The idea of a virtual call center may not be the first priority for every company, but there are significant benefits available when considering the different options. CallFire is one company competing in this space that is playing a central role for Political Phone (News - Alert) Banks in the United States. As captured in this company blog, CallFire experiences double, and sometimes triple, the virtual call center usage during each election season.

Political marketers also rely on CallFire solutions to design powerful telephone surveys and notification campaigns that are considered to be critical to campaign managers who are interested in capturing voter preference and geography relevant analytics. Such campaigns are also put in place to ensure less educated voters receive easily understandable information so they can make decisions to vote the next day.

The CallFire cloud telephony consulting team has worked with a number of technologists and campaign managers, discussing the marketing and advertising strategy that will be used to gather support for their candidates. Interestingly, the advertising strategies deployed in politics are not that different from those used in everyday business. The purpose is really the same: to get the target audience to do what you want, whether it is to buy a product or vote for a particular candidate.

CallFire offers some suggestions for political advertising strategies that have been used – and proven successful – over the years. It is important to use creativity to differentiate the candidate from others; use fresh voter registration lists and avoid annoying voters; market the candidate in search results on Google (News - Alert) and Bing; place site-targeted ads for the candidate on political websites; use voice broadcast target geographies with tailored messages; offer multiple ways to accept contributions; enable volunteers to make calls from home; use data from phone or social media surveys for targeting; tailor communication according to audience; use Google surge or Network blast in the days before the election; and partner with an experienced Political Technology company.

While the “Keep It Simple Stupid” as the KISS acronym is used time and again, the message is still important and still applies. When driving a political marketing campaign, the more simple the message, the more clear and concise the delivery, the more effective the overall campaign will be. The most effective messages via phone are really 30-40 seconds, while offering the listener the option to learn more if they want more information. If you want to drive home the message, you have to keep it simple to be effective.

When optimizing a voice campaign to drive an effective message, abiding by a few proven marketing strategies can ensure your ultimate success.