FNC offers the necessary methods and techniques required for successful political marketing and has a network of experts in each area.
I. COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY
A campaign strategy is simply the definition of how to win.
It must answer the following questions:
Who will vote for you?
Why will they vote for you?
Based on this definition, and according to the available resources, it's possible to determine which will be the most adequate technologies for each campaign. A campaign that lacks strategy, will lack a central axis, and this will have a negative impact on all of the other areas within it, regardless of the available resources.
The message is a candidate's and a campaign's most powerful weapon. In order for it to be effective, the message must communicate the campaign's strategy and at the same time, it must permeate all of the campaign's areas.
The message must be credible, and to this end, it must bring together the country's realities with the realities of the society and of the campaign.
II. CAMPAIGN PLANNING AND ORGANIZATION
"A campaign without a plan is like a trip without a map."
William R.Sweeney.
The political-electoral arena is by definition an uncertain and changing terrain. For this precise reason, organization in a campaign must be a central discipline, since a campaign's ability to be organized and to follow a plan will determine its strategic opportunities to a large extent.
Given that a campaign's success is directly related to its organization, it is crucial to have a methodology that defines a campaign's organization and that will thereafter monitor it closely, in order to ensure that the organization lasts throughout the whole project.
III. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
a. QUANTITATIVE
Baseline Poll
In its initial stages, every campaign needs reliable, confidential and substantive information that will enable it to plan the road ahead and develop a winning strategy.
The Baseline Poll provides this information, so it is in fact the first step in a political or electoral campaign. It is also a very useful tool for the development of government and institutional communications projects.
Follow-up Polls
Throughout a campaign, it is of utmost importance to have up-to-date information in order to:
• assess the campaign's effectiveness,
• develop corrective measures,
• detect unforeseen elements in time,
• Carry out advertising post-production tests to evaluate
the material's effectiveness and decide on its continuity.
Hence, follow-up polls allow for management control throughout the campaign.
Relying on periodic, trustworthy information is also a crucial element to avoid the pitfalls generated by the poll wars that take place during a campaign.
Follow-up polls are used in government communications as well, since they reveal valuable information used in strategy development and thereafter make it possible to evaluate a government's communication policy.
Tracking Polls
This system of daily rotating polls offers a flow of permanent information that enables a campaign to react with a degree of speed that becomes a decisive advantage during the last stages of an electoral race.
Tracking polls are also very useful in government communications, offering a constant assessment of public opinion about the issues that the government is most concerned about: overall government performance evaluation, government communication effectiveness, reactions towards extraordinary events. With this information at hand, a government can adapt and implement its communication strategy in the best possible way.
Tracking polls in government communications are also used as a tool for management control.
Exit polls
On Election Day, exit polls are valuable tools for they allow campaign members to control the spin given to the election results.
Some of the exit poll aims are:
• preparation of the post-electoral or run-off speech;
• analysis of group voting patterns;
• fraud prevention;
• generation of positive expectations for the candidate during the Election Day, in the face of partial results handed out by official authorities.
Post-electoral Poll
After Election Day, it is very interesting and useful to carryout a post-electoral poll. Information obtained in these polls reflects people's real behavior during the elections, and offers an opportunity to compare this information with the data collected throughout the campaign.
This is valuable insight for future campaigns, since it is possible to detect behavioral trends among different sectors of the population.
b. QUALITATIVE
Focus groups
If a communications campaign (be it political, electoral or institutional) is to achieve targeted levels of impact and recognition, it is crucial to determine not only who the campaign aims to reach, but how do these target voters think and act, what dreams and expectations they have for themselves and of their leaders (present and future). This knowledge allows a campaign to fine-tune its communications strategy.
Given its qualitative nature, focus groups are an essential tool to:
• test advertising material, both before final production and after it has been aired;
• analyze a politician's, a government's or an institution's image;
• Test new proposals, laws, public policies and products.
IV. POLITICAL ADVERTISING
Advertising plays a crucial role in every political campaign. Nowadays it is practically impossible to carry out a campaign without advertising. However, in order for it to be effective, political advertising must answer two basic questions present in every campaign:
- Which votes do we need to win?
- How can we win them?
This is also the basis of the advertising strategy.
In an environment of extreme competition from commercial advertising, and where the public's receptive capacity is saturated, political advertising must reflect the main issues of the campaign. Creativity must comply with strategy, since "brilliant" spots are no good if they do not communicate the key information that will change a voter's mind.
Since advertising is by far the most expensive part of a campaign, it's crucial that this area be undertaken by professionals with an in-depth experience of the political world.
