Online Candidate Now Offers Political Logo Templates
Online Candidate is pleased to announce that it now carries a selection of downloadable political logo templates to assist designers in creating custom campaign logos that can be used in promotional materials.
“Having worked with clients to design campaign websites, it’s a natural evolution to offer logo designs to others,” says Carol Daley, Partner of Daley Professional Web Solutions and OnlineCandidate.com. “These are high-res graphics suitable for both print and web purposes.”
Designed for candidates, campaigns and non-profits, these premium political campaign logo templates are professionally designed and fully editable. They are suitable for candidates of any elected position, including judges, sheriffs and school board candidates.
View our entire political logo template selection.
The following files are included with each Adobe Template:
- Digital Campaign Logo: Editable Photoshop PSD
- Digital Campaign Logo: Editable Illustrator AI
- Fonts: Copies of the fonts used in the design
- Social Media Templates: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ templates to add your political logo and edit for your campaign social media accounts.
- Campaign Tips Guide from Online Candidate
These template files are in high-resolution PSD and AI formats, designed for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. The user must have knowledge of these programs and graphic manipulation skills in order to properly edit the templates.
“We added the social media template because designing for the profiles with the correct specs is difficult and time-consuming,” Daley adds. “These will help campaigns create a more complete and standardized online presence.”
A logo customization option is also available. Logos can be customized with the buyer’s name and slogan.
Download these political logo templates to add a professional edge to your campaign – or view all of our digital products.
Related:
- Designing A Great Political Logo
- Sample Political Campaign Logo Designs
- Making a Great Political Logo – Tips and Ideas
Need a website for your campaign? Our Regular and Enhanced Website Packages include a custom header, logo and color design – and we provide high-res version of your designed site logo or header on request – for FREE. Website Packages Sold Separately.
Use The Web To Set The Record Straight
Being attacked during a campaign is a given for virtually all political candidates. By knowing your own strengths and weaknesses, you can prepare yourself for these attacks. This allows you to respond quickly and confidently. Done properly, you have an opportunity to build credibility and even turn the facts around on your opponent.
Here are some content ideas for your campaign website that you can use to help set the record straight.
Fill in the gaps
Politicians often make hay out of what their opponent has been quoted as saying. And while a cited quote may be true, it may also be incomplete. Take the opportunity to set the record straight online. Don’t take this to mean that you can reply to a print piece with just an online reply. You’ll need to fight fire with fire. While there may be some overlap, your print audience is not the same as your online audience.
Use your opposition’s material against them
Post your opponent’s campaign materials to your site and add commentary of where they have not been truthful, have been contradictory or just plain wrong. Use a graphics program to write over and highlight your points. Contrast and compare what they’ve said between sources from print, television or online to help prove your points.
Hang your opponent with digital rope
Sometimes you don’t have to go negative to make an opponent look bad. All you have to do it let your opponent to it for themselves. Pull some of the more damaging things your opponent has said or done and post them on your website. As Mitt Romney found out in 2012, it’s the unguarded discussions that can be the most damaging. If your opponent is an incumbent, put an unedited video of them publicly speaking about issue or topic. What they say on the campaign trail may be different than what they advocate while doing their jobs.
If you use video, be sure to include a transcription of the audio.
Use infographics
If a picture is worth a thousand words, an infographic is worth ten times that amount. What is an infographic? It’s basically a a visual way to represent data. If you can use information and present it in an informative and entertaining graphic, it will go a long way to making your point. How many times has your opponent misrepresented you? How many times have they misrepresented themselves? What can you compare those numbers to? (“If I had a dollar for every time an opponent did … I could buy… )
If you can get your own information and point of view across in a simple (and possibly humorous) way, it will have more of an impact and perhaps provide something that your site visitors can share with others.
Online Candidate Provides Political Resource Website for Clients
We are pleased to announce the launch of OnlineCandidateResources.com, our exclusive online political campaign strategy and resources website.
The new website serves as a training and support hub for political candidates to create an online political campaign and to use the web to build volunteer support, donations and votes.
“OnlineCandidateResources.com is a natural extension of our current services,” says Shane Daley, developer and co-owner of the site. “Many small and medium-sized campaigns will benefit from our step-by-step political training modules, online tools and member forums.”
Each training module covers important information that political candidates need should know about running an online political campaign. The modules are laid out in a logical sequence, starting from candidates establishing themselves online beginning a campaign. They continue with setting up a social networking presence, building a campaign website, and then online promotion and fundraising strategies leading up to Election Day.
In addition to training modules and articles, there is an online tools section that includes letter generators, content creation tools, and more. The download area contains a variety of checklists, guides and white papers. The resource directory presents a selection of online services, tools and political candidate resources.
“We’ve worked with political campaigns since 2003,” Daley adds. “That was the year we created our very first political campaign website. Today, this site allows us to help educate and help our clients through the evolving online landscape.”
Designed for our Online Candidate website clients, OnlineCandidateResources.com is designed to help campaigns use the web to raise money and build support.
