July 20, 2011 ConnectedNonprofit© | www.connectednonprofit.com | 303.830.1723
How to Borrow from Obama’s Online Fundraising Playbook By: Mandy O’Neill, President, ConnectedNonprofit
The 2012 Obama Campaign juggernaut is on track to become the first billion dollar campaign in
history reporting last week a staggering $86M in fundraising success for the second quarter 2011:
$47M for the campaign and $38M for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to spend in support of the 2012
campaign. In 2008, Obama shattered records raising a campaign war chest of $750M and signing up 1.5 million
volunteers via www.mybarackobama.com.
Is your Board or CEO asking….”why can’t we do that? Or even a fraction of that?” You can easily borrow from
Obama’s playbook to lift your online fundraising results almost immediately. Whether you are “red state” or “blue
state,” you can benefit from analyzing how Obama’s campaign engages online during the rest of this 2012
campaign. There are sure to be plenty of tips you can use immediately to engage and inspire your supporters in the
coming months, but for the past 90 days, the gems from this campaign are:
Goals and Deadlines. The campaign reframed and measured success differently than the same old tired
measure. The campaign set a goal of 450,000 grassroots donors by June 30th
. They did not set monetary target, but
an engagement target, which gave them a distinct message from other political organizations. When the campaign
hit its stated goal a day early, they didn’t
stop. They upped the goal to 475,000 and
surpassed that new goal, with 493,000
donors, by midnight the next day, June
30th, which was the reporting cut-off.
July 20, 2011 ConnectedNonprofit© | www.connectednonprofit.com | 303.830.1723
Online Advertising. According to FEC reports, while the campaign isn’t yet running
television commercials, the campaign spent $700,000 in May for online advertising.
President Obama launched his reelection campaign in early April with a huge online ad
splash aimed at reenergizing his supporters. It seems to be working. The campaign is
using basic behavioral ad tracking technology that has grown in prevalence among
political advertisers…and is available to nonprofit organizations as well. Visitors to the
campaign site are receiving retargeting cookies from online ad networks including
AOL's Advertising.com, Yahoo's BlueLithium, and Google. In the future, they will most
likely receive Obama ads while visiting any of the countless sites in those networks,
because they visited the campaign site. Display ads and large ad takeovers appeared
on liberal sites like DailyKos, Democratic Underground, and Wonkette, as supporters of
Democrats and related causes were served Facebook ads asking "Are You In?" Paid
advertising is a proven way to acquire new donors and activists online. The best ads
encourage engagement such as signing a petition, answering a quiz, or some reason to
capture an email address.
Insider Information or
Exclusive Access. Obama’s
campaign finance numbers
were going to be big news.
Obama’s team knew that
making donors and
supporters the hero in this
story was the right message.
Supporters received a
personalized email from
Obama’s Campaign
Manager, Jim Messina, in
advance of releasing record
breaking numbers to the
press.
July 20, 2011 ConnectedNonprofit© | www.connectednonprofit.com | 303.830.1723
Video. The Obama campaign has always
used video effectively and this second
quarter campaign was no exception. The
campaign embedded video of “insider
information” in an email sent to
supporters in advance of public release of
the FEC reports. The video was also
embedded on a personalized supporter
page if you chose to view it online.
Obama’s Campaign Manager essentially
gave a five minute “investor” report.
There were some celebratory remarks, but
the campaign knew that media outlets
would carry the “monetary success”
message freeing Messina to treat
supporters as investors and the hero of
the success story. Video works because it
connects us.
Frequent Communication. The Obama campaign posts an
average of two (2) tweets per day and 2-3 Facebook posts
per day in addition to email. Leading up to the campaign deadline
of June 30th
, the campaign tweeted eleven (11) times on June 30th
alone. Eight (8) of the eleven (11) tweets were campaign goal
updates. They posted on Facebook six (6) times. They weren’t shy
about communicating, especially the closer to the deadline they got
because supporters are okay with more frequent communication
when a topic is salient or relevant to them.
July 20, 2011 ConnectedNonprofit© | www.connectednonprofit.com | 303.830.1723
Make Donating Easy. Just like the big
online retailers, Amazon, Zappos, and
Apple, the one-page donation form has
been streamlined and tested for maximum
conversion. Multivariate testing is easier
now than ever to test form attributes to get
the best response rates using Google
Optimizer. If you haven’t tested your
donation forms, start tomorrow. You can
increase your conversion rates by up to
30% with the right “trust” logos, like
VeriSign, and the right color and language
on your submit button, and the correct ask
string. Look at the red action buttons on
Obama’s advertising. That button has
clearly been tested.
You don’t have to be a billion dollar
business or political campaign to see real results from multivariate testing.
Celebrate. The Campaign tweeted 25 times on the FEC report release day of Jul 13. 70% of those tweets were
“celebration data points.” Sure, the campaign benefited from vast media coverage of the fundraising success so
they could simply say ‘Thank You’ via email, Twitter and Facebook, and let the major networks and news outlets
spend a 24 hour news cycle talking about the campaign’s monetary success. So what if your nonprofit won’t have
this much coverage. Send several celebration communications from your executive, from a celebrity spokesperson,
major donor, Board member(s), or beneficiary of your services. Any and all acknowledgements are absolutely
appropriate and set you up for success in your next campaign. Your mission doesn’t lend itself to a lot interim
celebration? Then create some milestones to celebrate on the way to your ultimate goal.
July 20, 2011 ConnectedNonprofit© | www.connectednonprofit.com | 303.830.1723
Most important: Social media was a fully integrated communication channel, not treated as a stand-
alone. All campaign messaging via email, Website, Facebook, and Twitter communicated the same message, only
adjusting length and call-to-action to fit the medium. There were nuanced differences between the ads on
Facebook versus banner advertising, but the message was consistent. David Plouffe, the 2008 Obama campaign
manager, reported that this consistent messaging strategy was key to 2008’s success. The campaign was diligent
about consistent messaging with direct mail, telemarketing, media relations, email, mobile, and social media and it
looks like they are again on track to keep the message consistent regardless of the communication channel. You
can do this today with every campaign. The consistent message, regardless of channel, infuses your
communications with authenticity and drives your campaign message home. Advertisers and political campaigns
have long known that too many messages will confuse. Stick to your campaign message “early and often.”
Repeat. It’s a limiting belief that just because you’re not a political campaign, you can’t achieve these same
results. Obama’s team had already started the next short-term
campaign to support a National Day of Action before the second
quarter fundraising campaign was over. You can too. Obama’s
next call-to-action wasn’t as high profiles as the FEC reports, but
as long as you’re doing great work, jump right into your next
campaign.
Looking ahead. Obama for America used mobile pervasively in the 2008
election to sign up volunteers, promote voter registration, and keep
supporters informed. FEC reports limited expenditures with OFA’s mobile
vendor, Mobile Commons, for mobile so far this year. Let’s keep an eye out in
the coming months to see how OFA uses mobile to engage and energize
supporters. Maybe there’s a mobile application on its way?
Sources and References:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-fundraising-report-signals-juggernaut-campaign/2011/07/15/gIQAVQ4gGI_story.html
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2094863/obama-dnc-spent-usd1-million-2012-web-ads
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2040788/obamas-2012-web-campaign-aims-energize-retarget