McCain and Republicans Turn To Paid Search To Influence Voters
In a heightened state of Political Polarization amongst McCain vs. Obama, Republicans vs. Democrats, Liberals vs. Conservatives and even Limbaugh vs. Olberman, The political process is getting more and more negative and campaigns are migrating to Paid search to help deliver their attack messages and reputation management strategies to the "American People" (aka. Savvy Web Surfers). In a quick analysis, SemGeek has seen more efforts by the McCain Campaign to use the power of Paid Search to influence voters than his Democrat opponent Obama. Let's dig a little deeper shall we.
(PLEASE NOTE: SemGeek is Bi-Partisan in that he supports both Yahoo and Google)
McCain More Aggressive and Effective on Paid Search:
You would think the Democrats would be jumping on paid search and "invigorating change" on the tactics of paid search. But that is not the case, it's the McCain campaign and their participating Republican Party who are making the most of Google and either defending themselves and their records and/or attacking Obama and Biden with Ad messaging that is directed to what has been said in other media (blogs, tv, etc...)
Obama vs. McCain in PPC:
When you do a Google search on McCain, all you get is a McCain Ad from the McCain campaign. Obama Canpaign is not counteracting with attack ads or anything like that.
Biden vs. Palin:
Based on the "bashing" of Sarah Palin in the media about having no experience, or somewhat questionable interviews on TV, the McCain camp is much more effective with their efforts to counteract Palin's experience with:
- Supportive Ads describing "True Facts" about her
- Attacking Joe Biden and his experience.
On the Obama Side, you see ads attacking Palin but they are WEAK:
Here is an Example of McCain Defending Sarah Palin's Experience and Obama with a lightly-hearted attempt at questioning Palin:
Here is an Example of McCain Attacking Joe Biden:
How It Has Effected Local Congressional Races:
Regardless of who wins or loses, Google and the Paid Search Industry has gotten the vote of the McCain and Obama Campaign, and smaller yet very important local races are following the trend. For example, Local Congressional Races have shown an increased participation in paid search such as
- Congressman Jim Gerlach Republican, Pennsylvania
- Congressman Phil English Republican, Pennsylvania
- Congressman Thaddeus McCotter Republican, Michigan
In Conclusion:
It is safe to say that if a political campaign is noticing a shift
in the Populous Vote, they need to counteract that with negative
advertising and do it quickly. Paid Search is probably the #1 tactic
that can be done to counteract negative Ads on the internet. Also, it's
quite obvious that the Media, blogs and conversation are acting as the Barometer
behind the daily and weekly changing Paid Search strategy of the McCain campaign.
There's a lot of negative feedback on the Palin experience and ideologies and the McCain Campaign know this. They have effectively used PPC to counteract those who are "in the middle" with whom to vote for.
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Greg,
Thanks for the kind words.
Eric Frenchman
Chief Internet Strategist
Connell Donatelli Inc
Posted by: PardonMyFrench | Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 06:11 PM
Eric, good job! If you ever want to do an exclusive interview on my blog, please let me know.
Posted by: Greg Meyers | Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 06:36 PM
Nice Post. Thanks for sharing this information with us.
Posted by: SEO Company | Monday, October 06, 2008 at 08:46 AM