Edwards Mac n' Cheese vs. Clinton Potatoes: Savory Email Marketing Trend Hits The Holidays

What can be learned from political campaign email marketing and fundraising?

November 26, 2007
Found in: Articles : News : Web Site Marketing & Strategy :

You sit down at your computer, open your email and begin browsing the sometimes odd subject lines.

The third message is from a favored presidential candidate with the subject "It's Magic! Turn Money to Mac n' Cheese in 5 Minutes!"

The contents of the email give the usual updates on debates, appearances, and issues with the tasty addition of a very unique offer.

Savory Strategy

The unique offer in this case is an example from the Jonathan Edwards campaign - apparently directly from his mom, Bobbie. Send a donation greater than $20.08 and receive a recipe for John's favorite Mac n' Cheese dish:

"As a member of our campaign family, if you donate just $20.08 (for the year we'll elect my son the next president of the Unites States!), I'll send you Elizabeth's recipe for bread pudding, David and Judy Bonior's recipes for 'Sweet Potatoes with Apples'…and my own special recipe for one of John's favorites, Mac n' Cheese!,' " wrote Bobbie Edwards, mother of Democratic candidate John Edwards, in a message sent by his campaign on Monday.

Very clever.

Everyone knows campaigns are in the business of raising money and promoting their candidates. But just asking for the money is only motivating to a very small and zealous minority, many of which donate without receiving campaign notes. Marketing analyst ClickZ notes a trend towards folks, food, and family in political email marketing this holiday season. Additionally, with 19 emails in the month of October, Obama wants to make sure you stay up to date.

(When would you unsubscribe? After 10 or maybe 15 emails in a single month?)

• Obama - 19 emails
  
• Edwards - 18
• Clinton - 15
  
  
• McCain - 13
• Giuliani - 7
• Thompson - 6

Besides the increased frequency of mailings we can learn a bit more about their strategy here:

"Overall, the three top Democratic candidate campaigns sent more e-mails in the month of October than their Republican counterparts, though candidates from both sides sent e-mails targeted regionally in addition to messages aimed at a national audience."

• Splitting national and regional info
• Targeting info to relevant regions

The Politics (and praxis) of Marketing

Maybe "marketing politics" would be a better header here. I can't think of a more high stakes marketing initiative than a presidential campaign. Every day matters. Both local and national issues must be discussed. Agility and fast course corrections are a must.

Given the critical and sink or swim nature of political marketing, certainly any marketer or publicist has something to learn from the tasty but telling examples given here.

Let's look at what we can learn at a glance.

• Be Relevant
• Be Agile and Timely
  
• Use Targeted Content and Language
• Tap Into Emotional Motivation
• Give (and measure) A Compelling Offer

Executing these elements consistently well is very challenging and requires at least an easy to use system to create, proof, and deliver messages as well as track responses and manage subscriptions. Over time, a trusted expert should be involved to all the pieces in sync with the pulse of changing user behavior and expectations.

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>> Read full ClickZ article.