Learning from the Obama Campaign

With the rapid evolution of the internet, each campaign season in the past two decades has adapted to a more and more significant role for the internet -- and the ability to adapt to online communication channels has often been the difference between winning and losing. President Obama's campaign in 2008 is a lesson in best practices, even three years later today.

ePolitics.com provides an excellent summary of the Obama campaign's online strategy and tactics in "Learning from Obama: Lessons for Online Communicators in 2009 and Beyond." The summary covers a broad spectrum of the campaign's successes, including:

• How to organize
• How to build support
• How to put supporters to work
• How to fundraise online
• What to do when the campaign is over
  

I was particularly interested in the overview of how to find and build a group of supporters -- something the Obama campaign did very well. Based on this publication, the campaign focused on:

• Collecting addresses at every in-person event
• Running online advertisements, including search engine ads
• Providing incentives for signing up (tsotchkes, like bumper stickers or pins)
• Following up with new supporters and steering them toward action
• Using the campaign's social media presence to drive sign-ups

These are lessons that many campaigns can learn from. While sometimes purchased email lists are necessary, there are several organic techniques for list-building that result in more engaged, active supporters.