this seems especially useful in open seats (0.00 / 0)

An example for next year is John Kelly, a truly horrible Republican who is going to run for NJ3.  Obviously searching John Kelly is not going to be useful, given the common name, but I searched for John Kelly New Jersey and there is very little on him.  (Oddly enough, the anti-fluoride site is for a different New Jersey politician John Kelly.)  It might be more difficult to think of the best search terms (John Kelly congress?, John Kelly Ocean County? John P. Kelly?), 

 

New Jersey politics at Blue Jersey.

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by: Hopeful in NJ @ Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 18:19:30 PM UTC

That's 35,084 impressions, right? (0.00 / 0)

What's your feeling on ad impressions vs. clickthroughs?  Repetition is obviously key to getting your message through, even if they don't follow up with a click.  How do you think a Google ad impression compares to a radio spot?

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by: TValley @ Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 18:35:31 PM UTC

And was it sponsored or contextual (0.00 / 0)

Another big factor is whether the ad campaign is limited to sponsored search, where ads appear only on search ranking pages for specific keywords, or contextual search where the ads appear throughout the Google network and on third-party website, such as blogs, who are in Google's AdSense program. I would have to have more data than Matt has provided to convince me that this is effective outreach. Also, the conclusion that "there's no way to coherently measure impact of any specific set of ads through any medium" is not altogether true. It depends on what "impact" you're trying to measure (funds raised, qualified contacts reached, etc.) and the medium you're using (direct mail for instance is exceedingly trackable). And the rationale for "abandoning" the Internet because of a perceived inability to account for impact makes no sense.

Save Our Schools! March & National Call to Action, July 28-31, 2011 in Washington, DC: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch...

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by: jeffbinnc @ Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 19:45:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

AdSense not ideal for this program (0.00 / 0)

The goal here is to get negative information to low-info voters who are making the effort to learn about the candidates, probably for the first time.  Political blog readers are not really the target audience.

So really, this is less marketing and more PR, since there's not a quantifiable end transaction other than voting.  And Matt is basically right that PR is difficult to track.

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by: TValley @ Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 20:03:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Can't totally agree or disagree with you (0.00 / 0)

I agree with you that generally AdSense traffic has to be approached with skepticism. However Google now lets you filter contextual third-party sites where your ads can appear, so it is possible to target  only those sites that can act as "doormats" to grassroots campaigns, such as local blogs that have a lot of link traffic. And there's a very fine line between marketing and PR. If click-through traffic from the ads is tracked with Google Analytics you can tell a lot about the effectiveness of your website (how much time on site, number of pages viewed, high-traffic areas, etc.), which makes it possible to make strategic changes to your site. Or if the click-throughs are sent to an effective landing page with contact opportunities, downloads, or other prompts, those are all trackable "end transactions" . . . or lost opportunities.

Save Our Schools! March & National Call to Action, July 28-31, 2011 in Washington, DC: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch...

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by: jeffbinnc @ Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 20:37:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sure (0.00 / 0)

Good points.  But I think filtering those AdSense sites is an exponential amount of work for the bloggers spearheading this effort, and probably not realistic, unless one happens to have knowledge of 3 or 4 excellent prospects.  Maybe more realistic for a 500-million-dollar campaign operation.

And Analytics isn't an option for BlogPac because they're sending readers to 3rd-party sites.

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by: TValley @ Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 20:59:10 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You're probably right (0.00 / 0)

Although it wouldn't require anything remotely close to a "$500 million dollar operation." (I'm sure you weren't being serious here. Most businesses and nonprofits, many of whom have ample-enough resources to use AdSense and other media quite effectively, don't have operating budgets that come anywhere near to that figure.) But it does take committed resources and expertise. And I totally overlooked that Blogpac is just a middleman here. My oversight.

Save Our Schools! March & National Call to Action, July 28-31, 2011 in Washington, DC: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch...

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by: jeffbinnc @ Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 21:48:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

mostly (0.00 / 0)

I would have to have more data than Matt has provided to convince me that this is effective outreach.

Me too.  I am not claiming this is effective, only that it's moving small text messaging in front of voters in the district 40,000 times in the last four days with a few hundred clicks (at best).

Also, the conclusion that "there's no way to coherently measure impact of any specific set of ads through any medium" is not altogether true. It depends on what "impact" you're trying to measure (funds raised, qualified contacts reached, etc.) and the medium you're using (direct mail for instance is exceedingly trackable).

That is true as well.  It is possible to track conversions to donors from specific types of outreach, like direct mail.  That is not true of votes.  There's no way to figure out exactly how many of your 1's will vote for you until election day, and it is extremely difficult to figure out what is causing 'motion'.  Married women might change their voting patterns, but that is not necessarily because of anything your campaign is doing.

And the rationale for "abandoning" the Internet because of a perceived inability to account for impact makes no sense.

I agree, it makes no sense.  But that's how decisions are made in campaigns.

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