Screwing Up Your Election Website
One of the best marketing tools a political candidate is a website. To put one together takes planning and work, particularly in putting together content. The quality of campaign websites vary as much as candidates themselves. Some are excellent, and some fail to hit the mark.
Below are some of the biggest website blunders we encounter.
Missing Critical Information – We’ve been through this previously, but we still see too many sites without enough basic information. Don’t forget to include the candidate’s name, elected position, location and election date. And if you want people to vote for you, please, please mention the election date. All of this information is critical for search engines to find your website.
Not Enough Quality Material – You may not be running for the elected position in the land, but you still need to convince voters to support you. At a minimum, your site should include a brief biography, reasons why you are qualified for the position, and a request for support. Address some major issues so voters know where you stand, but don’t overload your site with endless blocks of text. Break things up into digestible pieces so you don’t lose visitor interest. Subheaders and bullet points makes content easier to follow.
Not Adding Personality – You want your site to be professional, but that doesn’t mean that your website copy needs to read like a marketing-approved press release. Personal quotes and stories can help voters get to know and like you. On the other hand, being too personal or colloquial can be a negative.
A Lack of Compelling Images or Video – Compelling images helps communicate your story. Enhance your content visually to build your brand and show how your campaign is connecting with the community. How many words is a picture worth? Exactly!
Not Making the ‘Ask’ – Every page should have some call to action. Usually, it’s a request for a vote on a certain date. On a donation page, it’s a request for money. On a volunteer page, it’s a request for support. Don’t assume people know what you want them to do. Tell them! Ask them to donate. Ask people to follow your social media accounts. And most important of all, ask them to vote for you on Election Day. But don’t overload your pages with requests. Too many calls to action can be confusing to visitors. Specific landing pages for different types of traffic are more effective and have higher conversion rates when they are focused on a single call to action.
Spelling and Grammar Errors – This is pretty basic, but important. Would U vot for somone who spell liek this? Always have your campaign material (both print and web) double and triple-checked by outsiders for spelling and grammar.
Not Enough Promotion – It takes more than just a website and a donation page to raise money and win an election. What is your strategy for getting visitors to your site? Has the site been optimized for search engines? Will you run pay-per-click or retargeting ad campaigns? Will you use social media to keep supporters in the loop? Email is still a powerful way to keep in touch and grow your network. You need a strategy that extends beyond the website.
Online Candidate includes a complete system to easily create and edit your own campaign website. Clients have access to our full article archive, resources and tools at OnlineCandidateResources.com
Sample Campaign Fundraising Letter – Online Candidate
Below is a sample template for an initial fundraising appeal from a candidate to a friend or close acquaintance. This is a template letter from the Online Candidate Political Letter Templates package.
To give you a better idea of how to create a political request, note the basic letter structure. This sample campaign contribution letter begins with a candidate introduction, followed by specific issues and suggestions for solving those issues.
Next comes an intent to run, and a request for support along with a specific, time-sensitive contribution request. It’s wrapped up with a thank-you and reminder about the campaign website where supporters can find out more information about the campaign and how they can help.
Here is sample letter asking for political support:
Fundraising Letter Templates
These election campaign fundraising letter samples will give you a head start and ideas to create solid campaign correspondence. Get your message across in a professional manner that will lead to more donor action. With these political letter templates, you can create:
- Well-written fundraising appeals that brings in donations.
- Endorsement requests that help capture you in the best light.
- Press releases that the local media will be happy to print.
- Use the copy in all your election brochures, leaflets and handouts.
