As a politician, you must run a solid campaign strategy. In today’s world, that means digital advertising. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that “spending on political advertisements is projected to hit a new high in 2020, surging $3.6 billion above the most recent presidential campaign year.” If you want to reach your voters, you must go beyond television. Here are some things to consider to run an effective political digital marketing.
1. Develop Your Brand
Your brand is who you are. It is what defines you, so it is important to control what that looks like. Branding should communicate a clear message and be aesthetically appealing. Logos and campaign slogans are at the root of your brand, and your personal brand extends from there. We can create these items based on your messaging and ensure that they transfer well for all types of media.
2. Develop Your Understanding of the Laws Surrounding Political Digital Marketing
Depending on the area in which you run political advertising, there may be laws that require reporting. Things such as expenditures and timing of advertisements are required in some areas. West coast states like Washington have stringent laws, and California is following suit. The laws can be nuanced and vary by region, so you will need to understand them.
3. Identify Your Specific Audience and Leverage Targeted Ads
Reaching people of voting age in your geographic area is important. In addition, you must understand how and where to reach them. Millennials have influence, care about specific issues and engage with certain digital platforms more than others, so one type of strategy will need to be targeted towards them. Boomers feel strongly about other issues and use different platforms than millennials, so they will need to be targeted and reached differently.
4. Effectively Tell Your Story
Your messaging must be clear, succinct and consistent across mediums. Try to stay away from generalities. Instead of identifying issues and stating that you want to make changes, describe your policies and what specific goals you want to achieve through them. People want to know you have a plan, and delivering that plan clearly in a sound byte type format captures your target audience and delivers your message in the sort-time you have their attention.
5. Leverage Social Media
Social media is essential and fairly easy to build rapport with donors, supporters, and voters. Determine which social media platforms your target audience uses and establish a presence. Customize posts to correspond with their habits and patterns. The content you post must be engaging and entice voters to interact with it through likes, comments and shares. Also, consider location-based advertisements.
6. Additional Avenues for Consideration
There are numerous ways to engage with the public. Each carries its own risks and rewards, so it is important to choose what fits best with your brand, audience and campaign strategy.
● Websites provide a deeper dive into you as a candidate and you can collect data.
● Cell phones are used to send text messages, create polls and send audio messages.
● Newsletters and email campaigns keep people engaged.
Create calls to action for people to donate, attend an event, vote, share your information, and more. You should always act with your call to action in mind.
7. Measure Your Results
You must track your results so that you can repeat your successful efforts or make specific adjustments depending on what the data tells you. Ensure your team understands analytics and reports on web traffic, donations, time on your site, engagements with ads and posts and any other metrics you outlined.
The political landscape is changing. You must understand political digital marketing to run an effective campaign today. KOB Advertising specializes in this approach, and we can help. Contact us today to find out how we can support you.