Micro-Targeting
Directing specific messages to narrowly defined voter segments.
Short answer
What is Micro-Targeting?
Micro-targeting is the practice of dividing an electorate into narrow segments and delivering to each the message and channel most likely to move it, rather than broadcasting one message to everyone.
Definition
Micro-targeting is the practice of dividing an electorate into narrow segments and delivering to each the message and channel most likely to move it, rather than broadcasting one message to everyone.
Why It Matters
Broad messaging is efficient to produce and inefficient to deliver. Micro-targeting raises persuasion per rupee substantially, but it carries an ethical requirement: the messages must be consistent with one another, because contradictory targeted messaging is deception.
Example in Indian Elections
A campaign may emphasise employment to young voters in an industrial belt and irrigation to farming households in the same constituency — both true, both part of the same platform, neither contradicting the other.
Related Terms
- Anti-IncumbencyVoter sentiment against a sitting representative or government seeking re-election.
- Incumbency AdvantageBenefits accruing to a sitting representative — recognition, resources, access.
- Swing VoterA voter whose choice is genuinely undecided and can be moved by campaigning.
- Vote BankA bloc of voters expected to vote together, usually along community or interest lines.
- Margin PathThe arithmetic route to the number of votes required to win.
- Booth CommitteeA local team responsible for campaign activity at a single polling booth.