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.
Facing Down A Campaign Print Disaster
Here’s a problem a few of our clients have encountered: They’re all set to send out a candidate mailing when they realize that they have registered the wrong campaign domain name printed on the brochure! The horror! What could be worse?
It’s not the end of the world. If this happens to you, don’t panic.
If you are an existing Online Candidate client, contact us and let us know the situation. We can register that incorrect domain name for you and point the address to your existing website. That way, when someone types in the incorrect web address, they will still end up where you want them to be. We’ll charge you for the new domain name, but not for the redirect itself (as some web hosts do).
If you are more of a do-it your-selfer, check your domain registrar to see if the domain name is available. If it is, purchase it immediately. Don’t wait, because domain harvesting companies may automatically register the name after a short time.
After you have made the registration, contact us and let us know what the new domain is and what site you need to have it point to. Then we will set up the redirect on our end and give you the proper name server information that you will need to configure the new domain name. Once that is complete, you’ll be all set!
If the domain name is taken and not for sale or the domain already exists as a website, then you may be out of luck. You might want to invest in stickers to cover up the incorrect domain name with the proper one or scrub the whole print piece.
We hope it doesn’t come to that. That would be a real horror!
Learn more about our Political Website Design services. Check out actual client design samples and our client feedback!
Post In Haste, Repent At Leisure
Think before you post.
One of the most dangerous consequences of online campaigning is that anything and everything can be scrutinized. From offline speeches that are uploaded to YouTube to even the most banal social media posts, everything is fair game.
While a candidate cannot control everything that appears about them online, at the very least, a candidate should not add to the problem be making social media posts in anger or under duress. It’s easy to get angry online. Nasty personal posts and angry comments can demand an equally harsh response.
Avoid the temptation to lash out. Just remember that not everyone is going to like you online. People are going to criticize you and say mean things. It’s simply the nature of the social media environment.
Think before you post and double-check what you link to because the internet remembers everything. Make sure what you post is written clearly and unambiguously. If you are posting images, take a good look at them before they are uploaded. Make sure your videos are edited and make a point. The last thing you want to do is say or post something that could come back to bite you.
Like offensive comments about gay people or minorities.
Or saying outrageous things about your political opponents.
Or accidentally Tweeting a photo of a woman in bondage gear.
Just in case you thought that no one saw your dumb but quickly-deleted post, the eyes of the web are always open and watching. Politwoops is an archive of the public statements deleted by U.S. politicians. Most of the time the deleted tweets are due to typos, but some are not.
Are there going to be things you post that you will later regret in the future? Of course. Many times, the actual act of deletion is what brings attention to an old post. Tweeted about an endorsement six months ago by someone you’d rather not be associated with today? Yep, even those old announcements can still be found in the archives.
Deleting old Twitter tweets and Facebook posts is a lot easier than deleting forum thread comments, posts or images on other websites. Old material that you may not know about or have long forgotten could be out there, waiting to be discovered.
Even if you successfully take down old material, any content can be archived. Users can take screen shots, search engines can store archived copies of pages and even entire websites can have snapshots stored in sites like the Wayback Machine.
With everything a candidate does online under a microscope, how can the modern candidate avoid the critiques and criticisms of removing or updating old material?
One way to blunt the impact is to simply admit that you’ve changed your mind about a post or topic. Admitting to something is the adult thing to do, and it often counters accusations that you are trying to hide something.
Besides, when someone intentionally wants to keep something hidden, it makes people only want to see it more…
Online Candidate provides an easy-to-use online campaign platform loaded with built-in tools and additional resources – all for one low price. We’ve been helping candidates WIN since 2004 – and we can help you.
Image courtesy of iosphere at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
In Which Tense Should You Write Your Website Copy?
We’ve recently had a few clients reach out to us, concerned that their campaign websites are not ranking as well as expected for candidate name searches. Generally, this has to do with the age of the site, the existing content that ranks and whether the campaign website copy actually mentions the name of the candidate.
It’s true. We often seen websites that barely mention the name of the candidate in the text. A search engine cannot know what a web page is about if there isn’t enough relevant text on the page.
Another factor that influences how quickly or how well Google ranks a site is the tense in which the content is written.
Writing in the first person narrative means writing from the “I” point of view. Such as: I am running for office. I have the necessary skills and ability to do the job. My background is in…
The third person form is to write from the omniscient point of view. Such as: Bob Smith is running for office. Bob Smith has necessary skills and ability to do the job. Smith’s background is in…
See the difference?
Writing in the first person is:
- More personal sounding
- Replaces the candidate’s name with ‘I’
- Tends to become stilted and boring in delivery
- Can kill your search engine rankings if the candidate’s name is never mentioned
Writing in the third person is:
- More authoritative
- Allows more ‘branding’ by mentioning the candidate’s name more often
- Generally better for semantic search engine ranking
Tip: Want your name to show up in Google searches? Write website content in the 3rd person.
While you are free to express yourself as you choose, we recommend copywriting the bulk of your web content in the third person. That way it sounds stronger, tends to be less repetitive, and will probably provide an SEO edge in ranking.
First person narrative is more appropriate for a candidate’s ‘open letter to voters’ or personal message.
Tips for adding the candidate’s name to first-person copy:
- If you want to use first person narrative, create ‘pull quotes’ to include the candidate’s name into the copy. Repeat a line of copy, but instead of using the ‘I’, use the the candidate’s name instead.
- Add a call to action at the bottom of your page or pages. For example, “Vote Jane Smith for Mayor on November 3”. Now you have the name and position sought together. You may want to make this text an H2 or H3 header.
- Use the name and elected position on the page description metas throughout the site.
- A domain name that includes the name of the candidate is helpful.
But no matter what tense the material is written, be sure that the candidate’s full name is included somewhere in on each page of the website. Use a name in the page titles as well.
Looking for sample campaign website copy and content?
Visit OnlineCandidateResources.com. Access is free for all Online Candidate clients. It’s designed to help give your website – and campaign – a winning edge.
Online Candidate makes it easy to launch your political website and build your online presence.
