• by Kathleen Stockham , October 16, 2012

We are in the thick of election season, just days from electing the president for the next four years (which guarantees at least half the population will be elated/deflated from the other half.)  

Is it me or does this political season seem a lot like watching your customer base? Seriously, you have your die-hard “ideologues” that are loyal, committed, believe everything you say and will stick with you no matter how bad of a gaffe you make. Then you have your “opponents” who will never be your customer, could care less what you do, promote or sell, and they will find any opportunity to tell anyone within shouting distance that they don’t think much of you.

Then there is the “Swingers” and “Independents” that are by no means loyal, but they could be convinced at the last minute that maybe they will be your customer after all. It doesn’t mean they will be there tomorrow, but for one shining moment, with wallet in hand speaking as the almighty ballot they will “vote” for you and convert.

The very best political strategists from both sides of the aisle will be the first to tell you that your efforts and expense should always be on those Swingers and Independents. Look, your fanatics will be there and you can pretty much count on that vote and the “opponents” just hope you die or go out of business. So if your database were to be sectioned in this manner with expense and effort in overlay by budget, where do you fall?

Try this analogy; if “California” and “South Carolina” represent your polar opposite customer base, the hope is that you have a lot more “South Carolina” (if that’s what you are aiming for) representing your most engaged consumer and they are spending, returning and spending more. Your “California” polar opposite customers should be few and far between and represent very little of your budget. (Again, if that’s what you are looking for -- reverse that if it fits better.) But if your database looks a little more like “Wisconsin” and “Ohio” where there is uncertainty and a whole lot of “uncommitted/undecided” customers that only show up when the mood strikes, it’s time to dig into that and put in some extra effort and schmooze to lure them over. It’s time to hug and kiss a few babies and host a pancake breakfast, so to speak.

And then there are the Women.

A key demographic to most brands and victory is to secure the opt-in/buy-in and support of women. To lock in the “Miss” vote, what have you done in terms of outreach? Budget allocation? Are you “getting out the vote?” Have you geo-targeted where your “Swing” and “Miss” constituents are? How much time and effort and “campaigning” have you done in order to move them over?

The term “canvass” has its roots in politics and means “coverage” to a strong degree and blanketing a particular area and location with messaging. So if you have sectioned off your “Swings” and “Misses” (where applicable) in your database have you really “canvassed” them and put out some messaging to draw them to your cause?

While I don’t recommend robo-calls or those annoying spam-texts, you can learn a lot from watching the political “professionals” behind the scene and how they wrangle and shuffle the budgets and efforts certain directions all leading up to the “Big Day.” 

As we are now in critical Q4, it’s time to dust off that stunt speech and get to “politicking…”