Let me ask you a question: How many ads (video, display, email, whatever) have been served to you online related to the upcoming election?
Think about it because it’s not a rhetorical question.
While writing this newsletter, I was served over 15 video ads alone (I counted), and that doesn’t include all the other digital channels.
It’s bananas. 🍌
So today, we’re talking about how the upcoming presidential election can/will influence the marketing landscape, which channels will be better off (and worse), and what you can do to ensure that your marketing dollars aren’t wasted on saturated audiences and channels.
Setting the ‘stage’ (so to speak)
That’s a 27% increase EoE (election over election).
That’s a metric you WON’T find in our marketing metrics guide, but it’s still pretty fun. 🤩
And that’s just the presidential election. If we were to incorporate all the other down-ballot election spending, that would bring us to a whopping $652MM in August alone.
Now, my goal isn’t to rub our noses in the fact that political campaigns burn a budget in one month that many of us would do unspeakable things to have for a year — heck, for a decade!
That’s 60 mil/year, noooot bad. 😏
Instead, what I’m pointing out, and what hopefully many of you have already considered, is that the airwaves are about to get BUSY and EXPENSIVE.
What does that mean for marketers?
A whole bunch of headaches.
But, also an opportunity to experiment with new campaigns (ie. vote sale), try new channels (pull back Meta budget and re-allocate it somewhere less saturated, ahem, direct mail), and really refine your targeting and messaging.
🚨PRO TIP🚨
Audiences in key battleground states (Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, and Wisconsin 🧀) are going to suffer from more ad saturation than anywhere else in the country. Keep a close eye on your campaign KPIs and adjust your strategy to target ROAS or target CPA to maximize your budget you’re advertising in these areas.
Choose Your Channel
So which channels will be over-saturated, and which may hold the key to your audience’s undivided attention?
It depends. (I know it’s the worst answer 🤮)
But let’s get into what influences channel performance.
For starters, the type of election makes a difference. The more up-ballot elections (ie. presidential election) often dedicate more spending towards channels like broadcast TV, while down-ballot elections (ie. house, senate, governor) lean more towards digital, radio, and cable.
But if my latest study on presidential campaign video ads tells me anything, it tells me that no channel is safe from the onslaught.
Broadcast TV
Few brands reach the status where they’re frolicking in the world of broadcast television. The channel is insanely expensive (even before election season), harder to measure, and is usually used as a brand play.
PROS: The nice part is you have pretty good control over where and when your ads show up, giving the channel some brownie points for brand safety. Plus, access to a huge audience.
CONS: You’re going to have to compete with those big political advertising budgets for prime-time ad slots. Not to mention you need to have a keen strategy to keep your campaign performance from being torpedoed by pessimistic messaging due to a chaotic political environment.
Connected TV
If you’re still looking to get on the ‘big screen’ but don’t have the budget for broadcast and want more granular targeting, CTV could be interesting.
PROS: More granular targeting, more cost-effective than broadcast, more measurable and nimble than broadcast, ad format is highly engaging.
CONS: Need to compete with $358M in dedicated CTV political ad spend. It is not as granular targeting as other digital or offline channels, and there is no standardized form of measurement, which makes attribution challenging to track. You also run the risk of serving ads to folks who have ‘checked out’ from all advertising due to the volume of political ads.
Digital Ads
You’re all smart digital marketers already, and I probably don’t have to reiterate the merits of digital marketing, but here I go anyway.
PROS: Cheap(ish), you can cast a wide net while still having lots of targeting potential, multiple media formats, highly measurable, agile.
Since SEM is keyword-based, it will likely still perform since the user is searching for a topic that is relevant to you.
CONS: SATURATED, costs fluctuate widely (like during election season), you don’t have much control over where your ads show up, making it potentially risky for brand safety, and digital ads are highly leveraged by political campaigns with a $1.2b projected budget.
🚨PRO TIP🚨
Meta is unveiling a new policy around ads related to “social issues, elections & politics” and will run new campaigns through a, most likely, cumbersome vetting process. This means getting new campaigns reviewed and approved promptly could be challenging. Give yourself plenty of time if you plan on standing up a new campaign.
Direct Mail
Here’s the election season pinch hitter. After some quick anecdotal research (i.e. asking friends and family), out of everyone I asked about their election-related ad feed, no one had received a piece of mail related to the election.
That means that for the 15 political video ads I received while writing this newsletter, I didn’t receive a single piece of political mail. My (and my friend’s/family’s) mailbox is the opposite of saturated.
Also, DM is a wunderkind for brand safety. I don’t have a specific study to reference here other than my whole life dutifully collecting my mail.
But, when have you ever opened your mailbox, leafed through all your envelopes, and thought to yourself, ‘I can’t BELIEVE my organic superfood smoothie subscription would advertise next to McDonald’s!?’ (no shade on Mickey D’s; it has its moments).
You haven’t because DM is, by nature, not held to the same association standard as digital or TV channels.
And that bodes well for brand safety.
PROS: fixed rates, highly targetable, highly measurable, not saturated, brand safe, performant, fast to execute, multiple formats.
CONS: Can be expensive depending on send volume.
In Conclusion
So, which channel mix are we recommending here at Postie during this election cycle?
Well, our approach has always been and remains an omnichannel approach. So, if you’re considering ramping back spending in channels like digital and you haven’t run a performance direct mail campaign, this could be a great time to reallocate that extra budget to explore the power of performance DM.
Want to Dive Deeper?
We have an on-demand webinar and eBook dedicated to planning around the election season this holiday year. Check them out!
