising fatigue and welcome your unique digital marketing efforts.
• Stay Focused – During an election is not the time to refocus your digital marketing, but rather to hone your area of expertise, providing quality content which support’s your company’s mission. It’s also important that this content informs and entertains while attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. It bears repeating, stay focused on your delivery of consistent, informative content. 
• Learn from Marketing Research – During an election, political advertising can actually provide you with exceptional insight into digital marketing trends. Take a closer look at campaign spending on ads (who is the target, where are they being targeted, when are they doing the targeting) to gain insight to enhance your own digital marketing efforts toward new target audiences. 
• Know Your Target Audience – Once you have fine-tuned your target audience, you can more easily craft quality content, streaming it effectively to them. During an election year, as mentioned, many members of your target audience members are looking to escape the continual stream of political advertising but want to remain connected elsewhere in their lives.  
• Look for Ways to Fill the Void – In addition to using your digital marketing efforts to entertain and inform your target audience, you can also pick up secondary targets by finding the void and filling niche markets in your industry. 
• To Join or Not to Join the Political Conversation – In most cases, the answer is “not to join.” If you delve into the world of political topics, particularly “hot” topics, you risk offending members of your existing loyal customer base if it is not handled properly. Unless your company offers services or products, directly related to the election, it is probably best to avoid political content, because in most cases, you can’t be sure of your existing or potential customers’ political views.
• Discover New Channels – Don’t limit your business to existing channels, but explore new opportunities in voice technology, transaction sites, retailers’ sites, banking sites, and more. The opportunities for the growth of your digital marketing strategies are endless.

Exults Digital PR Is Ready to Help Your Company Develop a Solid Strategy for Marketing During an Election

If the time has come for your business to get serious about impactful digital marketing, Digital PR powered by Exults is ready to help!  Their expert team knowns the industry inside and out and can give your company the guidance needed to solidly stake your claim in the digital landscape.