One talking point that has emerged so far is that just about everyone involved in the UK election industry – you know, those politicians, party activists, journalists, PRs, ad agency mad men, pollsters, quiz-show comedians and assorted pundits who live for the big campaign – is beginning to wonder if this one will be unlike any other when it comes to media.

With many of the consultants who helped devise the strategy behind Barack Obama’s successful US presidential run – with its extensive use of social media and other online touch points – heading to the UK as election advisors, the British political machine finally appears ready to embrace the digital age.

Will that make a fundamental difference to the way election campaigns unfold in the UK? Not very likely.

Social media has become a kind of cure-all for whatever ails marketing programmes of all types – and political “brands” are no exception. The Conservatives have already made an early, near-disastrous foray into the world of social media with the Cash Gordon website launched on Twitter and Facebook. The aim was to embarrass Brown by exposing links to the Unite union, but the site ended up being hijacked by opponents of the Conservatives who used it to embarrass the Tories themselves by uploading swearing, porn, links to Labour websites and even Rick Astley videos.

This underlines the inherent risk to any brand – whether it is a political party, a corporation, a charity, a restaurant, a car, a laundry soap, or a biscuit – if it chooses to engage the public through social media: this opens a dialogue in a medium over which the organisation that started the conversation has very little control.

When political groups, companies, or other organisations start using social media to get a message across, it all too often smacks of GMOOT (“Get me one of those”) syndrome, as it has been dubbed in AdAge. This is the trend whereby someone senior in an organisation sees that someone else is using some type of social media and demands that those below him do the same – without thinking things through strategically. 

Any organisation – especially a political party – has to weigh up the benefits and potential costs, and even dangers, of launching a campaign using social media. And digital activity still has to be part of a broader media campaign that unfolds and fits in with a wider strategy.

Social media might seem like a great way for a party like the Conservatives to make a connection with a younger demographic than they normally might, but it has already been shown that it can blow up in their faces. Would social media on its own enable David Cameron to connect with younger voters and finally get his chance to hug a hoodie – rather than be mocked by one? Don’t bet on it.

What you can bet on is that social media will play a part in the campaign – perhaps even a growing part as the run-up to election day progresses and the parties get a handle on digital – but television, newspapers, radio, doordrop brochures and good old-fashioned face-to-face campaigning will still all be big in the mix.

Cute tweets and virals may make for good water cooler chat and headlines but they won’t drive fundamental change – either in the political landscape or in business.

Campaign magazine’s table of the biggest UK media agencies showed eight of the top 10 suffered a drop in billings between 2008 and 2009 – including a more than 10% slump by number one agency MediaCom, a 16.5 % fall by number four Mindshare and a 22.5% plunge by number six Starcom UK Group. The headlines also showed that WPP Group, which owns Mindshare, saw its profits fall by 16% in 2009.

But is there more to these figures than just the recession? We are now living in an age where companies are realising that they can rely less on traditional media vehicles such as newspapers, radio and even television and can instead speak more directly with their customers through digital media.

We already see print media owners struggling as newspapers and magazines grapple with ever-shrinking page counts and staff cuts. The long-term trend may be that the fragmenting TV marketplace, radio and other conventional media will be facing similar issues sooner rather than later.

Before the recent news on media agencies seeing their billings slump, we had a lot of talk in PR Week about Richard Sambrook, former head of global news at the BBC, jumping on the PR bandwagon to become “chief content officer” at a global PR agency to help clients create written, video and audio pieces.

This recognition that, in future, communicating with customers, stakeholders and the public at large will be about more than traditional PR – ie. placing articles in print publications or arranging broadcast interviews for clients – is nothing new to us here at Lindsell Marketing. Generating content that can fuel PR initiatives, marketing campaigns, websites, sales programmes and other ways of talking to the marketplace is a future that has already arrived here.

So while the recession may have accelerated the process, the change we see taking place in the way companies, government departments and other organisations communicate with the world around them is a permanent shift we have seen coming – and that includes PR as well as other traditional ways that companies communicate. The key going forward will be to develop the right content to fuel the new communication engines that are replacing traditional media vehicles.

Lindsell Marketing’s content rich approach to Digital Communications means that we can deliver interesting digital communications that are tailored to the many online channels out there. We create blogs, e-bulletins, video scripts and presentations which are thought provoking and contain consistent and relevant messages across all online channels.

The result is that your company stands out in a crowded online marketplace whilst making the most out of each digital communication channel with hard hitting, relavant messages for your target audience.

What is the Lindsell difference?

• We understand the different online channels and can develop strategies and messages to fit the digital communication
• We understand the marketplace you operate in and the industries that you want to sell to
• We have an experienced team of copywriters
• We develop thought leadership materials branded to you that can be adapted for all digital communications
• You can trust us to take it off your hands.

What does content rich Digital Communications include?

• Fresh content in a digestible format for your website, blogs, e-newsletters, videos, and social media outlets
• Recommendations on frequencies, messaging and media
• Up-to-date content through third party news sourcing and editing
• Content tailoring for each digital channel.

At Lindsell Marketing, we know that the proof is in the eating.  If you’re hungry to find out how we do this, read a selection of our case studies.

Lindsell Marketing’s approach to content rich SEO is different.  Our knowledge of the vertical markets means that we have a thorough understanding of your prospects’ industries and the language used.  The result is an SEO strategy which identifies the keywords that will drive hot prospects to you online.  Integrate this tool with your digital communications strategy and you get a powerful online presence that generates real leads.

What is the Lindsell difference?

• Our understanding of the marketplace you operate in and the industries that you want to sell to mean that we can identify, analyse and recommend the key terms used by your prospects
• We have dedicated research and senior marketing consultants to develop your SEO strategy
• We develop thought leadership materials that can incorporate key metadata to give you a joined up approach to SEO and digital communications and increase your online presence effectively
• You can trust us to take it off your hands.

What does content rich SEO include?

• Marketplace and keyword analysis
• Competitor metadata analysis
• Strategy recommendations and testing
• Advice on how to repurpose this knowledge for marketing campaigns, both on and offline.

At Lindsell Marketing, we know that the proof is in the eating.  If you’re hungry to find out how we do this, read a selection of our case studies.

Lindsell Marketing offers its content rich Marketing Campaigns service to enable a joined up approach to lead generation.  An effective campaign will have: strong messaging written in the customer’s language, accurate data and intelligent data analysis for effective targeting, design that impacts and is relevant to the content, quality execution platforms to deliver the campaigns, and finally, campaign analysis to identify how the campaign performed and the lessons learnt.

Lindsell Marketing can deliver all this and more, helping organisations to enrich their marketing campaigns and generate real leads.

What is the Lindsell difference?

• We immerse ourselves in your organisation and understand the markets your prospects and customers operate in
• We create campaigns that speak the customer’s language
• We can build and deliver an integrated lead generation machine that
• We can drive web traffic through the development of content rich newsletters, mail shots with white paper access, to name a few.
• We ensure that messaging is integrated and consistent across all communication channels with the customer (web, PR, email, newsletters)
• You can trust us to take it off your hands.

What does content rich Marketing Campaigns include?

• Building effective marketing databases
• Market profiling
• Generate original content to suit tactical campaign themes
• Matching right content with the right customer profile
• Campaign creative and execution
• Campaign analysis to gauge ROI and feed back successes and lessons learnt.

At Lindsell Marketing, we know that the proof is in the eating.  If you’re hungry to find out how we do this, read a selection of our case studies.