Since President Obama’s seminal Digital Marketing campaign, we’ve been interested in the decision-making, messaging and branding that goes into the making of political campaigns. Learning there was a furor over Hillary Clinton’s campaign logo (meh, nothing can top Obama’s O over America), we investigated her new website to gain insights into her online techniques. The campaign is in the very early stages, so as expected, the website is in a preliminary stage – more landing page than comprehensive, complex website.
1. Email Marketing is a Key Tactic
An email subscription form appears high up on the website. Email Marketing is great for relationship-building. The form is not lengthy, it only comprises of 2 fields. The first, the email address, is absolutely necessary in order to send you information. The second field, the Zip Code, is likely there to provide you with customised information relevant to your region.
Lastly, the colour and size of the call to action button – a red, rounded button labelled Join Us, follows all the guidelines necessary to optimise clicks. The colour is red, usually associated with warning or negative emotions, may be the best colour for conversion in this context. The label Join Us is warm, friendly, description and inclusive. It doesn’t ask as much of a tentative prospect as “Help Us Today” and is not as generic and cold as Send or Submit.
2. The Use of Colours & Imagery
Yep, the colours of the US Flag are Red, White and Blue, thus any candidate for an American political office is likely to use these colours to generate a sense of patriotism. Here, Hilary’s team is using red, white and 2 shades of blue. One blue is deep, soothing and reassuring. It’s the kind of shade of blue a bank might use to indicate stability. The other blue is lighter, brighter and fresher, indicating friendliness and enthusiasm.
All the call to action buttons are in red – it’s a great contrast, making the buttons pop. Red, and other warm colours advance, while blues and cool colours recede. Thus, red on blue is a great choice for layering.
3. An Introductory Video
Conversions increase 80% when videos are used on a Landing Page. Hilary’s team has themed the video New Adventures, Next Chapters. In the video, Mrs. Clinton herself doesn’t appear in the video until almost the halfway mark (1:33), the underlying message being that the campaign is about You, not Her. The storytelling technique employed is meant to be memorable and emotive, still hitting all the necessary technical checkmarks.
The video is hosted on YouTube, generally called the world’s second-largest search engine. The video contains a call to action, back to an email subscription form. The video’s length lies within the sweet spot for a crowdfunding video.
4. More than One Way Skin a Cat
Most of us have used Microsoft Office at some time or another, we’re probably aware that there are several ways to, for example, copy a word. We can use the menu bar (Edit > Copy), use a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+C) or even right-click on a highlighted word. Here, certain links are repeated and will appeal to different user-types.
Some users are navigation-oriented and will more likely click on Bio in the site’s navigation, than Hillary’s Story near the bottom of the website. Tool-dominant users may bypass the ‘Donate’ button at the top of the page, and gravitate to the Donation amounts at the bottom of the page.
5. Appeals to the Target Audience
The Clinton team focuses on their audience. Hispanics are a large support-base for Democratic nominees and the fastest growing minority, thus the website is available en Español. The video itself, even features a Spanish-speaking Everyday American, not simply a person of Hispanic heritage, but a person whose primary language seems to be Spanish, which hints at an immigrant or first-generation American.
This technique subtly tells prospects that the candidate is interested in people of all minorities. This is supported by the website’s opening graphic – Clinton is photographed deeply interested in a marginalised population segment in what looks to be a community centre.