The full letter package contains:
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- Political Donation Thank You Letter – Event Related
- Political Donation Thank You Letter – General
- Endorsement Letter To the Editor Samples
- Political Endorsement Request
- Support and Endorsement Request to PAC [NEW]
- Political Fundraising Appeal to Close Family and Friends
- Fundraising Appeal to Friends and Acquaintances
- Fundraising Appeal – After Primary
- Fundraising Appeal – On Behalf of Candidate
- Fundraising Appeal – Acknowledging Tough Times
- Fundraising Appeal – Followup
- Fundraising Appeal – Final Push
- Personal Invitation Letter
- Press Release – Entry into the Political Race
- Press Release – Website Announcement
- Press Release – Endorsement
- Press Release – Campaign Event
- Press Release – Position Statement
- Press Release – Post Fundraiser Event
- Press Release – Political Apology
- Press Release – Post Election
- Thank You Letter – Event Speaker
- Volunteer Followup Letter
- Volunteer Thank You Letter
- Campaign Letter Writing Tips
- Local Press Release Resources
- Additional Resources
Save time and effort with your campaign correspondence. Download our Political Letter Templates or save with our Digital Combo Package.
Political Campaign Fundraising Letter Tips
Whether you are raising campaign seed money or contacting previous donors, here are some tips when writing your fundraising letters to make them more effective. These suggestions work for both mailed print letters or email requests.
- Personalize your fundraising letter as much as possible. Make sure the donor’s name is used in the salutation. Segment your letters to the recipient. For example, if there is a issue that you know the donor cares about, don’t send a generic fundraising letter. Have the letter relate to that particular issue.
- Make donor appeals relevant to their relationship with you. A first-time donor letter should be different than a letter to a long-time supporter.
- Make it easy to read. Break up your letter with interesting subheaders and short paragraphs.
- Make the ask. Don’t be wishy-washy and ‘hope they can give’. Tell the recipient exactly what you want them to do. Don’t just ask for money; ask for a specific amount of money. If you know the recipient is a big donor, make the requested amount higher. If you ask for just a little money, that may be all you get.
- Give options to donate online. Not everyone will take the time to write a check, but they may find it more convenient to make an online donation. Provide a link to the campaign website where they can donate. If your web site landing page can match the specific fundraising appeal, it will convert even better.
- PS it. Don’t forget a postscript at the end of your letter to remind the donor that time is short. If the recipient doesn’t give right away, they may forget to do so later.
- Don’t forget an SASE. If you are sending by snail mail, include a return envelope. That alone will increase the chances that your donors will contribute.
- Follow the law. All political fundraising material should contain relevant disclaimers as required by your state or local law.
Writing an effective fundraising piece takes work. Your letters should include some basic information for the donor. For example: You should let them know what elected position are you running for. Tell them why you running for office. More importantly, you should let the recipient know what the benefit is for THEM. What will they get out of helping you? Will they get lower taxes, school improvements, tighter law enforcement?
How much money do you need to raise? Is this a generic appeal or a specific one? (Specific appeals are more effective.) You won’t be able to raise your entire campaign budget from one fundraiser. If you get people to invest early on, they will continue to support you. You can count on initial donors to give again and again in the time leading up to Election Day.
Download our Political Campaign Letter Templates or save with our Digital Combo Package.
Creating a Political Campaign Swipe File
In marketing, a swipe file is a collection of excellent sales letters and materials that provide an easy reference for ideas for creative projects. Maintaining a swipe file is a common practice for advertising copywriters and creative directors.
You can use the same technique for your own political campaign.
You need all the help you can get if you are the person who writes brochure copy, campaign website material, and advertising material for a political campaign. With a swipe file, you can study persuasive techniques and provide a template for your own writing. Using reference material that you’ve previously saved can save production time, help you overcome writer’s block, and jump-start your creative process.
Whenever you find a great campaign mailing, brochure, or copy, add it to your swipe file. You will have no shortage of material during election season. Sign up for larger campaign and non-profit email lists. (You may want to use a dedicated email address for this purpose.) This can help you collect ideas from professional copywriters and marketers.
Emails, graphics, and screen shots are easy to save. For non-electronic material, take a picture and save it digitally. Set up a folder on your computer to store your files. Online tools like Evernote are great for storing and organizing material. You can capture, organize, and share notes from anywhere and keep them in sync.
Organize your content into categories, such as interesting quotes, effective emails, and advertising ideas. Before long, you’ll have a repository of inspirational content to reference when you create your own campaign material.