Why Running Your Campaign From Your Facebook Page Is A Bad Idea
“Everybody’s on Facebook. I can just run my online campaign through my Facebook Page.”
We’ve heard that idea before. But as online strategies go, it’s not a good one.
Bottom line: Running a political campaign through social media alone is not a great strategy.
These days, social media is important for political campaigns in creating an online presence and building support. Facebook provides plenty of tools for candidates to target and promote themselves to voters, such as Facebook Live. The advertising system – when political ads are allowed on the platform – let you target segments of users quickly and easily.
However, a social networking profile is not a substitute for a real home on the web. Social media does not provide the features that a campaign website provides. For example, websites convert better for important tasks such as email signups and accepting online donations.
If that’s not enough, here are a few other reasons why Facebook alone should not be hub of your online campaign:
Not everyone is on Facebook
Believe it or not, there are people who do not use Facebook, and there are others who refuse to use Facebook due to privacy concerns. If you operate your digital operations entirely within Facebook, then you are placing your campaign behind a wall. If someone comes to your page and wants to interact, they will need a Facebook account to do so.
If it’s a potential donor you turned away, that can cost you money. If it’s a potential supporter, that could cost you a vote.
Facebook is a ‘pay to play’ platform
These days, a regular post may only reach 2-3% of your followers. Because of the Facebook post algorithm, most of your fans won’t see any of your posts after they ‘Like’ your page. If your campaign page has a 1000 fans, perhaps 30 of them will see your update. That is, unless you pay to promote your post. In that case, your update will reach many more people.
Of course, if you want to reach more people the next time you post, you will need to pay again … and again … and again.
For many campaigns, this can eat up a lot of advertising dollars. For those with limited budgets, it’s best to promote only important news, specific fundraising posts, and get-out-the-vote reminders before Election Day.
If you want to keep large numbers of people up to date on campaign news, maintaining an email list or SMS (texting) program can provide a greater reach at a lower cost.
[bctt tweet=”Is your political campaign dependent on #Facebook? Here’s why it’s a bad idea. http://ow.ly/xXZK30gBkYy”]
You don’t control the platform
Your Facebook page ultimately operates under the terms and conditions of Facebook. If the rules on Facebook change, you’ll have no choice but to accept those changes. If someone reports your page, post or even your advertising for ‘bad behavior’, valid or not, there is little you can do if Facebook takes action. You don’t own your space on Facebook. What Facebook gives, Facebook can take away if it decides that you have broken its terms of service.
Here’s another thing – Facebook runs ads alongside your Page. If your opponent targets the right people, you could have your opponent’s ads showing up on your Page!
Knowing that, do you really want to base your entire online presence on a platform that you do not control?
Now, don’t take all this the wrong way. Facebook is a great tool for politicians and campaigns to gather new supporters and reach voters. By having both a website and creating a Facebook Page, both can show up in search rankings. Filling the search results with listings that you largely control is a smart strategy for online reputation management.
Integrating social media into your website and posting items from your site to social media is the best approach to online campaigning. That way you can reach your followers no matter where they are.
But relying on a single social network profile for exposure is dangerous. To paraphrase a common expression, “Don’t build your campaign on someone else’s land.”
In the end, you should have control over your medium and your message. That starts with having your own domain name and campaign website.
5 Misconceptions About Online Campaigning
Q: My political campaign is very small, it will be over fairly soon, and our voter turnout is low. Do I really need to bother with online campaigning?
A: Absolutely. In fact, online campaigning can be more important for smaller, local elections. Using the web to get out the vote can make all the difference when a race is decided by a handful of votes.
Even so, there are candidates who, for one reason or another, are not comfortable using the web for campaigning. Here are some common arguments against online campaigning … and why they are wrong.
My race is too small to bother with online stuff
As we often say, “If you are not putting information about yourself online, then someone else will.”
If your opponent is defining you online, then you have a problem.
You can ignore the online aspect to political campaigning, but you are only hurting yourself. When voters search for information about a race, they expect to find information about the candidates. With your own campaign website and social media presence, you can take charge and present your own ideas and messaging.
Even the smallest campaigns are engaging voters online. Heck, just this year we had our first sorority president election candidate.
I don’t have the tech experience to run a website
The hub of your online campaign is your campaign website. You cannot effectively run a campaign from a Facebook page. Not everyone is on Facebook; your messaging only reaches a tiny sliver of your followers (unless you pay for each post), and you don’t control the platform. Branding yourself online begins with owning your own domain name and website.
As far as learning to manage and update your site, that depends on how your website is built. If your site uses a content management system (CMS), you are able to add and edit your own content. With any CMS, though, there is a learning curve. One thing you don’t want to do is put control of updating your site in another person’s hands. You need to be able to make your own site updates and to be able to react quickly to events.
My election isn’t worth promoting on social media
If you are already using Facebook, then you already have a good understanding of how it works. Create a campaign page, tell your friends, and start making updates. If you are familiar with Twitter, create a campaign account and begin using it.
