During an election cycle, vast volumes of data are generated at lightning speed. And the election isn’t just about the candidates – it’s about our nation, our world and, whether they want it to be or not, major corporations. In such a volatile environment, situational awareness and actionable intelligence are critical to helping you build and protect your brand. So where should you start?

Think about data during an election cycle like a noisy restaurant. When you first enter the restaurant, the overall din hits you like a force. Hundreds of conversations – some yelled, some whispered – all combine together to create one, massive, unintelligible sound.

Unlike political organizations, however, which are deeply embedded in the race, you don’t necessarily need a granular view of every single word or occurrence related to the election. Rather, you need be able to find and analyze the conversations that will be most important to your brand throughout the election cycle.

When creating a strategy to cut through the noise, every communications and branding leader will take a differentiated and personalized approach, but most will focus on a few key areas:

Let’s take a closer look at each area.

Brands

First and foremost, you’ll want to know if your own brand is drawn into a conversation related to the election. Whether mentioned by a candidate or highlighted by the media, brands in the spotlight will be subject to an enormous amount of scrutiny and must be prepared to respond.

By leveraging media analytics to track for any election-related mention of your brand (and your competitors), you will be able to take action as soon as a mention occurs, crafting a response strategy, if necessary, without delay.

Industries

Outside of monitoring for mentions of your own brand, you’ll also want to have a good understanding of how your brand’s industry, as well as other key industries, are being discussed and perceived throughout the race.

Whether it’s energy or insurance, healthcare or financial services, manufacturing or technology, there are a vast number of topics and issues included within almost every industry that candidates love to debate – and use to build their platforms. Even if you aren’t directly involved in one of these industries, one of your customers or suppliers might be. Understanding which industries are hotbeds for electoral discussion is an important part of armoring your communications strategy throughout the race.

Issues

To fully understand the state of industries important to your business, you need to know which issues are driving the conversation.

Whether it’s a hot button topic like climate change or health insurance, or a more niche topic that comes out of the blue, like manufacturing standards under certain regulations, knowing which issues are on the horizon will help you craft the foundation of your communications strategy, identify opportunities and defend your brand loyalty throughout the election.

Election 2020: Brands on the Ballot

While focusing on data related to brands, industries and issues is a useful start to developing your data analytics and communications strategy, sifting through the mountains of data from this approach can be overwhelming.

To learn more about how you can use specialized lenses to further focus your approach to media and data analytics throughout the race to 2020, as well as key takeaways for your election-driven communications strategy, download our latest special report, “Election 2020: Brands on the Ballot.”

Election Pulse 2020

Want to start leveraging media analytics to support your brand through the election? Get in touch with a member of our team to request a demo of Zignal Labs’ Media Intelligence Cloud.

Be sure to ask about our industry-first Election Pulse 2020 solution, a customized, monthly presidential election briefing that does the work for you.

Leveraging data from our sophisticated platform, our team of experts will analyze the brands, industries and issues most important to you, including the linchpin issues from each candidate’s platform, to ensure that you and your team of communications leaders have the situational awareness and actionable intelligence you need to build and protect your brand.