Picasso is credited with the saying, ‘Good artists copy; great artists steal.’
Is swiping stealing? Not if you do it right.
But don’t be a thief. Plagiarism is defined as taking the original work or works of another and presenting them as your own. Directly lifting text, images, or campaign slogans from other sources will very likely come back to bite you.
There is a long history of politics and plagiarism, ranging from speeches to slogans to political campaign brochures. Everything is searchable on the internet.
Instead, use your swipe file to understand how materials can be effective and engaging. Always rework and rewrite material for your own use. Give it your own personality.
Political campaigning is just another way of marketing. Studying successful marketing material is a great way to develop your own effective campaign content.
Start collecting for your swipe folder today!
From setting up a political online presence to social media setup to IP Voter Targeting, Online Candidate can help your election campaign.
Choosing a Political Campaign CMS
Most websites these days use some sort of Content Management System (CMS). A CMS is a tool that facilitates the process of creating, posting, organizing, and managing site content.
For any CMS there exists a balance between functionality and ease of use. Price is also a factor, but you can pay thousands of dollars for a CMS and not get the features you need – or you could get stuck with a bunch of features you don’t want. Building a campaign website is more than simply adding a political website template to a website or a content management system (CMS) like Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal.
Online Candidate is a custom CMS designed specifically for the needs of a local political campaign with limited resources. It’s designed to be simple for a political candidate or campaign member to update and maintain, and to present a professional look to voters.
Will it work for you?
That depends. What are you looking to accomplish with your website? How many people will be updating the site? How large will your site need to be? Make a list of your basic requirements.
Now consider the time and cost of setting up your own CMS (even a ‘free’ one) and designing the site’s look and feel. Compare Online Candidate to other content management systems. Go ahead, we’ll wait.
Back already? Great! Now see if Online Candidate’s feature set meets your needs. Try our website demo to see how it works.
We’ve worked with hundreds of political campaigns, and we like to think our service as more of a resource than simply a ‘CMS site’ provider.
For more tips on getting ready to launch your site, visit our free download section and subscribe to our email list below!
9 Tips For More Effective Political Banner Ads
Political campaigns try to reach voters wherever they are. Candidates still use traditional methods, such as door-to-door canvassing, yard signs and mailing. Today, political campaigners increasingly leverage online opportunities to promote their message to voters.
Even local campaigns use digital means for outreach. This includes social media, advertising on search engines, retargeting website visitors, email and text messaging – and even online polling. The modern political campaign lives and dies online.
But competition for users’ attention is greater than ever. Your digital ad campaign needs to stand out to be effective.
Tips to improve banner ad visibility and effectiveness
Faces add interest. Logos are nice, but an image of a face on an online display ad draws immediate attention. Add a picture of the candidate (or opponent) to create visual interest. A strong image combined with a strong message is your best bet.
Match your color schemes. One of your online advertising goals is to brand your campaign to voters. Maintain a consistent color scheme between you website, signs and print materials. A consistent look helps improve the visibility of your political ads.
Use a call to action. Include clear messaging and a direct call to action (CTA). A CTA statement can include “Vote on…” , “Learn More” or “Support Us Now”. Make a proposition or ask a question that encourages people to click your ad and find out more. Tell the user what you want them to do. Stick to one message or CTA per ad. If you have more than one message or request, then create a separate ad for it. You don’t have much room on a banner ad, so make the most of your space.
You can be a little odd. Ads that are nice and clean tend to blend in with a web page. Something should make your political ad stick out. It might be to include bold colors and large lettering. Another trick is to make your ad asymmetrical or use lines that are somewhat tilted. Anything that makes your ad stand out from the rest of the web page content will help it perform better.
Add disclaimers. Your online political advertising (including your campaign website) should include the proper disclaimers. Those disclaimers should follow your local election laws and regulations.
Create multiple sizes. Remarketing or IP marketing campaign ads appear across many websites and types of devices. Having multiple ads sizes will accommodate both the desktop and mobile audience.