One thing you don’t want to do is spread yourself too thin. Don’t start up a bunch of campaign social media accounts and just let them sit there. It’s better to start off with what you can handle and add to your efforts as your resources grow.
Don’t know what to post? There are plenty of things that you can mention and discuss. You can post about upcoming events, news articles, campaign trail photos, your latest ads, campaign achievements, and more. Use a mix of pre-planned and off-the-cuff posts to keep your communication both consistent and interesting. Creating your own social media schedule will help.
I can do all my online campaigning through my Facebook page
How could running an online campaign through Facebook be a bad idea? Facebook has hundreds of millions of users and is one of the most popular websites in existence. Not only that, it’s free!
Good points, but the reality is not as simple. Having a campaign Facebook page is a great idea, and if you are running, any serious political campaign, no matter how small, should create a Facebook page in order to reach out to supporters and voters.
Using Facebook as a replacement for an actual stand-alone campaign website is a mistake. Here’s why:
- Facebook is a closed network. In order for people to see your Facebook content, visitors are required to join. Not everyone is a member of Facebook, and some people will never become members.
- Your information is not your own. Your page is also subject to the generosity of Facebook, which can pretty much remove anything it wants at any time. If you are or if someone claims you are violating their Terms of Service, you could be in trouble.
Raising money online isn’t worth the effort
If you already have a campaign bank account, then you’ve already done the hard part. Yes, you can take online donations through PayPal, but you need to collect additional donor data (our system has a built-in form for collecting this information). Political-specific fundraising services make it extremely simple to set up an account, add forms to your campaign website and to take donations through social media and email.
Many online donation tools let donors set up recurring donations throughout the campaign.
Besides, many donors prefer to give online than to go through the hassle of writing a check. “Impulse donors” who are influenced by your campaign are also more likely to give. People are busy; make it easy for them to help you.
My online campaign will pull in tons of money
Can your political campaign raise a lot of money online? Absolutely, but it takes work and coordination. Use your offline events to drive people to your website and make good use of your email list. Make it easy to donate online and leverage your other sources of communication to make your supporters aware of how and when they should donate.
If done properly, the effort put into online fundraising will pay off.
It’s hard to get started
No, it’s not. Your greatest ally in becoming good at this ‘online stuff’ is time. Start early. Create and use personal social media accounts to figure out how they work. Learn about your options and take the time to plan your online campaign.
What Local Candidates Can Learn From Botched Presidential Launches
As the United States presidential election race geared up in 2016, several candidates already stumbled out of the gate. If you are a local candidate running for office, you can learn a thing or two from these online presidential candidate gaffes.
Ted Cruz Hopes You Can Type The Right Address
In March, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced that he was running for president in 2016. Unfortunately, he missed was unable to purchase a domain that featured his own name. Someone else reserved it first.
So with the .com domain name taken, the Texas senator settled for tedcruz.org as his official campaign website.
Big mistake.
When a website address is a .org domain, how many people will often type ‘.com’ out of habit?
As of this writing, a web user going to tedcruz.com will see this:
If you don’t secure your own domain name, someone else will.
Ouch. This is probably not what the senator had in mind.
The takeaway:
A domain name is your online calling card. If you think you will be running for office, reserve your domain name as early as possible. And always get the .com version of the name. If it’s already taken, you may want to go for an entirely different domain. The last thing you want is for someone to control the .com version of your campaign website. All things considered, the person who registered tedcruz.com domain went easy on the senator.
Rand Paul Schools Us All
In April, Senator Rand Paul announced his own presidential campaign. While he has control over the .com version of his domain, the launch of his website was marred by an embarrassing gaffe.
On a video on the site, the title of the clip misspelled the word “education.” This was made even worse by the fact that the typo was on the candidate’s education platform page.
It said, “Rand Paul Opposes A One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Eductation.” Ouch.
Typos happen, but when it’s right out of the gate, it’s even more embarrassing.
The takeaway:
While you would think large campaigns would have editorial procedures in place, even silly mistakes can slip through. Remember n 2012 when former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney promised “A Better Amercia,” on his campaign’s iPhone app? Then as now, minor gaffes can become fodder for mockery.
[bctt tweet=”Small mistakes may seem careless, but can still turn off #voters. http://ow.ly/LHHa30gBj06″ username=”onlinecandidate”]
No matter the size of your campaign, watch your spelling and grammar before you launch your campaign website. A small mistake might appear careless, but poorly-written content will turn off potential voters. Have several people proof your content before it is put online or into print. Hire a good copywriter if you have to. Don’t think that smaller, local campaigns don’t fall under scrutiny.
These may have been the first online screw-ups of the 2016 presidential campaign, but they certainly were not the last.
Get your own domain name and launch your campaign website today! With three affordable website design packages and even a Monthly Option, Online Candidate is the online platform for hundreds of candidates each and every election cycle.
