Madam Almost President, Fix Your Time Machine
How to stop making content that only preaches to the converted.
A few days ago, the Clinton campaign published a thing on its web site called The Way Back When Machine.
It got some pickup in the press.
It’s pretty neat.
It looks like this:
You press the shuffle button and then — make a shuffling cards sound with your mouth! — it reveals a year from the previous thirty, like so:
It’s a cool little trick.
It’s educational, which makes it useful, which means it has the potential to be shared.
It’s also delightful, which makes it enjoyable, which means it has the potential to be shared.
And it fits into HRC’s marketing strategy which is, paraphrasing from the last debate, please go to double u double u double u dot hillary clinton dot com, which is a page on the information superhighway, for an unbiased presentation on hello I’m awesome, thank you, big smile, wait for applause.
Except no.
As a piece of content marketing, The Way Back When machine fails.
It’s destined to convert absolutely no undecided voters.
That means it’s only function is a cheerleading device for the base — but not an effective one at that.
Let’s fix it. And in the process, maybe convert some Ken Bones.
HRC’s web site reflects how HRC sees the world. It’s unfiltered through media. It’s a safe space.
It’s kind of like a carefully curated Facebook profile that way. How does my hair look. Is this my best self. Ok good.
The purpose of the web site is simple: explain who we are, what we believe in, and why you should vote for HRC.
This is basically how a brand thinks. Sell sell sell.
IOW, it’s marketing 101: the customer must already be aware of us because he’s on our site, now he’s interested in and considering us, let’s convert him.
HRC’s site takes that premise a little bit further. It also provides voter education and registration tools. They do this because the product they’re pitching is a complicated sell.
That’s where the Way Back When machine comes in. It’s marketing 201: the customer is already converted, let’s turn him into an advocate by creating shareable content that will spread throughout social networks.
But that’s where the Way Back When machine fails.
The Way Back When machine is not highly shareable because it’s a gimmick that preaches to the converted, instead of preaching to the 7–11% of voters who are undecided.
You get funny pics, but you don’t get links to historical news articles — which are easily available, and would prove HRC’s case.
You get a juxtaposition across years, but you don’t juxtapose specific dates — which, again, are available and would further prove HRC’s case.
It’s one thing to say something is true. It’s another thing entirely to prove that it’s true.
You may think those are small details. But details make explanations. Details do the work of convincing when someone shares the content. And details remove the onus of explanation from the person sharing the content.
The Way Back When machine doesn’t do any of that. Which means either:
- a) the author isn’t trying to convince you (so it’s preaching to the base, won’t convert)
- b) the author doesn’t know enough to convince you (so it’s…unconvincing)
- c) the author is afraid of trying to convince you by linking to the outside world (so it’s insulting an intelligence, won’t convert)
Now look: I know the Way Back When machine is a minor thing. A garnish. A tiny piece of code meant to grab a few mentions.
But it also speaks to one of the biggest differences between the candidates.
And it could be such a useful tool!
If only HRC’s campaign would invest a little more effort, they’d get a lot more bang for their donated buck.
