3 Political Campaign Marketing Tactics to Inspire Nonprofits
During election years, everyone鈥檚 minds are on politics. The closer you get to Election Day, the more signs, advertisements, and news you see about the candidates running for office. It can sometimes feel overwhelming, but political campaigns are undeniably good at getting attention. As a nonprofit, you might wonder how you can emulate political campaign marketing strategies and success.
While there are many differences between the ways nonprofits and political campaigns operate, their core marketing goals are the same 鈥� to reach a wide audience and gain their support. Let鈥檚 zero in on three impactful political marketing strategies you can apply to your own campaigns, whether you鈥檙e looking to recruit volunteers, acquire new supporters, or听engage current donors.
1. Text Banking
By this point, almost every American has received at least one text from a political campaign. This is thanks to听.听
Text banks are targeted efforts in which political campaigns message large numbers of voters or supporters via text.听Political campaigns use text banking for various strategic efforts, including voter outreach, fundraising, volunteer communication, polls and surveys, and event marketing. Text banking works because text messages are extremely versatile and come with the following benefits:
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High open rates:听While听听are uncommon among other communication channels, they鈥檙e the norm for SMS.听
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Quick response times:听Texts have the unique ability to grab supporters鈥� attention, prompting quick actions and responses from audience members.
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Easy two-way conversation:听The convenience and speed of texting a campaign (or nonprofit) back opens the door for valuable conversations and relationship-building opportunities.听
Political campaigns often use political texting software to enable volunteers to take the lead in initiating and managing text conversations. With these tools, volunteers can easily access scripts, see contact lists, and automatically record voter or donor information.
Nonprofit Inspiration: Text Marketing
Many CRMs and online fundraising tools come equipped with听text marketing features, enabling you to automate SMS campaigns and add donors鈥� responses directly to their profiles in your database.
To get started with text marketing, you must first understand the rules about听. Nonprofit SMS regulations aren鈥檛 as strict as the ones governing businesses, but you still must have recipients鈥� consent before texting them. You can collect opt-ins by:
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Adding a phone number field and the option to receive text communications to your online donation form.
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Sending an email promoting text opt-in.
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Sharing an opt-in keyword (like 鈥淛OIN鈥�) and phone number on social media and event flyers.
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Add an on-page text opt-in form to the footer of your website.
For extra security, consider setting up a double opt-in process. After receiving an opt-in via a form or keyword submission, send a message like, 鈥淭hanks for subscribing to [Organization]鈥檚 texts. Text YES to opt-in or STOP to opt-out.鈥� This way, your nonprofit gets a second verification of consent, and the supporter knows how to unsubscribe at any time.
Once you can collect opt-ins, start incorporating texts into your broader marketing strategy. Lean into the channel鈥檚 strengths by encouraging supporters to respond directly, sending urgent fundraising appeals, and leveraging texts for easy feedback collection.听
2. Public Endorsements
听can make a major difference in contentious races. If a candidate gets publicly endorsed by an influential community leader, a union or professional association, or another relevant politician, they may win the support of many voters who were on the fence. This is especially true if the endorsement comes from someone of the opposite party or a candidate who previously ran against them.
To secure an endorsement, a political campaign must first research the potential endorser and build a positive relationship with them. While some endorsements come unsolicited, political candidates typically make an explicit ask and explain how the endorsement will benefit everyone involved.
Nonprofit Inspiration: Influencer Marketing听
Formalized endorsements may seem like a practice confined to the political realm, but they tap into a core marketing tenant that nonprofits should follow:听using the power of social proof.听
Social proof is a powerful motivator for voters, customers, and donors alike. When prospective donors see that your nonprofit comes highly recommended by someone they trust (whether that鈥檚 a friend, family member, or their favorite听social media听influencer), they鈥檙e more likely to believe in your nonprofit鈥檚 value and offer their support.听
Similar to political endorsements, your nonprofit can harness the potential benefits of social proof by getting 鈥渆ndorsed鈥� by influencers. By听听and asking them to promote your organization to their social media followers, you鈥檒l gain access to a brand-new audience and prove to them that your organization is trustworthy.
3. Ad Targeting
Another impactful way that political campaigns access new audiences is through a process called ad or audience targeting. This type of听听uses existing audience data to target similar groups that may be interested in supporting a campaign. It鈥檚 often done on social media, but campaigns might also use audience targeting for other online advertisements like banner or display ads.
Here鈥檚 a quick breakdown of how political ad targeting works using social media:
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A campaign pulls lists of target voters or donors from its database.
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They use audience targeting tools (like Facebook Ad Manager or political marketing software) to choose whether they want to hone in on a lookalike audience or a custom audience.
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The campaign tailors its request by choosing a location and/or specific characteristics they鈥檙e looking for.
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The social media platform shows the campaign鈥檚 ads to users with similar attributes to the campaign鈥檚 existing audience.
Using this process, political campaigns can easily get their ads in front of brand-new voters and potential donors.听
Nonprofit Inspiration: Search Ads
Investing in ad targeting may be feasible for larger nonprofits with plenty of room in their marketing budgets, but it鈥檚 out of reach for many organizations. Fortunately, there鈥檚 a more accessible option that uses similar principles to unlock new audiences.
Search ads听are sponsored search results that appear at the top and bottom of Google鈥檚 search results pages for relevant queries. For instance, if you search 鈥淚talian places near me,鈥� you might see advertisements for Olive Garden and a few local Italian restaurants. Since search ads appear based on relevance, you鈥檙e guaranteed to reach audiences that are predisposed to being interested in your content.
And best of all, eligible nonprofits can access this opportunity听for free. All you have to do is follow a few steps:
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Optimize your website听for user-friendliness, accessibility, and helpful content.听
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Apply for the听Google Ad Grant, which grants eligible organizations $10,000 worth of free ad credits per month.
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Once approved, start creating ads听for specific pages on your site, such as event landing pages or a program sign-up page.
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Choose and bid on keywords听that your target audience might search for. For instance, an animal rescue might bid on 鈥減uppies for adoption,鈥� 鈥渁dopt a cat,鈥� and 鈥渇oster programs near me.鈥�
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Track ad conversions听and adjust your ads and听keyword strategies听accordingly.
Though the program is free, it can be time-consuming to create multiple advertisements, monitor conversions, and pivot your keyword strategy to focus on the most effective search queries. Before committing to the program, make sure you have enough staff time and expertise (or the capacity to hire a Google Ads manager).
When you run low on ideas, it鈥檚 helpful to look to other industries and see how they approach marketing differently. By implementing these strategies inspired by political campaigns, you can branch out with your marketing tactics and reach new audiences in compelling, innovative ways.
