Throughout the year, our political strategy team fields questions from general consultants, campaign managers, Republican politicians and professional caucus managers from across the country. They all want to know one thing: How to run a successful political campaign.
We interviewed Arena Senior Vice President, Steven Ostrow, who told us there are 3 things he tells prospects when asked how to run a successful political campaign:
- Define the persuadable voter universe
- Add OTT/CTV to your paid media mix
- Keep It Simple: raise money, identify voters, and talk to them
Here’s Our Interview with Steven Ostrow
Arena Editorial Staff: What is the number one thing campaigns should be doing now to prepare for their next election?
Steven Ostrow: To win in November, you must first define a persuadable voter universe as early as is practical. The bulk of a campaign spend goes to paid voter contact through print, digital and broadcast advertising.
The better focused the plan is on your key audience — likely persuadable voters — the more effective your advertising will be. Defining your target audience early will make your paid media pay off when it counts the most.
All politics are local. Every candidate from governor and U.S. Senate, to city council races are going to be talking about similar issues: cost of living, immigration, healthcare, etc.
Once you’ve identified your target audience, you need to hyper-localize the message with examples from your own community in a way only legislative races can.
AES: Okay, so you’ve identified your audience. What’s the next step?
SO: The next step is understanding how that audience consumes media. It’s not enough to know who they are. You need to know where and how to reach them. There are a number of tools that can help map this out.
For example, if a segment of your target audience isn’t streaming or watching much broadcast TV, you won’t reach them with traditional video. That’s where channels like direct mail and SMS become essential.
On the other hand, if your audience is spending more time consuming streaming content than they are on social platforms, your budget should reflect that. That means leaning more into video and connected TV rather than over-investing in platforms like Meta or X.
At the end of the day, it’s about aligning your channel mix with real audience behavior, not assumptions.
AES: What trend are you watching that could most impact the coming election?
SO: Voters today spend three times as many hours on the open internet, compared to the walled gardens of social media. This includes paid media channels such as gaming, digital audio and OTT/CTV.
Social media is an important part of running a successful political campaign. It’s good for name ID, like a yard sign on the internet. It’s also a great source for relatively inexpensive online fundraising leads, but that importance is diminishing.
OTT/CTV are getting a lot of attention right now and for good reason: it’s a digital product that provides benefits like audience targeting frequency control and optimization that broadcast channels can not provide.
As such, I recommend partnering with an experienced digital media firm that has direct experience in the OTT/CTV space. Make sure their process includes:
- a buying platform
- ad certification/verification software
- an ad server
- first-party data targeting
- measurement tools to gauge reach, frequency and incremental reach
Having these features is the only way to ensure your ads are actually being seen on quality inventory and are reaching your target audience.re actually being seen on quality inventory and are reaching your target audience.
AES: What lesson have you learned the hard way, that everyone should know?
SO: If you want to run a successful political campaign, KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid. Raise money, identify target voters and talk with, not at, voters. Do this and you will turn voters out.
It’s always fun to look for the latest and greatest piece of new campaign tech, but if you focus on the basics, you’ll win a lot more races than you lose.
Arena Knows How to Run a Successful Political Campaign
If you’d like to learn more about running a Republican political campaigns that wins, contact us now and start the conversation!
