Wow, check out Ron Paul’s Internet Marketing campaign!
Without a doubt, Ron Paul’s success on the Internet is nothing short of amazing. His team’s approach has been groundbreaking in applying Internet Marketing techniques to reach potential supporters and attract a significant number of contributors. Although not currently one of the frontrunners, many political strategists call Ron Paul an “Internet Phenomenon”.
While the Internet Marketing strategies used by Ron Paul’s team are not necessarily unique, his team’s dedication to reaching potential supporters online has been outstanding. By deploying a very aggressive Internet Marketing campaign, Ron Paul’s team has attracted a flood of contributors and a vast number of avid supporters. In a very short period, Ron Paul’s team has developed an enormous Internet presence. Anyone online in the past six months has undoubtedly seen multiple references to Ron Paul on the news or social media sites. If you consider the raw numbers, Ron Paul’s Internet Marketing strategy leaves his competition in the dust – and it’s a big reason he’s still in the race:
Consider the facts …
· Last month, Ron Paul’s site had over a MILLION visitors, more than all other Republican candidates combined!
· In one day, Ron Paul’s team raised over 6 Million dollars on the Internet.
· They raised approximately 20 Million Dollars in the 4th quarter of 2007 alone.
· On YouTube, there are 109,000 videos currently available about him.
· In the past month, there have been over 89,000 blog posts about him, according to Google.
The bottom line … Ron Paul’s focus on Internet Marketing is changing the face of political campaign strategies.
Ron Paul is not the only candidate making use of the Internet… on the other side of the aisle, Barack Obama’s team has deployed a very well-designed Internet Marketing strategy – over 728,00 visitors last month – and has been very effective in reaching potential supporters and contributors in his own right.
An Objective View
My analysis of Ron Paul’s internet success is purely driven by curiosity; I have no political affiliation or opinion of Ron Paul’s political platform. What intrigues me about Ron Paul’s Internet strategy is not only the response he’s received (over a Million visitors last month), it’s the number of contributors he’s attracted and the dedicated constituency he’s built on the Internet. With a significant part of his communications being conveyed via the Internet, Ron Paul’s campaign team has demonstrated beyond any doubt that Internet Marketing is a formidable tool in building a successful political campaign strategy.
Perhaps the Ron Paul campaign focused more on Internet strategies and less on other media simply due to budget constraints. Whatever the reason, their decision to use the Internet as an integral part of their campaign strategy is undoubtedly a big reason he’s still in the race.
This is not the first time we’ve seen a candidate deploy an Internet Marketing strategy as a part of a political campaign strategy – but it may be the first major campaign that has used the Internet as a primary part of their strategy. So, what does this say about future political campaigns and the tactics that will be developed to exploit the Internet’s enormous potential?
Political campaign teams can be very creative in developing marketing methods. I do not doubt we will learn much about Internet Marketing by watching successful political campaigns. If ‘necessity is the mother of invention’, then the Internet Marketing strategies developed by political campaign teams like Ron Paul’s will undoubtedly be leveraged by other organizations to help build their visibility and success.
