Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • February 15, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS ADVERTISING, MEDIA & MARKETING Presidential politics no boon for CT's ad industry By David Medina Special to the Hartford Business Journal C onnecticut's TV and radio indus- tries precariously expect to earn little or no revenue from this year's presidential election, even as can- didates pour tens of millions of dollars nationally into advertising to bolster their bids for the White House. That's because Connecticut will hold its party primary elections April 26, after 37 other states have already made known their Republican and Democratic presidential preferences. If history is any indicator, both parties' front runners will have already emerged by the time Nutmeg State primary voters head to the polls. Connecticut also has the distinction of being a "predictably blue" Democratic state with a mere seven Electoral College votes in the general election. In short, Connecticut typically has very little impact on who eventually becomes pres- ident. Candidates, therefore, have little incentive to purchase advertising here. "Most of the money will go to the key battleground states and, by definition, that does not include Connecticut," says profes- sor Erika Franklin Fowler, co-director of the Wesleyan University Media Project, which tracks and analyzes all political advertisements aired on broadcast televi- sion. "Ads only really matter at the margins; election outcomes have more to do with larger issues like the state of the economy." The one way Connecticut media may be able to reap some benefits of the presi- dential ad wars is if the race remains com- petitive, which it has so far. The mixed results of the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary have given Con- necticut media executives reason to be cautiously optimistic going forward. In Iowa, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton split the Democratic vote almost evenly and Republicans Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio finished within four per- centage points of each other. In New Hampshire, Sanders beat Clinton handily, while Trump took the Republican nomination, followed by John Kasich, Cruz and Jeb Bush. "I was a little bit surprised," said Stephen Rabb, senior manager for special projects and research at Fox CT, about the Iowa results. "But it feels like, from my perspective, that we might see some activity here." The bottom line is that Connecticut's role in presi- dential elections only matters on those rare occasions when the outcome of the race is unforeseeable over the course of the primary season. In 2008, for example, then-Sen. Barack Obama was locked into a tight race with Hillary Clinton for the Demo- cratic Party nomination. In order to make their primary votes count, Connecticut and 22 other states held their pri- maries on Feb. 5, so-called "Super Tuesday." According to TNS Media Intelligence/CMag, a commercial ad tracking agency, the uncertainty of the outcome forced the Obama campaign to spend $731,000 on local campaign advertising, most of it in the days prior to Super Tuesday. The Clinton campaign spent another $417,000 here in a losing effort. Moreover, Clinton visited the state twice and Obama held a campaign rally at Hartford's XL Center that attracted 16,000 supporters. Republican nominee John McCain's campaign purchased no advertising from Connecticut stations. Four years later, when it was evident early on that Obama would win re-election by a landslide, neither he nor his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, purchased cam- paign ads in Connecticut. "Candidates will spend when it looks as though their advertising can make a difference," Rabb said. "Fre- quently, they will place orders and, as it gets closer to the primary election and the outcome looks more lop- sided, they'll move their money elsewhere. The reverse also happens in that, when the race looks close, they will pull money from another market and spend it here." If there are no clear front runners by April 26, Con- necticut broadcast stations could also profit greatly from the growing use of negative ads produced by politi- cal action committees and outside interest groups with generic all-American sounding names, such as Citizens for Truth and Justice. Federal election regulations require that broadcast stations charge candidates a discounted "lowest unit rate cost" for their campaign commercials. The preferential rate, however, does not apply to PACs and outside interest groups. "They have to pay whatever the market will bear, and in a hotly contested race, the price of that kind of advertising can go through the roof," says Wesleyan's Fowler. Modern candidates, she explained, prefer to have outside groups attack their opponents, to protect their own credibility. "This year we're seeing a large dis- connect between ads on air and polling numbers. Part of that goes back to the fundamental question that if most people don't like what you are selling, it doesn't matter how much you try to sell it." Even under the most ideal conditions, however, Con- necticut's share of the presidential advertising dollar pales in comparison to the amounts spent on television and radio advertising during a tight race for governor or the U.S. Senate. In 2010, when both offices were in contention, a record $32 million was spent on local tele- vision advertising alone. n Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Jeb Bush have put out TV ads to get their messages out to voters, but no presidential candidates have aired ads in Connecticut. I M A G E S | C O N T R I B U T E D EXPERTS CORNER How to maximize marketing effectiveness in the digital age By Jill Adams T he term "digital marketing" is redundant these days. Studies show that we now spend more time each day on electronic devices than sleeping. So every organization's marketing must encompass digital channels. Consider these facts. American adults are glued to their smart phones about five hours a day. On average, we check our social media chan- nels at least 120 times a week. We watch nearly 30 hours of online video content each month. And around the world, we "Google" something about 40,000 times a second. So if you're responsible for mar- keting, how do you leverage this obsession with digital communica- tion in the most compelling, cost- effective ways? Start by keeping these three key principles in mind: No. 1: Offer valuable content, not sales pitches There's a mind-numbing amount of information being published online, but that doesn't mean people are actually read- ing it, or even more importantly, engaging with it. People don't want to be sold online, they want to be entertained and educated. So before you spend a second or dime on social/digital market- ing, develop an overall content strategy for your organization — one that is focused on the valu- able information you can provide for your customers and prospects. In one column, list the topics you're most qualified to talk about. In another column, list what keeps your customers up at night and what makes their day. Now find the magical intersections between what you could say — and what they want to hear. Let that guide what type of content to create for your social channels, your press outreach, your website, your newsletters and more. And how do you know if people are really interested in the type of content you're considering? One quick, free way to do just that is to use Google Trends (google. com/trends). Simply enter several topics and compare the relative search volume for those terms to gauge interest. No. 2: Create meaningful connections in each channel Once you know what you want to share, map out where — and how — you're going to share it. Just beware of two common mis- takes including sharing the same content in the same way. Many businesses create "a" message, then check off the list that they posted it on their website, shared it on their social channels, etc. But people have dif- ferent expectations of both the type of content and the tone of the messaging on each digital plat- form. So carefully consider not only what to share, but how to package it, for each digital channel. Another com- mon mistake is thinking that the goal of every digital communication is to get people to your website. You need to offer valuable content in whatever channel your pros- pects and consumers find you. If they engage on your social media channels, deliver the value there. If they read your newsletters, make them action- able. Don't open one door to greet your prospect, only to send them to another door to get the information they're actually interested in. No. 3: Look holistically at all the data What makes marketing in the digital age so mind-tingling — and so nerve-wracking at the same time — is that many initia- tives are more measurable than ever. But just because more data is available, don't assume those are the only metrics that matter. Make sure you look holistical- ly at all your measures of market- ing success. For example, track your press hits, your advertis- ing reach, your event exposure. You'll likely see spikes of digital engagement — when prospects are being surrounded by offline as well as online tactics. Charge someone with an inte- grated marketing perspective to help you turn all these sources of data into actionable insights you can use to continually hone your 360-degree marketing plan. The more valuable your con- tent, the more tailored your con- nections and the more insightful your planning, the more success- ful your marketing will be in this digital age. n Jill Adams is principal and CEO of Adams & Knight, an integrated marketing agency located in Avon. Jill Adams

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