Four types of digital political advertising
People who study political advertising understand that there are four major types: persuasion, information, identification and mobilization.
- About the Candidate Ads: These informational ads are used to introduce a candidate or organization to the general public. They often highlight the logo and visual aspect of the campagn.
- Political Issue Ads: These are an effective way to highlight a specific issue and persuade voters. Issue ads that are not targeted can be ineffective and can actually benefit your opponent. Targeting the ads to those who will be most responsive to the message will increase their effectiveness and reduce wasted spending.
- Endorsement Ads: One way for candidates to build trust with voters is through the use of endorsements from trusted organizations and individuals. These ads are targeted at voters that identify with or have similar interests to help establish credibility.
- Get Out The Vote Ads: Voter mobilization and turnout is a primary goal for all campaigns. Get Out The Vote ads are a great way to get your message in front of potential voters and drive them to the polls.
The most common display ad sizes (in pixels) are:
- 300×250
- 336×280
- 728×90
- 320×50
- 160×600
- 300×50
Size also applies to creative files themselves. Optimize your images for the smallest file size possible. Ad networks will not serve ad creative files that are too large or improperly formatted.
Split test your ad creatives. If your digital ad campaign is running long enough, consider A/B split testing your ad creatives. Make several versions of your initial ads and see which performs better. A different background color or adding a button can change the conversion rate of an ad.
Target your audience. Most local political campaigns don’t have a huge budget. Advertising must be targeted to voters who are most likely to respond. Retargeting ad campaigns reach out to those who have already visited your website. Other forms of display advertising, like Pay Per Click and IP Marketing can be targeted to specific geographic locations or even individual households. The more defined you target your audience, the less waste you will have in your advertising spend.
Have the right landing page. Send your visitor to the proper landing page after they click your ad. If you are seeking donations, don’t send visitors to your site’s home page. Send them to your campaign’s donation page. If you can match your landing page to the ad campaign, visitors won’t feel lost after they click. Landing pages that are relevant to the ad also tend to convert better.
Keep the look consistent across channels. The look and feel of your ads should be similar while you are simultaneously running display ads, video and offline marketing. This helps keep your messaging and branding consistent.
Great visuals improve interaction with your digital ads and increase the number of clicks.
Why are you running your ads?
The purpose of your ad campaign will help determine what your ads say and how they are designed. Online political ads tend to fall into several categories:
- General ads to increase visibility and name recognition
- Issue ads, and if you are for it or against it
- Attack ads against an opponent
- Endorsement ads to show what organization or person backs you
- Get out the vote reminders for early voting or general Election Day
Other restrictions in digital display advertising
At some point, you may need banner ads to promote your Facebook Page, for Google Display Ads, IP Targeting or for advertising on other websites. Political banner ads fall under various restrictions an the largest advertising networks.
For example, in the United States, Google has limits election ad audience targeting to the following:
- Age
- Gender
- General location (postal code level)
in the United States. Third party audience information is also banned. This applies to both Google search and display ads.
Both Google and Facebook now require more disclosure on political ads and who purchases them. Users who want to buy political ads be authorized. All political ads have a “paid for by” disclaimer. On Facebook, ads that run are stored in a political ad archive for outside access.
Though they are not clicked on nearly so much, the banner ad is still alive and an active part of digital advertising. To make things easier for our clients, we offer free banner ad templates that are easy to use for those without graphic design skills.
From political campaign websites to social media setup to online advertising services, Online Candidate can help start your digital campaign quickly and easily.
Ads shown as examples, not endorsements.
Online Advertising Ideas For Political Campaigns
Political campaigns today have many options for online advertising to reach and influence voters. Candidates can now reach out based on demographics and tailor their advertisements to particular audiences. With a low cost to entry, even local candidates can put together an effective online political marketing strategy.
- Online ad spending is way, way up over the last few election cycles. How much should you budget for digital advertising? This varies on the size of your campaign and the amount of money you have to work with.
