Why am I doing this?

As someone who's been working with new media since before it was called new media, I was first surprised by, and then disappointed by the use of the web in political campaigns and elective offices.

I approached some candidates/campaigns who could really benefit from a meaningful web presence--the type of candidates who could use the web to win an odds-against election much like Jerry McNerney did. The campaigns and candidates listened politely and nodded appropriately, but they didn't change their web approach. And they didn't win.

So I started looking for a model campaign--something I could use to illustrate web-centric campaign best practices. And, until I found the McNerney site, I came up dry. It looked like most campaigns (from local to national) created a web presence so they could hang donate, volunteer and subscribe buttons off it. These are all very important parts of the web puzzle, but they are far from a strategy. Even now, the 2008 Presidential hopefuls are investing in technology but they don't seem to have any meaningful strategy.

In a recent segment on political use of the web, someone on the Lehrer News Hour said, "The web is brand new so no one knows how to use it." Similarly, a US News and World Report article (see below) that was published this week is titled "The Internet--It's a potent new tool, but no one's sure how to use it."

No wonder those campaigns and candidates glazed over when I started talking web-centric campaigns--Howard Dean showed them the power of online fundraising but no one had ever shown them how to effectively use the web as an online campaign office. Or even as much more than an outdated billboard with a few buttons for data/cash collection. I am here to point out that the web is not brand new, and there are some folks who know how to use it.

I'm collecting web-centric best practices wherever I find them, and I'm pointing out common mistakes to help campaigns avoid them. And I'm hoping that concrete examples that show the (politically) untapped potential of the web will help politicians and their campaigns think twice about their web strategy (or lack of one).

I'm also hoping that a candidate or campaign that's working for progressive change--preferably in a part of the country where that's an uphill battle--will contact me so I can help them win. Meanwhile I'll continue to post here (to address my need to change the world), and to provide web strategy to Fortune 500 and Fortune 5 billion companies (to address more tangible needs).

Good luck in your campaigns, and let me know if you want some help.

--Louella Pizzuti

What politicians miss about the web, and how I can help

Most campaigns barely scratch the surface of what the web can do for them. They probably have a web site--which means they definitely have a Donate button--but they generally think of their web site as a technology expense instead of a communications investment. Campaigns almost never invest the resources required to use the Internet as an online campaign office: broadening the reach of their messages, inspiring and informing undecided voters, motivating and empowering volunteers or supplementing/highlighting press coverage.

And, as someone who's been immersed in "new media" since the early days at Apple Computer, I'm most perplexed by campaigns that virtually ignore the people who've taken the time to seek them out on the Web. I suppose it's because they can't see the people they're ignoring (or worse, frustrating), but even Web sites with free stat trackers can count them.

Why withhold information from people who actively seek it out?

After hearing a recent segment on the Jim Lehrer news hour, I think I understand why politicians lag behind the business world in embracing Internet technology. Most politicians simply don't have access to people like me who have over a decade of experience using the Web to build relationships and contribute to the bottom line. (Eleven years ago, when most political folks didn't even have email addresses, I was the editor in chief of Apple's webcast of the Atlanta Olympics. Since then I've continued to help businesses expand their reach by building relationships online and off.)

Along with my long history of using the web to communicate, I have a track record of getting voters to cooperate. I was the campaign manager for a state house race in rural Colorado and the counties that followed my plan for voter outreach boasted 97% active voter turnout. I understand technology but, more importantly, I understand "normal" voters and can get them to act.

I can help make your web presence an online campaign office rather than just a billboard. More importantly, I'm offering something new--a way to build relationships with voters instead of just a way to market to them. (I market to voters as well, but the marketing sticks because the relationship exists.) Twenty years from now, my approaches will be commonplace, but now they can level the playing field and make a real difference for the right candidate. (And twenty years from now we'll mock the web laggards in the same way we laugh at the folks who wrote off tv because "no one will want to sit in one place to see something on a screen.")

Interested in hearing how I can help your campaign succeed? I'm available for everything from one-time consultations to complete campaign immersion.

--Louella Pizzuti