Voice Broadcasting has changed the way political campaigns are run. Wholesale VoIP has created a streamlined means of influencing voters in a scalable, affordable way.
Politics as we know it could not occur without voice broadcasting. Millions of calls are placed during a large-scale campaign. If a contemporary candidate were to turn back the clock 25 years and forego political call strategy, they would lose every current election or go bankrupt trying to succeed without it.
What is Wholesale VoIP Voice Broadcasting?
Voice broadcasting has come of age since its beginnings in the 1990s. In its simplest terms, voice broadcasting is a technology for distributing pre-recorded messages to thousands of recipients simultaneously over VoIP telephony. These calls are quickly produced and quickly disseminated. And theyre amazingly cost effective sometimes fractions of a cent per call.
If youve never received one of these calls, youre probably not registered to vote. By 2006, 64% of voters were receiving pre-recorded voice broadcasts during the final weeks of the senatorial and congressional elections.* And the number is only growing.
*Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project November 2006 Election Survey. Notes: The survey N was 2,562 with a margin of error of ±2%.
How Is Wholesale VoIP Used?
A politicians broadcast message is used to elicit either positive or negative results. Candidates or their endorsers apply voice broadcasting to encourage a specific voter behavior or discourage that behavior in the opposition.
Get Out The Vote. Known as GOTV calls, these personalized audio messages are sent to known supporters on the days leading up to an election to remind voters to get to the polls.
Persuasion Calling. Utilizing techniques of influence, Persuasion Messaging (sometimes referred to as Push Calls) can reach tens of thousands of voters with the same message, at the same time, to change or reinforce a political belief.
Fundraising. Campaign fundraising is a labor-intensive process, involving many people. Voice broadcasting allows a candidate to reach their potential donors with a consistent message using minimal personnel.
Event notification. Schedules are tight on the campaign trail. As meet and greet opportunities arise, voice broadcasting lets supporters in on last-minute details.
Public opinion polls. Gathering information on constituents is critical to campaign planning. Automated telephone polling gets the job done effectively and affordably.
Why VoIP?
VoIP is perfectly positioned to support election campaigns. Why? Because wholesale VoIP is designed to handle high-volume, short-duration calls typical of political campaigns. The phone company prohibits or penalizes short call traffic. In bypassing phone company surcharges with IP technology, VoIP allows large-scale campaigns at a fraction of the cost of PSTN.
And the scalability is powerful. Because its virtual, Wholesale VoIP technology provides affordable options for rapid scalability should a candidates lead narrow. As the needs of the campaign change, virtual call paths can be added with no additional equipment and at minimal cost.
Also, call termination is easy with VoIP due to its packet-switched technology. With circuit-switched technology like old-fashioned phone company PSTN termination can be delayed.
The Future of Tele-Campaigns
The future of Wholesale VoIP for tele-campaigns promises more automation. Branching will be more detailed and intuitive. For example, statistical methods can be applied to extrapolate voter views on an issue based on answers to another, seemingly unrelated question. Video is also on the horizon, leveraging the videocalling technology inherent in VoIP. In any case, Wholesale VoIP for elections is here to stay. No other technology has as far-reaching, cost savings, scalability and distribution power.
The implications of this technology are enormous. Voice broadcasters can contact constituents almost immediately and all of them receive the message at the same time. For political candidates, voice broadcasting has become an absolute necessity. Using the telephone, they can mass communicate to a segmented group with a message customized just for them. Holding a fundraising event for women voters? Get all those phone calls done in minutes instead of days.
As populations grow, Wholesale VoIP easily and affordably scales to accommodate more call paths. No extra equipment, no additional wires, no time-consuming installation.
