Phil Noble is the founder of Phil Noble and Associates, a political and public affairs consulting firm, and PoliticsOnline, the premier international company providing fundraising and Internet tools for politics.

Building online advertising metrics

Adopting online advertising into the political marketing mix has been a long-term process. In 2007 and 2008 political campaigns reached a breakthrough, incorporating online advertising as part of their campaign equation from day one. Their level of usage and sophistication may not rival the corporate world, but online advertising is no longer an afterthought. It has earned a permanent place at the table rather than in the squeaky chair across the room.

Online advertising has had to prove its worth to political campaign strategy. Its rise is comparable to television, which had to prove itself before it rose to prominence during the elections of the 1960s. Because online advertising is so measurable, it is shameful that the political consulting community does not have more metrics to show after ten years. However, we’re still at the beginning of the beginning. If this is Web 2.0, what will Web 48.0 look like? We will get there – and it will look a lot different than the Web as we know it today.

The level of online advertising sophistication in the 2008 election cycle has taken a quantum leap forward since the last election. More than just buying banner placements, candidates are now actively changing creative rotations, targeting more granularly and buying keyword searches on things other than their own names. People are strategically using online advertising in real ways, though still at spending levels that are pennies-on-the-dollar compared to television.

Campaign consultants are so used to one-way advertising that they don’t think about or expect to get something back from the advertising that they can then monetize in political terms for the campaign. And because this concept is so novel, publishers are missing a real opportunity to capitalize on it.

The ability for online political advertisers to measure actual impressions delivered with such accuracy is a unique selling point that deserves a radically different, more performance-oriented sales pitch. Publishers should be saying, "If I run this ad, then these specific things will happen, or you don’t pay us a dime. And if they do happen, you pay us double!" If I were a campaign manager, I would say "prove it!" and be willing to pay a premium for seeing my poll numbers move as a result.

Eventually we will get to a place where online advertising can take credit for increases in statewide name recognition, but the first step is to determine a cost-per-acquisition model that starts by delivering dollars and people. In fact, fundraising metrics are a good place to start, since political campaigns have already begun experimenting with online advertising to raise money. Candidates understand fundraising metrics because they know the value that one new supporter will donate over the life of a campaign, whether that means donating money, making calls or canvassing door-to-door.

This conversation was conducted by phone interview with Tony Winders.