- Online campaigning isn’t just for the big guys anymore. Local campaigns can follow almost any marketing strategy that a state and federal race can do.
- The question is, do you have the budget and resources to do it all? Odds are, you probably don’t. Sure, it would be great to put out daily videos on TikTok and maintain an extensive Pinterest board. But is it really practical for someone running for a school board or town council position to be spending time promoting themselves on those platforms?
You have to pick your online targets carefully to create publicity to the right voter audience.
A smart strategy is to start early with a few platforms and commit a small budget to see what works best. Build a reserve for your online Get Out The Vote advertising. Every campaign has a different set of challenges. Fortunately, it is easy to shift online advertising in response to new events and situations. They key is to have that money available when you need it.
There are a number of political digital marketing strategies for the web. Some are very affordable, others are more expensive. Here are some of the most popular online advertising options available today:
- Facebook Advertising
- Pay Per Click Advertising
- Local Campaign Website Advertising
- Retargeting Site Visitors
- IP Target Marketing
- Text Messaging and SMS
- Positive or Negative Advertising?
- Transparency in Online Advertising
- Your Campaign Website
Political Facebook Advertising
Political advertising on Facebook can be very effective. Facebook allows advertisers to target people based on their demographics. This means you can drive your message directly to voting-age users that match specific locations and have expressed a interest preferences.
You can promote direct advertisements or your individual Facebook posts. The minimum required budget is only a few dollars per ad, so the barrier to entry is low. Instagram is owned by Facebook, so that site is covered as well.
Following the 2016 US presidential election, there has been some controversy about Facebook promotional policies. As of 2018, advertisers pushing viewpoints on political and social issues were required to provide more disclosure about who they are. Political ads were also be labeled so users can discover more about the ads that they see.
By 2020, advertisers were required to be authorized to advertise of Facebook.
Facebook political ad library.
To buy political advertising on Facebook, you must provide personal information and verify your mailing address with Facebook. This process can take a few weeks, so start early. Generally, any ads that mention a political candidate, issue or cause must adhere to these disclosure rules.
Pay Per Click Advertising
Another digital political advertising option includes Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. Your best bet for Pay Per Click advertising is Google Ads. For branding, larger political campaigns often advertise on more than just the search engines. They will also allow their ads to appear on the Google Display Network which encompasses thousands of websites.
It’s easy to spend money on irrelevant searches, so you will want to primarily target phrases and exact terms. As you discover unrelated searches that attract clicks, you should add them to your list of negative terms.
A well-designed PPC ad campaign requires planning and testing. Ads will need to be broken into groups, and then broken down further as new niches are discovered. Some ads will have low click-through rates and others will perform well. Tracking how well each ad performed in clicks, e-mail sign-ups and donations raised will help you make the most of your advertising dollars.
Display Advertising
Google also provides display ad marketing services. Unlike PPC ads, display ads are not based on user searches. Rather, these ads are graphic (image) ads that appear within the web content where a user is browsing. Your ads can appear where a user is reading news articles, checking email or watching online videos.
Example of political display ad banner
Display ads show on the Google Display Network which is a network of websites, videos, and apps. You can target by location, keyword, age and gender.
Related: What Political Campaigns Need To Know About Google Display Ads
Local Campaign Website Marketing
Banner ads are still relevant, especially when run on local media sites, such as local newspaper websites. Banners can help with branding and messaging efforts. While traditional banner ads often have low click-through rates, they can help build name recognition to a local audience. The cost for banner ads varies with the market and the outlet.
If you plan to run online ads directly through a newpaper, you may want to reserve your ad inventory early.
Retargeting Site Visitors
Retargeting allows you to serve display (banner) ads to people who have visited your campaign website. Once an established tool reserved for national politics, is it now used in local and regional campaigns. Visitor retargeting can help serve ads to voters who are actively researching candidates.
Retargeting can help keep interested voters engaged throughout the campaign, helping to increase awareness and voter turnout.
These are the step for how political retargeting works.
