Analytics 2.0™

Published by Jim

What are Obama, Clinton, and McCain doing with Search Engine Marketing?

With the primaries heating up, I thought it would be interesting to take a close look at the type of search marketing campaigns for each of the presidential candidates. Because search marketing is razor focused it gives us a unique opportunity to take a look at the specific type of targeting each candidate is doing with search marketing.

And indeed the analysis was very interesting.

Search Marketing is a Key Tool for Presidential Hopefuls

The first thing that we discovered is that Senator Obama’s, Senator Clinton’s, and Senator McCain’s campaigns are all actively engaged in search marketing (PPC). While this is not surprising, it highlights the growing importance of search marketing to any marketer.

Search Marketing for the Primaries vs. National Campaign

With the primaries, Senator Obama and Senator Clinton are focused on winning states to get the delegates needed to win the party nomination. Furthermore, given that their position on the issues is not that far apart, they tend to focus on differentiating their personal brand. So the search marketing focus is on local searches and their own names (personal brand). The majority of the keywords in our sample showed that Obama’s and Clinton’s search campaigns were focused on search queries for their own names, and search queries for state elections.

However, given that McCain has secured the Republican nomination, his search marketing campaign is focused more broadly at the national campaign. Our sample showed that his search marketing campaign was a blend of issues and his own brand. His top keywords include: taxation, terrorism, stop global warming.

Search Marketing Ushers in a New Era of Campaigning: Personalized Messaging

The other interesting aspect that we see in our analysis is that search marketing is enabling a whole new era of campaigning that was never possible before. Before search marketing, candidates had to use mass marketing channels to reach individuals. For most of our lifetimes, 30 second television spots along with print media have been the primary ways that candidates reach out to a broader base.

Now, with search marketing, a whole new way of personalizing messages is possible. Our sample of Senator McCain’s search marketing campaign shows this. McCain’s top keywords include both hot-button issues for Republicans: taxation, terrorism, stop abortion, along with hot-button issues for Democrats, such as stop global warming.

The search marketing channel gives the campaigns a way to get a personalized message out to each voter – one that is tailored to that voter’s position and interests, and highlights the candidate in a favorable light.

In our next segment, we will show the Top 10 PPC Keywords for Obama, Clinton, and McCain from our March data.

Apr 05, 2008
Filed under: Search Engine Marketing, Keyword Research, PPC, Search Engine Marketing