McNerney team uses headlines to tell the story

The folks who are running Congressman Jerry McNerney's blog understand marketing and writing for the web. Take a look at the picture above and glance at the headlines in the right column (recent posts).

[Well, until I can get Blogger to display the image properly, I'll repeat the headlines here so you can actually read them. They are: McNerney votes for Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act, McNerney helps prevent cuts to lab worker retirement benefits, Contra Costa Times: "McNerney comes through...", Did you know Richard Pombo's "longtime friend" is running against me?, What you want: "Give 'em hell, Jerry!", and McNerney on releasing earmark requests: "I came to Washington on a campaign of openness and ethics".]

Headlines that stand on their own to tell your story are marketing 101, but too many campaign blogs choose cute or clever over compelling. Informative headlines are even more important on the web because people may be subscribing to your feed and only ever seeing the headline. When you can't be sure people are getting the whole article, you better be sure to use the headline to get your top-line message across.

--Louella Pizzuti

Related posts

Congressman Jerry McNerney informs, inspires and raises funds online

Integrating the web wins elections

Congressman Jerry McNerney informs, inspires and raises funds online

Jerry McNerney's team exploited the web to pull off an odds-against win in California's 11th CD and they continue to set themselves apart by updating their web presence regularly while the Congressman serves.

What's unusual about this? Well, most campaigns completely ignore their web presence after the election. Many (if not most) don't even change their site to reflect the fact that the election's over. This is a big mistake. If someone seeks you out in person do you ignore them until you need their endorsement, cash or vote? Of course not. Consider applying the same courtesy to the folks who seek you out online.

McNerney's campaign does this elegantly and reliably. They focus their updates on their blog, where a quick glance reveals:

--excerpts from local papers lauding the Congressman
--fundraising pitches
--insight into Congressman McNerney's votes or actions
--invitations to in-district events

Is McNerney's blog devouring lots of staff resources? Highly unlikely. It looks like most of what they're posting is repurposed content: letters, clips and fundraising requests.

Is the lack of comments an indication that no one's reading his blog? Hardly. On May 25th, when they posted McNerney's explanation of his vote against giving President Bush another blank check to wage the war in Iraq, there were a whopping 183 comments. In May.

McNerney himself responded to the comments (at comment 164) and the campaign wisely created a new post to spotlight his comment.

This, I am happy to report, fits solidly in the "best practices" category: An elected official who invests in communicating with voters throughout the session, who leverages work done elsewhere by posting it on the web, and who publicly responds to constituent concerns. Who wouldn't vote for this guy?

Jerry McNerney's making sure that any constituent who wants to know what he's doing on his or her behalf has resources galore at their fingertips; are you?

--Louella Pizzuti

Related posts

Integrating the web wins elections

Integrating the web wins elections

Just ask (now Congressman) Jerry McNerney's campaign in California's 11th congressional district.

The numbers were grim, voter registration in the district favored the incumbent who'd already served 14 years in office:

44.39% Republican
36.98% Democrat
1.88% American Indendent
.42% Green
16.33% Unaffiliated

But the McNerney team used the web to take the campaign to the people--and to bring the people to the campaign. Fully integrating the web into their campaign helped every aspect of the race.

Said Congressman McNerney,

Winning a Congressional seat is an incredible undertaking. It certainly takes money and lots of it. But anyone who thinks it’s all about money is sadly mistaken. What it really takes is the heart, passion, commitment and dedication of hundreds of supporters.

In our incredible 2006 victory, these ingredients created the people power that overcame a 2-to-1 disadvantage in fundraising, shocking the pundits and power-brokers. I may have initially stood up and decided "enough was enough," but it was the tidal wave of people -- who decided to make a real difference and step up with time, energy, and love of country -- that created the real change.

To be sure, McNerney was a compelling candiate with the heart and guts for a tough fight, but we've all seen such candidates lose when confronted with the fundraising power and name recognition of a long-time incumbent.

McNerney won and the web was a crucial part of his success. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be analyzing McNerney's web presence as an example of online approaches that work. Check out Jerry McNerney's site for yourself and see what you and your campaign can learn from it.

--Louella Pizzuti