The 2014 Senatorial race may not be as tightly contested in South Carolina as it is in other states, but it closely follows a nationwide trend: the growing spending of PACs (political action committees) and non-profits in promoting certain candidates.

As reported by Sarah Schweppe in The Wall St. Cheat Sheet, PACs and non-profits are behind 50% of television ads in tightly-contested states. The report also says that, while TV remains the traditional medium for political advertisements, the promotion of candidates has now spilled over to the Internet:

Not to mention both parties have turned to digital campaigning (thought television ads remain the largest format), spending about $11 million on online marketing. Again, Republican and Democratic groups spent about the same amount. Here, NextGen Climate Action has spent more than $3.6 million on ads promoting Democratic candidates — including web videos and posts on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Crossroads GPS, a nonprofit that supports Republicans, has spent more than $660,000, and American Crossroads has spent an additional $541,000.

This development only goes to show how powerful online marketing has become, a fact borne out by numerous statistics. The Internet has become a great leveller, providing the same marketing opportunities to small and big businesses alike. For this reason, local companies need to employ the services of online marketing companies in Greenville, S.C., who can help them realize the full value of this booming medium.

New Platforms

To address the changing needs of the growing online marketing arena, industry leaders are constantly adopting new avenues and tools to promote products and services. Online marketing has evolved from simply having a website. Nowadays, a comprehensive internet marketing strategy could also involve SEO, Pay per Click (PPC), and social media marketing, among other platforms.

Local Marketing

One of the newest developments in the industry is local marketing, which focuses marketing activities within the region where a business operates. This works in two ways: first, it eliminates the need to compete against everyone else who is in the same business, but is geographically irrelevant to a company. Second, it allows customers to find a business more easily on the Web, which has become the go-to search medium for products and services, replacing the Yellow Pages and other printed advertising materials.

As experts say, the volume of content a business may dish out becomes immaterial if it is not targeted to the right market. Local companies will do well, therefore, to focus on Greenville, S.C. marketing strategies, and experts like Spark Local Marketing can help achieve this. Not only is this practice more cost-efficient; it can also be better aligned to the goals and objectives of any business.

(Source: Whose Money Will Decide Senate Races?, Wall St. Cheat Sheet, October 25, 2014)