And…they’re off! (Officially, that is.)
Senator Ted Cruz announced his candidacy for President earlier this week, beginning the parade of candidates we’ll be hearing from in the coming weeks and months.
It’s early in the Presidential election season (even though it feels late in some places and regarding some candidates), but we believe there are lessons to be gleamed from applying basic tenets of content marketing to politicians’ objectives, too.
How political candidates should think like content marketers if they want to run a successful campaign (plus, a couple of predictions on what we’ll see/hear this election):
1. TARGET – Politicians are pros at customizing their messages, jargon and colloquialisms based on the audience they’re addressing. Expect to see candidates’ addresses to very specific audiences taken out of context by the media at some point, to highlight a viewpoint of which the masses wouldn’t approve! But for the most part, this is how successful candidates win over voters — they are good at relating to people, customizing their message as needed along the way.
2. FREQUENCY – By the time you or your company is sick of repeating the same message points, it’s just starting to sink in with your customers. The same is true for politicians’ messaging. That’s why one of the most stressful jobs on a political campaign is that of “scheduler” — candidates are expected to keep an exhausting schedule of public appearances and speeches. Content marketers create successful campaigns by maintaining blogs, newsletters, social media posts, videos, podcasts and more — with similarly regular frequency. But lucky for us, we aren’t expected to fly around the country like political candidates!
3. CONSISTENCY – Early on, politicians and their advisors develop talking points on issues most likely to resonate with the voters they need to capture. Even in very informal interviews, what politicians say, can — and will — be used against them if they slip up with an inconsistent stance on any particular issue. Watch a debate and notice how whomever is deemed the “winner” is likely the most adept at bringing the questions back to their agenda. Since Cruz announced on the 5-year anniversary of the signing of Obamacare (to the day!), we suspect we’ll hear Cruz preach anti-Obamacare rhetoric ad nauseum.
4. BREVITY – As the acronym goes, “Keep It Simple, Stupid” or K.I.S.S. During my media coaching days, we instructed interviewees to think to themselves as they are answering journalists’ questions: “One, two, three, shut up.” This is about as long as the average sound byte on TV. Brevity gets you more — and better — sound bytes, and increases readership. Written content is similarly more inviting when it doesn’t read like a novel.
At Shift Key, we make communication capital. We are journalists who know how to create original content, the foundational layer of digital marketing. We understand audience and the information your audience wants – whether you are an agency, brand, company or non-profit. Content is the bedrock of digital marketing. Shift Key creates unique and informative content that feeds marketing activities across a mounting number of channels, generating buzz for brands and leads for products and services.