How Email Marketing Campaigns are Like the U.S. Elections
The Party Philosophies:
The two parties, Democrats (opt-in?) and Republicans (opt-out?), have philosophies that differ greatly, but the outcome of their manifestos and ideas can and do take a while to implement as members of Congress (ISPs and receivers who make policies) change frequently. There’s a lot of continued discussion about “working across the aisle” (read: authentication) to get things accomplished; if more of our elected leaders embraced this strategy, we might see better results.
The Candidates:
Probably one of the most important issues (read: relevant content) about an election are the candidates. Candidates differ in perspectives, reputations, quality, quantity, ideas and deliverables. Great candidates (like great content) have a concise call to action that evokes passion about the issues (read: pain points) and ultimately encourages the voter (recipient) to possibly donate (click through and purchase) to the campaign. This results in a better reputation and concurrent increasing momentum for the campaign. Sound familiar?
The Issues:
If the candidate is discussing and communicating the issues that are not important to you then you won’t pay attention, and you may tune out entirely (read: unsubscribe). Each party has fundamental issues that are at the core (what do you think; should we read this as legal compliance and consent?) of the party. These positions cannot change as they are the underlying tenets of the party’s policies. There may be slight differences (transactional messages verses commercial communications) but the path to the ballot (inbox) doesn’t change.
The Debates:
We have seen over the past several months, candidates who have dropped out of the campaign due to poor debate performances and exit poll data (voters hit the spam button). Candidates who are still in play and getting consistent results (brand reputation) get better positioning on the stage (inbox placement) and are not relegated to the outer reaches of the debate stage (spam or junk folder, Gmail promotional tab).
The Conventions:
The Republican convention might offer fireworks this year; it’s possible the presidential candidate will be contested. The Democrats might have a lively time determining a vice-presidential candidate. As the U.S. political conventions occur only every four years, the possibility of sharing knowledge and best practices on a regular basis is limited. And the political environment changers drastically, so it’s always a new game.
Here the comparison falters, as we have many conventions (conferences and trade shows) within the email marketing world in which innovations, research, and topics (read: issues and potential campaign planks) can be discussed and allowed to mature in ongoing real time. But what’s important in email, as in politics, can be contested, by industry policy groups (lobbyists) for example, affecting marketing knowledge sharing.
The Voters:
The most important factor in a good election (email campaign) is the voter (recipient) – especially if they are engaged. Voters can be fickle and undecided so it’s important to reach out to them (nurturing campaigns) and position your strategies and polices on how to move the country forward (make their lives better) and make the world a better and safer place for us all (solve a pressing problem for them).