There’s a story on Politico Pro that should be required reading in every ad sales room in every local news site in every state of the union.
The ‘rug has been pulled out’: Campaigns flop amid Facebook,Google Ad Bans
That’s right. With Facebook’s much vaunted voter targeting no longer freely available, political campaigns are scrambling to find ways to talk to voters. Their reliance on brand advertising style targeting is under attack. Long accustomed to a one-stop click and buy approach to digital advertising, they are looking hard for alternatives.
Of course, there’s one hiding in plain sight. Almost every political campaign out there relies on earned media – the free stuff that we wrap ads around – to get out its message. But almost no one wants to buy print. Why? Print takes time – too much time. And time is the one thing political campaigns don’t have.
Digital outreach is easy. It’s fast. And its flexible. And this year in particular, publishers are looking at their websites as revenue opportunities, not toys to entertain a few nerdy customers and the editorial department.
So, back to our friends in that Politico story. How can a news outlet talk to these folks? And what’s needed to get them interested?
A few basic data points are a good start. What does your political rate card look like? Do you have editorial review? What are your standards? If you don’t have either of these things, you need to get them.
Next level up: How many of your regular readers are voters? Don’t know? Ask one of those editorial types to pick up a voter registration list next time she’s at your county courthouse. Run that against your subscriber list. The duplicate names are the percentage of voter reading your site. Our bet: it’s going to be close to 70%. Which is plenty of reason for a local campaign to buy an ad on your site.
Want to get really fancy? Break that voter and subscriber information down by the zip codes in your coverage area. Add in party affiliation data. You’re not Facebook – not yet anyway – but you’re telling a political ad buyer something they want to know.
Want to get this information in front of political media buyers? We can help. Spot-On’s Pinpoint Persuasion ad buying platform lets buyers review your site, see your data and place an ad safely and easily.
Give us a shout and we’ll get you and your outlets in front of buyers with an interest in local and money to spend.
