Campaign Tactic Guide

In an endless sea of screens, channels, and social platforms, determining the right media strategy can be overwhelming. That is why our clients rely on us to advise them on the methods that drive success and identify emerging tactics and technologies that oftentimes are the difference between winning and losing. Our approach begins with an investment in high-quality data for zeroing in on your campaign’s target audience. Then, we apply our expertise in selecting the appropriate tools and tactics for accomplishing your goals. There is no one size fits all approach -- different audiences, different goals, and different budgets call for different strategies. This document aims to provide a general overview of the tools at your disposal to help turn the tide in your fight for the minds and hearts of lawmakers, influencers, and voters.

Persuasion, Branding, Awareness Campaigns

These campaigns pair powerful creative with advertising strategies that maximize reach and frequency in order to boost ad recall and message penetration with your target audience.

Radio & Out-of-Home

No matter how technologically advanced linear and digital media may get, these less targeted mediums can still be effective, if not more so! Under the right circumstance and delivered to the right audience, radio and OOH can deliver big results. Trust our team to identify the opportunities that make the most sense for your campaign and to create a unique message, that gets delivered in a more traditional way. We pride ourselves in having relationships with publishers, broadcasters, and others that allow you to access these mediums at a great price and in a short window.

We are a one stop shop for all of your print needs, because our print services are all inclusive by encompassing all the targeting and strategy, copywriting, design, production, addressing, and in home delivery. We combine our award winning creativity with our experience in delivering hundreds of millions of pieces of mail to clients across the country to effectively move the needle and persuade your audience to take the action you are looking for.

Linear TV (Cable & Broadcast)

TV is still king. No matter your audience, linear is still unmatched in its reach, power, and persuasion. But, the key to using it effectively, is pairing it up with 21st century data and analytics. That is why we have invested so heavily in a smarter buying method that analyzes how, where, and when people view TV content across their screens and platforms. When budgets allow, linear is the fastest, most effective method to move the message. Even where audiences are more niche, like DC influencer campaigns, this medium can be effective in swaying opinions.

Digital

The digital advertising ecosystem is complex and diverse. The list of tools and technologies at your disposal is never ending and often changing. While nearly all Americans now spend some amount of time in front of a smaller screen, there are a growing number known as “cord-cutters”, who essentially can only be reached digitally. We take pride in being experts at using digital media more effectively than our competition and staying on top of the growing trends. This is where we thrive and why so many clients choose to work with us.

Pre-roll / Mid-roll

We bid across multiple DSP’s to reach the right audiences with a multitude of media placements for 30s and 15s video inventory that plays before the start of video content across user specific sites. This multiple DSP approach ensures we do not over or under index key demos within our larger audience of target voters.

Connected TV/OTT

1:1 TV Ad Retargeting

We are able to digitally target voters based on 1:1 TV viewership data that connects those who have viewed specific television ads or programming, with our own messaging. This unique means of reaching our target audience means any ad that an opponent runs on television, can be directly countered with our own carefully crafted response online!

Digital Radio

We leverage digital radio platforms to expand your reach and improve media indexing for better ad recall with a younger segment of your audience.

Social Media

Social media continues to be an ever-evolving ecosystem for political campaigns and causes. While accessibility does remain a hurdle on most platforms, when it can be employed, social media is a great way to increase reach and frequency with your target audience, while enabling supporters to engage directly with your content
via comments, shares, and reaction. The addition of inventory options like non-skippable mid-roll, allows for better ad ROI than once was true.

Native Advertising

Use Native Advertising to discreetly reach your target audience online. Your content will be marketed in a non-invasive manner across commonly viewed digital platforms by accessing inventory directly from the publisher. Using creative that resembles the online publication’s editorial content, your audience will be more receptive to your message. Native Advertising is a great tool to increase awareness and conversions because of its higher than average engagement rate.

In-App Advertising

Using App Science to identify and target individuals based on the data signals we collect from over 300 million mobile devices (including the apps they’ve downloaded and locations they frequent) we gain access to the most in-depth mobile app data available. This means your campaign has nearly limitless options to uniquely target users and create a custom audience for your message. We deliver your ads in brand safe mobile apps and mobile web inventory that have gone through 7 additional criteria to reduce ad fraud, bot traffic, and improve effectiveness.

Influencer Marketing

Oftentimes, there is a need to add authenticity and a personal voice to promoting specific campaigns while also achieving desired reach. This is where leveraging influencers can be an effective tactic, but how do you choose which
influencers to recruit, how much budget to assign, and how to determine ROI? GBM’s team will make this process easy for you. We will collaborate with the appropriate influencers in designing relevant content and promoting your campaign so that it is integrated with your other tactics and timelines. We will track metrics and monitor user engagement to demonstrate ROI when using this emerging marketing tactic.

