Political Campaign Tips and Strategies by Online Candidate

Campaign Writing Can Make or Break a Vote

quillpen First impressions will make or break a voter’s support. The campaign material you distribute should always be your best work.

Recently, a local candidate running for village trustee left some campaign literature at our door. I had not heard of this candidate before, and my first exposure to him was through his brochure.

And judging by the brochure itself, it’s highly unlikely that I will be voting for this person next month.

It wasn’t that the brochure wasn’t attractive. In fact, the piece was well-designed. It was nice and clean, without a lot of clutter that you sometimes see on campaign literature.

Rather, the problem was with the copy. The brochure was poorly written and contained a number of grammatical errors. It took two or three readings to get the gist of what the candidate was trying to say about his background and vision for the village. There were run-on sentences, bad punctuation and mangled syntax. It felt like I was like reading the first draft of a fourth-grader’s civics essay.

Sadly, the candidate’s bio stated that he was a college graduate.

As you can imagine, the candidate failed to gain my support. If a candidate cannot take the effort to clearly articulate his or her thoughts on paper, how can I trust them to deal with the complex issues of governing?

The moral of this story is to always ~~prufread~~ proofread your campaign materials. Even if you think it’s great, have another set of eyes go over it. Make your revisions and continue rounds of proofreading until your wording is perfect.

Only your best work should be presented to the public. In many cases, voters will only know of you through your campaign literature.

In this case, it only took one brochure to lose my vote.

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Check Out Our New Political Platform Generator Tool [Fun]

poltical campaign slogans Coming up with campaign slogan isn’t too hard. The real work comes when it’s time to come up with a political platform to attract voters.

Fortunately, like everything else, the problem can be solved with computers!

We just put together a great political platform generator tool to help candidates come up with just the right campaign promise to target their most important constituents.

It’s simple. It’s easy. And if you don’t like the examples, let the tool create a new campaign promise for you!

Check out our Political Campaign Platform Generator!

(If you like it, tell your friends – but make sure you keep it from the opposition!)

For those of you looking for a real definition:

A political platform is a list of actions or policy stances that a candidate, political party, or organization supports or endorses. A platform is designed to appeal to voters in order to win and office or elected position.

5 Tips To Mix Online Into Your First Fundraising Event

There is a lot of advice about planning and running your first fundraising event. Conventional wisdom is that your initial fundraising event will provide the seed money to get things started, including starting your online presence.

That’s not necessarily true.

Your online campaign should start long before your announce that you are running for office.

In fact, it’s a great idea to have your campaign website and social media accounts up and running long before your first big fundraiser. Your means of taking online donations should also be in place.

With some planning, you can use your existing online presence to turn your fundraising event into something that increases awareness, attracts more interest in your campaign – and perhaps brings in some additional money!

Here are a few things you want to do to make the most of your big event:

Set up for online donations.
Even if event attendees have paid for tickets, you can still use your campaign fundraiser event to bring in even more money. If possible, set up a laptop to show off your campaign website. Encourage attendees to make an additional online donation or set themselves up for recurring donations throughout the campaign. If it’s your first event, emotions will be high. It’s a good opportunity to tap into that optimism.

Post the event to your website and social media accounts.
Encourage attendees to start following your campaign. Many can do so from their mobile devices. Before the event, ask them to Tweet and post live status updates. Let everyone know about the event #hashtag and encourage them to use it in their posts.

Ask for online contact information from your guests.
Not only should you ask for email addresses when attendees sign in, but also ask for Twitter IDs so your campaign can follow them and they can follow back.

Put your own people to work.
Have one or more insiders at the event post live during the event. Mix pre-scheduled posts using tools like Hootsuite and live posts during the event. Multiple people posting can have an amplification effect on social media. Word of the event and your new campaign will reach a much wider audience.

Do an online follow-up.
After the event, post a “wrap up” of your event’s highlights. Post photos, videos and commentary on your website and your other social media accounts. Don’t do it all at once, though. Talk about the interesting things that happened over the next few days to get some extra mileage from the event.

