LINK TO YOUTUBE VIDEO OF SPEECH ENTITLED Final Project for Communication Class at Patten Universit:

Name: Aaron Ohnemus

Topic: Social Marketing

General Purpose: To persuade

Specific Purpose: To persuade my boss (the State Assemblyman for my district) into seeing how a social marketing campaign to increase voter participation – specifically among millennials – would be beneficial to him.

Main Ideas:

  1. What is social marketing?
  2. My boss can use social marketing to target millennials.
  3. Such targeting will serve my boss well in the polls.

Introduction: Voting is one of the most sacred acts in which Americans have the opportunity — duty, some will even argue – to participate. Junior high and high school students hear it all the time; it is ingrained in Americans from the youngest of ages: men fought and died for our ability to vote, so we should respect that and vote. Yet voter participation is generally low in elections. According to Michael McDonald of electproject.org, only 36% of the electorate showed up to vote in the 2014 midterm elections. Even more abysmal, a mere 9.9 million millennials voted in the elections, with a turnout rate of 21.5% according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).

(Thesis Statement) Used effectively, social marketing is a tool which has the capability to maximize the effectiveness of political campaigns, thus increasing voter turnout and changing elections.

(Preview) This evening, we are going to look into what social marketing is, how it can be implemented to increase participation – specifically among millennials – in elections, and why using it is worthwhile.

(Transition)Even if it were the single greatest idea to ever be conceived, without an understanding of what social marking is, we cannot begin to implement it.

Main Point I: Social marketing is a simple, easily understandable tool.

  1. Social marketing is advertising with the purpose of effecting behavioral change

rather than selling a product for a company’s gain.

* Explain difference between commercial marketing and social marketing

with example: Nicoderm commercial vs. New York State Health

Department’s 2012 campaign, Suffering Every Minute.

  1. The 4 P’s (product, price, place, and promotion).

(Transition) I know what you are thinking: the basics of social marketing is cool, but does it serve a purpose? Is there a practical way for me to use it?

Main Point II: Social marketing can be used to increase millennial participation in political elections.

  1. Educate millennials as to what elected state officials govern – the things they government impact the everyday lives of millennials. (Data from interview: only 1 out of the10 people I interviewed, ages 20-24, knew which body of government governed and affected education and transportation.)
  2. Research which subjects are important to millennials and target those subjects on the campaign trail – use tools they are familiar with, such as social media, to reach them.

(Transition)A candidate who focuses on increasing voter participation with no plan on how to obtain many of those votes is, albeit it well-intentioned, foolish. But with proper coordination and an alignment with the views of the targeted audience, increased voter participation can be instrumental in the outcome of an election.

Main Point III: Targeting millennials through social marketing can be the determining factor in political elections.

  1. According to data produced by the United States Census Bureau in 2014, almost 1/3 of the United States’ electorate is comprised of millennials. As mentioned earlier, only 21.5% of this portion of the electorate voted in the last election, leaving millions of votes uncast.
  2. Bernie Sanders – specifically in the 2016 California primary – is a prime example of how targeting this third of the electorate can change an election. Field.com, a leading polling company in California, reports that he leads in only one age demographic (millennials) making up 30% of the electorate in California. He is down by at least 12 percentage points in every other demographic, but his commanding 77% in the 18-29 year-old has him down only 6% overall to Hillary Clinton.

Conclusion: As I have shown, social marketing is a useful and important tool that can increase the effectiveness of a campaign and change elections. Social marketing is a simple, easily understood tool, it can be used to increase millennial participation in elections, and it can be the deciding factor in elections. Should you implement social marketing in your campaign, you should see thousands more voters vote for you than in the previous election. You will mobilize an entire generation. Experts in the political field search high and low for new, innovative ways to increase voter turnout (generally in their favor), but few seem to find the easiest way: meet the voters where they are and speak about what they would like to hear.

References

  1. McDonald, M. (N.D.). 2014 November General Election Turnout Rates [blog post]. Retrieved from
  2. UPDATE – 21.5% Youth Turnout: Two-Day Estimate Comparable to Recent Midterm Years [blog post]. 2014 November 6. Retrieved from
  3. McCarthy, Jerome E. (1960). Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin.
  4. United States Census Bureau. (N.D.). [data sheet]. Retrieved from
  5. The Field Poll (2016 April 8). Clinton’s lead over sanders declines to six points in California’s democratic presidential primary. Big difference in preferences across subgroups of the likely voter population [press release]. Retrieved from