Hints on what to look for when hiring Internet consultants so your campaign gets the most out of this powerful new communication medium
Just look at the facts: Over 60 million Americans have Internet access. According to the Graphic, Visualization & Usability Center's (GVU) 7th User Survey, 83 percent of Internet users are registered to vote and of those registered, 55 percent voted in the 1996 general election.
There's more:
* 1996 election exit polling suggests that more than a quarter of all voters are online and about 10 percent made their voting decisions based upon information collected primarily from the Internet.
* Both the Clinton and Dole presidential campaigns reported that nearly one-third of their volunteers had gotten involved in the campaign via the Internet (website or email).
No, the Internet is not going to replace TV of radio. But '98 is the year when politics will come to terms with the fact that this is not a fad, but a highly effective way to communicate with the masses. Candidates and their staffs will discover that the Internet is an effective medium, just like radio, television and mail. In fact, it has the potential to become the most effective medium for reaching voters because of its unique interactive qualities.
This year, the Internet will take its rightful place in the campaign media mix.
But how will campaigns employ this medium? How are they going to use this medium to deliver their message, mobilize the mass and get out the vote? How will they integrate the Internet into their media mix to maximize this resource?
Contrary to the practices of '96, the answer is not going to your local Internet service provider and asking them to "set you up." Nor is the answer going to a local web development firm (albeit a professional firm with a portfolio full of Commercial sites or some college kids who dabble in HTML between classes).
If you're running a campaign or a political committee, here is what to look for when identifying an Internet consultant for your team:
* Find a consultant or firm with political campaign experience. They need to bring both technical and political experience to the table. If you end up trying to teach them how a campaign works, your site development will be a protracted and painful experience. Ultimately, your Internet campaign will prove to be ineffective at best and an incredible drain on your valuable resources at worst.
* You need a firm that is fluent in the advanced programming and systems aspects of the Web, but more importantly, understands how to put the Internet to work. You need someone who knows how to generate traffic to a political website.
* Your team needs to be familiar with how to set up secured websites so that sensitive transactions (like fundraising) can be conducted over the Internet with confidence and confidentiality. They need to understand security issues, and should be able to advise you on how best to protect your server from hackers and how to employ encrypted e-mail for sensitive campaign communications.
* They need to have an adequate staff of programmers and designers. Come October, you're going to be in full combat mode and so should the team maintaining your site. If all their political client websites need updating at once, something is going to give if they are understaffed.
* Look for a consultant who understands political databases and their applications. The true future of Internet politics lies in developing lists online from data collected from website visitors. These databases can be dropped into word processors (for mail merges), spreadsheets or your e-mail phone-book for mailing "action alerts" or political updates. Likewise, this data could easily be rolled into your prospect mailing lists, too.
* Look for a consultant of the same party as you. Just like any other political business, you don't want to be sleeping with the enemy. Your Internet consultant is not some computer nerd you relegate to the sidelines. To fully integrate this medium into your strategy, he or she needs to have a seat at the table in your strategy meetings. For instance, let's say it's three weeks before the election and you're ready to go on the air in a few days. Your Internet consultant needs a copy of the ad to convert it for use on your website as the ad hits the air. Would you really trust your un-released ad to someone who doesn't vote the same as you? Worse yet, someone who has clients on both sides of the aisle?
When selecting your Internet consultant:
* Look at their portfolio: How many websites have they developed? Take a look at their work. Are their websites easy to navigate and visually engaging? Most importantly, look at the content and functionality of their websites. Remember the web is much more than pretty pictures.
* Check their references. Talk to their other clients.
* Find out how they plan to integrate the Internet into your campaign operations. How will they employ the Internet to make it a political tool that complements your election efforts? After all, you're looking for more than a really cool website. You need a political tool that will help make your campaign more effective. Otherwise, you're wasting your money.
* Be sure to understand all the fees that will be associated with the development and maintenance of your website and other Internet services. Find out what is included in standard "development fees" and what is extra.
You need to understand what your ongoing costs are going to be. If your site is to be effective, it will need to be updated frequently, and this means high maintenance.
* Make sure the firm is properly staffed and can handle your maintenance needs in a timely manner throughout the election cycle. Beware of the two guys with a computer operating out of the basement of their house.
Similarly, you want to steer clear of college students who are developing websites between their classes and studies. In fact, for maintenance purposes, you need to ask your developer what their ratio of personnel to political websites is. You want to avoid having a firm where its programmers are torn between the immediate needs of their political clients in the crunch time that follows Labor Day.
* Enter a contract with your Internet consultant just as you would any other campaign adviser. Be sure it includes a 30-day escape clause. And just like when you sign with a fundraising or direct mail consultant, you need to have language making it clear that you own the list of people who contact your campaign or committee via the Internet and that they have no rights to use or sell your list for any other purposes.
* Beware of web developers bearing unbelievably great deals. I don't know which old adage is more appropriate: "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is" or "You get what you pay for." Make sure you have all the facts before entering a contract with anyone.
Throughout the development process, be mindful that your website should be more than an online brochure - you need a functional political tool. Yes, your website needs to be graphically appealing and contextually engaging, but it is also going to be a vehicle for disseminating and collecting highly valuable voter information.
Keep in mind that your website is targeting at least three specific audiences:
First, the general public. By providing timely information on the key issues of the day, your website will serve as a distribution point for your campaign's message. The site will also be employed to refute the misinformation disseminated by your opponents.
Second, the news media. By providing a clearinghouse of information for the press, your website enables reporters to access the latest news releases and "rapid response" statements. The objective is to train the media to rely on your site for critical information.
The final and most important audience is your own campaign team. Your website should be a prime vehicle for providing timely information, not only to your field operatives, but to your political coordinators and volunteers. Some of this information will be provided via the public aspects of the website, but most of the insider "organizational" information will be distributed via secured applications.
Utilizing secured webservers that encrypt all communications between the user's keyboard and the server, your political coordinators in the cities and counties of your state or district can be briefed on breaking news and provided the latest strategic information.
In this day and age, you cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a self-proclaimed "web developer." Hopefully, these tips will help you pick the right player for your team.
Some may argue that there are no vendors that fit all the criteria put forth. This is not true: there are many on both sides of the aisle. And like the Internet itself, expect that there will be many more by the 2000 election cycle.
From this point forward, as you plan your kitchen cabinet and begin selecting your consultants, tell your general consultant and pollster to scoot a little to the side. Tell your media, fundraising and direct mail consultants to make a hole - and make it wide. It's time to make room at the table for the Internet consultant.
Mike Connell is president of New Media Communications, based in Cleveland, Ohio.
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