Hope this helps get your first fundraising event to a great start!

Want more tips and ideas on starting your online campaign? Check out our exclusive ebook Running for Office as an Online Candidate. Have your own fundraiser coming up? You can get your campaign website started fast for a price that meets any budget.

How To Raise Online Funds Like The Most Successful Candidates

While billions are raised for US Presidential campaign, If you are a state or local candidate, odds are your election won’t reach those numbers. However, even small campaigns can still raise significant money with a smart, aggressive strategy.

Here are some tips to help you raise initial seed money all the way through that last-minute campaign donation drive.

Be prepared to raise and spend

It takes money to raise money in politics. You’ll need to both raise and spend money if you are want to get your message out to the public. To get an estimate of how much your campaign may need to spend, you can check your state election office or county clerk for previous campaign spending reports.

You may also want to reach out to others who have run for similar positions. Knowing how much you may have to budget for lawn signs, direct mail and online and offline media will help you create a detailed budget.

To raise ‘seed money’, put together a list of friends and acquaintances that you can reach out to for initial donations.

Remember that those who give early may well be convinced to give again (and again) throughout the campaign.

[bctt tweet=”Early givers may be convinced to give throughout your political campaign. http://ow.ly/vAyh30gBjqC”]

Gear up online for donations

When you set up your campaign website, a primary focus should be to raise online donations. Strong messaging and information is important. You should have large donation buttons and prominent calls to action. A website can act as the hub of your online and help persuade others to support you.

While it might be tough to get others to write a check to your campaign, online donations provide a quick and easy method to give. Smart candidates start as early as possible and set up a site to accept seed money donations. (Our own website system starts at $149 as a package or just $29 monthly.)

Starting one social media early can also give you a leg up on the competition. Start building followers who can support you throughout the campaign.

[bctt tweet=”Your campaign website should have prominent #donation buttons and CTAs. http://ow.ly/vAyh30gBjqC”]

Use your email list

If you make the effort to build your email list, it can become a powerful tool. Major campaigns invest heavily in email. They test messaging and target specific sub-sets of subscribers by issue. Even if you do not have many resources, any candidate can create an effective email system with attractive signup forms, autoresponder messaging and response tracking.

Just don’t turn your emails into endless money requests. Supporters don’t want to be treated like ATM machines.

Take the the money any way you can – and make it easy

Include your donation link in your Facebook, Twitter, and other social profiles. Add links to your email messages and even let offline donors know where and how they can contribute online.

Clearly state your purpose

When giving money to any nonprofit or political organization, donors want to know what their money is going toward. What is the purpose or point of a particular fundraising push? Even if it’s generic, like ‘to win the election’, there must be a reason why that particular donation ties itself to the donor. “Your donation will help us win and get corruption out of TinyTown…”

Make the call to action

If you want money, ask for it. Don’t say, ‘Support our campaign’. Say, ‘Donate now!’ Don’t assume that the recipient of a letter, brochure or email will know what action to take. Tell them plainly and repeatedly.

[bctt tweet=”Don’t assume that a reader will know what action to take. TELL them what to do plainly and repeatedly.”]

Follow the leaders

Look at how larger campaigns are asking for money. Sign up for email lists of larger campaigns and see what messaging they use to solicit funds and recruit support. Create a swipe file and use it for messaging ideas.

Just remember that borrowing is good, but stealing is bad!

More detailed strategies can be found at OnlineCandidateResources.com. Full access is FREE for Online Candidate Website Package clients:

The Fundraising Chicken and Egg Question For Local Candidates

Fundraising might not be fun for political candidates, but it’s a necessity. People can win elections on a shoestring budget, but that’s the exception. Typically, the candidate that can raise and spend the most money tends to win.

The cost of running for office has increased dramatically over the last few decades. This is because campaigns are now more expensive and require more staff and resources than ever before.