You can even set up retargeting down the page level. One example is if a voter goes to a particular issue page, you can retarget them with an ad specific to that issue. One of the primary benefits of retargeting is that ability to show different messages to different types of visitors. This improves your digital ad relevancy and effectiveness.
You can set up retargeting through Facebook Remarketing and Google Remarketing. However, these programs can be complicated to set up. You may find it easier to set up remarketing campaigns through a third-party platform.
Related: How Does Retargeting Grow Your Political Campaign?
IP Targeting Voters By Location and Demographics
IP Targeting uses individual IP addresses to reach specific voter households. It works by matching IP addresses to a list of names and street addresses. Your ads reach the target households and display your ads on websites they visit across the internet, like news sites. IP targeting is superior to geo-targeting because it allows you to target your advertising to specific households and businesses.
You can tailor your advertising messaging to individual audiences for greater impact and response. Because of this, IP-targeted ads have higher click-through rate than PPC or retargeting campaigns.
Using demographic data, you can tailor and target messaging for a specific audience for greater impact and response.
The price for IP targeting is higher than other promotional methods, but its branding ability is powerful. For example, we’ve had clients who used IP targeting in conjunction with neighborhood canvassing. Some of the homeowners would recognize the candidate because they had seen their ads already while online.
Talk about reinforcing a message!
Learn how IP Targeting can enhance your voter outreach.
Text Messaging and SMS
Text messaging and SMS is not just for candidates with deep pockets. Mobile texting services can be started with a small budget as little as $20/month. Some SMS services offer widgets that can allow supporters to sign up for text updates directly through your campaign website or Facebook page. Start early and build up a supporters who can be instantly alerted to new campaign announcements and messages.
Related: Drive Traffic to Your Website with Text Messages
Positive or Negative Online Advertising?
Negative political advertising is not just limited to TV and direct mail. As far as effectiveness, the jury is still out on whether “going negative” pays off. Unfortunately, most voters have come to expect mud-slinging as part of the usual discourse.
And many times, going negative just works…
Transparency in Online Political Advertising
As noted above, social media platforms and search engines are demanding more transparency from their advertisers. If you plan to advertise on a certain platform, make sure you know what information is required before you run any ads. Give yourself enough time to become properly verified.
If you plan to run display ads on Facebook, Google or through IP Targeting services, they are required to disclaimer information about the campaign. This is usually something along the lines of, “Paid for by”. You will need use a disclaimer if you are a candidate, a political party or even election committee. At some point, the FEC might make disclosures mandatory.
Your Campaign Website
All online advertising must point somewhere. Your campaign website is where you will drive the bulk of your online traffic. Create specific landing pages for your different ad campaigns. For example, if you are advertising about a specific issue, send visitors to a page about that issue. Unless it’s a generic awareness ad, make the landing pages match your ads.
For landing pages, try to make them focused on exactly what you want your visitor to do. If it’s a donation page, there should be little else to distract from that single goal. Every element of the page should focus on getting the visitor to do what you want them to do.
Sample Political Donation Form
It’s important that the content a visitor sees on your site relates to the ad they clicked on. If not, visitors tend to leave quickly. Tracking your advertising channels to learn what advertising is performing best and providing the most engaged visitors, donations and volunteer signups.
Old-timers may remember when online ads were a lot less expensive. At one time, Google search results did not list four ads on top of natural search results – and those ads could have cost as little as fifteen cents. And most followers on Facebook would actually see your posts without you having to ‘boost’ them.
It’s a different world today. If you want online exposure, you will need to pay for it.
Not every organization will want to use (or can afford) to use all types of digital marketing campaigns.
Once you begin promoting yourself or your organization online, you should keep track of how well each political digital marketing channel performs. Run multiple ads at one time to determine which is more effective. This can help improve your messaging and effectiveness as you approach Election Day.
With some planning and a budget, you can increase voter exposure and run circles around your opponents. It’s a two-front battle – online and offline.
RELATED:
Political Social Media Strategies [PDF]
Political Campaign Services
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