My guess is that by the time the November Presidential election is over we will have an excellent case study of the true power of an integrated on-line marketing strategy. Both Senators Obama and McCain are creating a digital dialogue with their supporters.

John Sutton, Senior Information Architect for Navigation Arts offered this opinion in “Strategy Tips for Presidential Websites“: It is possible that the next presidency is literally clicks away, making a user-centered Web approach more critical than ever for current candidates. The stakes have never been higher.

Metrics are being applied (I do love metrics) to track the internet performance of the candidates. Spartan Internet Consulting has created The Spartan Internet Political Performance (SIPP) Index. It claims to be the first quantitative metric to measure the Internet-wide performance of each Presidential candidate for the 2008 election. The Index is comprised of over 650 quantitative factors measuring the level of support and how well each candidate is connecting with individuals across the Internet.

One can assume that the ultimate measure of the candidates’ on-line strategy effectiveness and the return on marketing investment will be in the election results. For the rest of us, it may be measured by what we can learn from their on-line efforts, triumphs and mistakes.