The problem for many first-time local and down-ballot candidates is getting enough financial traction to attract enough initial donors. Without enough money, it’s hard to convince donors that your campaign is viable, but building the campaign to a viable status requires money.

It’s the classic chicken-and-egg scenario.

How much does it cost to get started with a campaign?

The cost of running a political campaign often depends on the office you are seeking. For example, if you are running for office in a small district, then your campaign will cost less than if you are running for state office or Congress. The size of the city, town or district will determine how much money is needed to run an effective campaign.

Campaign costs depend on three things:

1) How much money is raised by the candidate or organization
2) How much money is spent by the candidate or organization
3) The type of campaign being run

Appeal to donors and potential donors

Raising seed money is the first thing a campaign committee pursues once a bank account is created. This begins with an initial fundraiser, which is usually focused on getting friends, family, and fellow supporters to donate funds.

If you’ve run for office before, you already have a list of people who have invested in your political career and will likely do so again. If this is your first time running, you can look to donors of other candidates in your party or even enemies of your political opponents. You may be surprised who provides initial contributions.

[bctt tweet=”First time political candidates should look for support from donors of other party candidates. http://ow.ly/uEc130gBjz4″]

Odds are, you’ll need to put in your own money at the start. After all, if you aren’t willing to spend some of your own money to get elected, why should anyone else?

It’s also about image. Print your fundraising letters and materials on attractive stock. Your presentation should make it appear that your campaign is already motion and growing. Donors want to support a possible winner, not bet on a potential long-shot.

That’s one reason why online campaigning is a great strategy. A well-designed website can make a political organization look larger than it might really be. Social media, online news articles and campaign press releases can enhance that perspective and can help generate real interest and attention from donors and voters.

Best of all, the barriers to online fundraising have dropped over the last decade. If you have a campaign bank account, then setting up a donation system is simple. With a website as your online hub, you can use social media such as Facebook and Twitter, email, paid online advertising and even offline promotion to solicit support.

With a little up front money and some work, it makes sense to start campaigning online as early as possible. Campaigns need to raise money from a variety of sources in order to be successful, and they need to do so in an efficient way. The most common way for candidates to get their campaign off the ground is through fundraising events such as dinners, picnics or other events.

So, break that fundraising chicken-and-egg cycle and focus on the important thing – winning your election!

Hundreds of campaigns start early with our affordable Monthly Option to raise seed money to grow their campaigns. We provide the tools to build and manage your online presence. Learn more.

Image courtesy of Gualberto107 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

They’re Not Campaign Supporters Until You Get Them in Voting Booth

The ultimate goal of any political campaign – local, state or federal – is to get people to the voting booth and cast a ballot. It’s a simple idea that it cannot be emphasized enough.

It’s not about fundraising, it’s not about drawing big crowds, and it’s not even about getting high public approval ratings. All those things are good, but they are simply mean to an end.

“A lot of supporters thought I was going to win, so they didn’t bother to go out and vote. Turnout was low, and I lost.”

Never let your supporters grow complacent. Even if your race is a cakewalk and your opponent is an incompetent candidate with nothing going for them, make it the race of your life. The closer you get to voting day, the more you need to remind voters that only their support will help you win, and without their vote, you won’t win.

Every vote counts. If someone doesn’t have the means to get to the polls, help them. Organize volunteers to drive voters to the polls. Add voting information to all of your end-of-campaign communications. Local elections are often won by the thinnest of margins. Don’t let anyone forget that, because in the end you need more than ‘supporters’ or ‘popular’ support, you need the voter turnout.

[bctt tweet=”If a #voter can’t get to the polls, help them get there. http://ow.ly/Z9Pd30gBjLH”]

After all, good intentions in politics mean nothing unless it’s backed by a vote.

Get a jump start on your online campaign press kit. Use our political print templates to add a professional edge to your campaign literature and handouts – or view all of our digital products.