Politics: Who Stepped Up
Print Is Still A Strong Political Strategy: No doubt that November elections for local office mean higher costs, new demands for broader advertising, and a lot more commotion on the ballot.
Some candidates, like Virginia Beach's Scott Taylor, are banking on the Internet, email, and social media like Facebook and MySpace to replace the traditional advertising sources of television, radio, newspaper and mail. Someday that political tactic may work, but in 2008 it won't.
That's why Virginia Beach mayoral candidate Will Sessoms' 8-page booklet, which was recently sent as a Virginian-Pilot insert, was a great political strategy. Its execution wasn't perfect, but the printed focus amid all the hype of the Internet and all the cost of television was sound.
Here's why:
- Four years ago, 175,000 Virginia Beach voters went to the polls in November. Political experts are projecting that number to climb as high as 200,000 this year. There is no way the Internet reaches that broad a voter pool on the local level. Website hits are nowhere near that.
- Internet usage is still low among older voters, your most reliable voters.
- Print advertising still works best in local politics. Voters read newspapers and read those political mail pieces that flood mailboxes in November. Those mailers build name ID in a cost-effective way that television can only do with repetition (meaning cost).
- The idea of an 8-page booklet is a smart political tactic. It's meant to be kept and not tossed like a single piece of political mail or a political ad in the daily newspaper.
All is not rosy with the strategy, though. In delivering the insert as part of the newspaper, a booklet can get lost among the coupons and other countless ad booklets in a Sunday paper, and that is a real problem. Better to invest in directly mailing it than take that chance.
About Rourk Public Relations
Brian Kirwin is an expert at politics, political issues, political strategy, political tactics, and political campaigns, and serves as a political consultant, political campaign consultant, and political image consultant for clients in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton Roads, and throughout Virginia.
