People need to see any given ad or promotional message several times before it really registers with them. Are you relying on that expensive direct mail piece? Don't - it's not enough. You need multiple impressions to convey your message and persuade voters, and the more the better. That's why winning campaigns will have an integrated online communications strategy that takes advantage of email, targeted ads and social media to deliver campaign messages in a way that will get through to the greatest number of voters.
Here are a few ways to use online media that all campaigns should adopt:
Targeted Online Ads
· Doing precinct walks? Set up online ads to specifically target the voters in those neighborhoods during the following week to reinforce your name identification and messages.
· Running radio or TV spots? Target GOP and/or independent voters in your district with online ads that repeat the messaging. Studies have shown that combining online ads with TV ads will lift the response by 10+% over TV alone.
· Need to focus on GOTV is certain areas? You can target those specific areas with ads to reinforce your other GOTV efforts.
· Set up online ad campaigns now. Don't wait, as inventory is limited. You want the best available placement possible. Remember - all campaigns will want ads in the last 2-3 weeks of October.
Email
· If you have not yet matched your postal addresses to an email address file, do it now! You can typically get email addresses for 15-20% of the postal addresses that you have, which will provide a big boost to your in-house email list. This process usually takes about ten days, so don't delay. This is an excellent investment for campaigns.
· Send brief, insightful, issues oriented messages at least weekly, starting now.
· Consider sharing your own personal "Slate Card" with voters. Let them know who you're supporting and, briefly, why. This is the type of message that gets forwarded to friends, providing more visibility for you.