Banner Ad / Display Advertising

We utilize banner/display advertising to generate high ad volume, which in turn helps with brand awareness and ad recall in a very cost-efficient manner. Our team accesses multiple DSP’s to place static and GIF ads across the web, targeting your audience with highly clickable creative that will lead your audience to a custom site of your choosing with more detailed messaging. This is a great way to complement and reinforce spots delivered on pre-roll and television!

Youtube

Youtube is one of the most powerful platforms at your disposal when it comes to video. Offering long form, 15s, and 6s bumper ads, Youtube’s premium inventory has some of the highest viewability in the industry, and with viewership higher than any cable program, it’s hard not to find the audience you’re looking for. The silver lining is that Youtube is better treated as hyper-targeted TV than it is 1:1 digital, due in large part to its decision to axe the use of custom data targeting.

Direct Publisher Buys

When does buying direct make more sense than programmatic? How do you decide which publishers and newsletters to purchase inventory from? We have relationships with national and local publishers to advise you on these purchasing decisions to ensure your message reaches the right audience.

We use contextual advertising to control and defend your brand, or any number of relevant keywords and phrases important to your organization. We leverage the power of search across the world’s most trafficked search engines, to hijack your competitors’ brands and redirect intent driven queries to designated pages that deliver your message, and not theirs.

Geo-Fencing

Use video and display ads to persuade niche audiences in a tight geographic area such as the US Capitol, Governor’s mansions, state capitol complexes, arenas, and businesses.

Venue Replay

This unique digital strategy allows us to capture device ID’s at high valued locations and bucket them for future targeting. Venue Replay allows you to map businesses, your competitors, or even trade shows. By mapping the area, we can identify any current or past devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops – up to two years!) after they leave the venue, and continue to target them with banner and pre-roll ads at their home and across all of their devices. All of this is accomplished without the use of cookies.

Prolegis

Take advantage of the newest legislative platform where Capitol Hill staff are spending the majority of their time. Staffers go to Prolegis to research, collaborate, and develop important legislation. Ad placements on the platform allow for your message to be seen by this extremely critical audience as they are working directly on your issue.

Constituent Advocacy Campaigns

It’s no secret lawmakers listen when the people who put them in power, make themselves loud enough. That’s why our team has become experts at using the tools and tech that make the job of getting your advocates heard, easier.

Advocacy Software

It starts with employing a platform for easily enabling your advocates to email, Tweet, Facebook, and call their lawmakers while letting you easily track those actions. Platforms such as Phone2Action, Quorum, OneClick Politics, VoterVoice, etc...we have used them all! Regardless if you are currently using one of these tools or require help determining which one meets your needs and budget, we are experts on everything these services have to offer.

Paid Digital Acquisition Tactics

Do you need to generate petition signatures, emails to lawmakers, or sign-ups for your email list? We have acquired hundreds of thousands of supporters across a wide array of issues and geos for our clients because we understand the variety of tactics required for building a strong grassroots network. Being an expert in using Facebook ads to acquire advocates is an absolute must. Our ad ops team constantly monitors Facebook’s ever changing rules and tactics to execute successful campaigns for our clients. However, we are never dependent on just one platform. In addition to social media, we have leveraged online surveys for engaging interested advocates, placed ads on issue-specific publishers, and a variety of other tactics for growing our clients’ grassroots networks and driving constituents to action.

Patch-Thru Phone Calls

It can be a tough hurdle to get individuals to organically call their lawmakers and express their support or opposition on a given issue. Patch-thru phone calls provide a method for delivering a guaranteed number of calls to lawmakers from their constituents, meaning you pay only for the successful patches that reach the decision makers.

P2P/SMS Texting

Individuals open and read their text messages at a much higher rate than email. Take advantage of this fact by broadcasting text messages to advocates and drive them to take action right on their phone.

Social Media Engagement Retargeting

Use the power of social media to garner a massive show of force in the form of engagements, views, and commentary around your issue; then retarget those ads, along with their engagements in small geographic areas where the people who matter most are.

Constituent Videos

Create landing pages where advocates can record themselves speaking directly to lawmakers on your issue priorities. These powerful videos can then be used by lobbyists in their meetings with lawmakers or in ad placements targeted at lawmakers.

Virtual Events

Capture high profile speakers discussing one of your top issue priorities and promote the event to garner viewership of the event livestream. On the landing page where advocates are watching the livestream and are engaged with the issue, provide them with the option to contact lawmakers directly on the page.