Around The Corner Blog

Can a Campaign Win with Online Only?

We often get calls from clients with limited budgets, or smaller campaigns who ask us this question:  "Can I win running my campaign online only?  And we always tell candidates that it's very hard to run a political campaign using one mode of communication.  Some folks certainly try.  And while there are massive numbers of voters getting information online, they also rely on other media to learn about a candidate. 

Regardless of the budget, a smart candidate will run a fully integrated campaign:  using the best components and strategies online, to compliment and garner suppport---and eventually votes---offline.  At Cornerstone Solutions, we like to preach the "integration" of online strategies---social media, online advertising, and the use of video---to compliment campaign events, get out the vote efforts, fundraising and persuasive messaging. Knowing which tools online will help with your offline efforts is also good to know. Not every campaign will use the same tools. 

In the end, however, successful campaigns must still have a good plan, a good message, and a solid strategy to get voters to the polls.  Those fundamentals will not change---and relying solely on the Internet to win is difficult, if not impossible.  Nothing ever replaces the handshake, the face-face-face interaction that voters still crave, and the public demands.