The Science of Communicating & Marketing Your Business

The first in the nation primary is now owned by the 'net. I was recently interviewed by WMUR-TV in Manchester, NH, about how campaigns are using websites. In preparation for that interview we did a TargetTrack analysis of Clinton's, McCain's, Obama's and Romney's campaign sites. Here's a quick rundown of what we found.

As I stated in the WMUR interview, the final analysis -- at least for this election cycle -- is still going to be on the personal level. Voters are still going to want to get out and "test drive", "get a feel for", "listen directly", "see for myself", pick your metaphor of social engagement, what the candidates are about. So far that can't be done on the web (rich media aside).

However, the preliminary analysis -- the decision about which candidate to see/listen/get a feel for/etc. is going to be done on the web. This is nothing more than the extension of what's gone before -- watching them on TV, listening to them on the radio, reading about them in the newspaper. Technology changes how we gather information when make our preliminary choices, not how we actually make them. That offered, an analysis of four campaign site homepages as they're published today, 2 Feb 07, and listed alphabetically.

Clinton: The first thing to notice is the color choice -- primarily blue. This is a color most often selected by males as a "favorite" color, therefore the drive to a male audience is made. In tandem with that is the establishment of Ms. Clinton as an authority and an authoritative sort of person. Again, a good play towards a male audience. The site also has some "awareness" features for return visitors. This is a good thing in most cases as today's internet travelers want to know they're recognized -- to a point. Too much identification is never a good thing except with a truly 'net savvy audience. The "MAKE HISTORY!" item is a nice open statement and a good invitation except that people who are testing the "Clinton waters" might not be sure what they're being invited to take part in.

McCain: This site is very nicely done and demonstrates a deep awareness of McCain's audience, both actual and intended. There's no scrolling necessary. The site's entire message is "No Nonsense" and "Get things Done". The reloads are essentially black&white. Again, no middle ground, no vacillation. Very much a "Do this, get that" message. This is excellent for the audience he seems to be going after. He won't sell well to people who aren't "action" oriented or who want to know their voice is being heard. Similarly to Ms. Clinton's site, there are some "awareness" features which can be good or not so good as mentioned before.

Obama: This site is suffering from a big problem and the problem is simple. Too simple, in fact. The site's simplicity can come across as not having any real messages defined as of yet. This is truly an "exploratory" site, it's purpose from a web communications point of view is to find out if people are interested, period. My guess would be that these folks are paying very close attention to their traffic numbers and will make plans from there.

Romney: What's most striking about this site is it's use of "Bush" imagery, an indication that Governor Romney is hoping to get the voters who were George W. Bush voters in past elections. Also, this homepage is way too large and is a polarity example of Barack Obama's site; There's so much information that a strong single message is hard to find. As above, this site is waiting to figure out what message it should promote. Right now these folks are waiting to see how much interest there is -- another traffic issue -- before going further. Also, like the Clinton site, there's good use of power colors.

There's much more that can be gleaned (including suggestions on how to improve website appeal and performance, increasing gender, age and demographic targeting) and, as noted above, this was just a quick scan with TargetTrack. Feel free to comment if you'd like or contact NextStage for more information. As always, enjoy.

Links for this post:

• Gender-Specific Marketing Discoveries Podcast
• NextStage on Politics
• Politicians' sites:
  • HillaryClinton.com
  • John McCain 2008 - The Exploratory Committee
  • Barack Obama - Obama Exploratory Committee
  • Mitt Romney, The Exploratory Committee 2008
• TargetTrack info