Political campaigns need a large sum of money to be successful. As daunting as it sounds, it often discourages candidates from running for office in the first place. To date, the 2020 political campaign has been very expensive. Therefore, in order to run a competitive political campaign, you need the help of campaign consultants, good candidates, and a well-executed marketing strategy that includes extensive research and an excellent media strategy. You also need to have a well-designed fundraising strategy – it needs actual fundraising. When we talk about political campaigns, fieldwork is very important. 

Below we have outlined a few best fundraising ideas for your Political Campaign. These apply to all the fundraising efforts, right from candidates to nonprofit organizations. However, unlike other fundraising efforts, political fundraising is much regulated. As per US law, $2000 is the maximum allowable contribution to a campaign fundraising.

Grassroots Campaigns

These campaigns are about mobilizing people and nurturing and growing movement right from the “idea” stage. It can be difficult to find the sweet spot between the mobilization of grassroots and higher-level campaign messaging. Because the grassroots campaigns revolve mostly around an idea, you must make sure to the following pointers 

  • Go out in the community and show your commitment and passion
  • Use the power of social media
  • Develop political campaign strategies, including the communities you want to engage with.
  • Have a crystal clear idea of what you want your political campaign message to revolve around. 
  • You can recruit volunteers by reaching out to nonprofit organizations, local faith organizations, or movements. You need passionate volunteers for a grassroots campaign.
  • Onboarding the volunteers that have the necessary skills and the materials for the ground fundraising – emails, flyers, data entry works, and phone calls.

Email Marketing 

To run a successful email campaign fundraising, you will have to expand your database so that your message will reach a large audience. You can use multiple paths like your website and social media to encourage your supporters to sign up for your newsletters. After they sign up, you must start nurturing them by sharing regular updates to stay on top of their minds. 

Now, to make the email political fundraising successful, you must send your audience timed and deeply targeted emails. You can start with a fascinating subject line that will attract your readers. If it is feasible for you, you can employ A/B testing for determining the type of subject lines your supporters will react to the best. Content integration is the key here. With online videos and social media outreach, it will serve as a powerful adjunct to your email fundraising. You can also take help from campaign management firms. 

Crowdfunding 

This is one of the most effective ways to raise funds for your campaign. A crowdfunding page is easily set up in minutes and can instantly accept donations. It is an innovative way of raising finance from potential donors online or at events. It enables you to collect a small amount of money that has been raised by a lot of ordinary people. 

The overall appearance of your crowdfunding platform is very important. It should be branded and must include images and videos and highlight the purpose of your campaign. For only a few cents for the dollars you raise, crowdfunding is one of the most inexpensive ways to raise some funds for your political campaign. You must make sure that your crowdfunding platform includes social media integrations. It is highly effective and ensures great chances of success.

Hosting ticketed virtual events 

This has become a common online political fundraising strategy. People who love gatherings attend it in any form – be it physical or virtual. Organizing virtual events bring together all the supporters and give them an opportunity to network. This can be an excellent opportunity for you to let people know about your position and answer their queries. Generally, tickets for this event are sold ahead at different pricing levels for considerable benefits. This will help you draw different kinds of donors and understand better the spending patterns of your contacts. Using texts and emails, you can send a personalized invitation to all the supporters. 

For conducting virtual events, you will need a sufficient amount of time and proper planning. Your list must include –

  • Deciding the entire schedule
  • Selecting the event type
  • Setting up a financial goal
  • Determining the budget
  • Choosing the theme of the event
  • Selling the event tickets
  • Onboarding volunteers
  • Briefing the candidates about the crowd
  • Framing the right message
  • Defining the levels of ask amount
  • Practicing the addressing and role-playing for personal interactions

Paid Advertising

A lot of paid advertising options are available out there. You can get them done through newspapers, print media, digital, radio, TV, etc. When considering the paid media, you should be mindful of the CPM (cost per thousand impressions). There is a measure of the number of dollars it will take to reach a thousand people. You can also check different TV channels and choose the one that has the best performance and price ratio. 

Apart from the paid advertising, you also get free media coverage. Free media coverage is referred to as earned media. They come in the form of news stories on TV, radio, and newspapers. There are a lot of ways to acquire earned media. 

Yard Signs

These may seem old-fashioned. But they have proven to be an effective political campaign strategy, especially if the campaign is local. Buy enough signs to cover the major entrances and important town intersections. As you put up the signs, keep a digital map so that it is easier to note the gaps and also take off the signs after the campaign is over. If possible, you can put a few signs by yourself to show that you are campaigning actively.

Weekend Parade

The crucial and the most important time for the political campaign is the end of it, right before the vote, but with sufficient time to use the donations. You can organize the parade through your neighborhood with the candidate decorated with balloons and signs. You can also distribute the candidate’s t-shirts and make the volunteers wear them. You can use signs, helium balloons, and sound systems to decorate. Mobilize the crews of volunteers to work their way through the neighborhood with flyers in hand. You must make sure to check the legal rules and regulations on the election silence. This surely is an effective fundraising idea as it utilizes the sentiments of urgency and can bring in any donations. 

Text-to-Give

Investing in text-to-give software for capitalizing on the virtual donations from the ever-growing pool of phone users can be a great idea. You can set up a communication channel on your end by choosing the text-to-give software provider and set up your campaign’s keyword or a short-code, and promote your campaign. 

The process will go like this from the donor. 

  • Donors will text your campaign.
  • They will receive an automated response with the link to the donation page.
  • They will fill out the online donation form and submit it.
  • The donor will receive an automated receipt for the gift through a text or an email.

It is very important to have a mobile-friendly donation page and an effective keyword. There are a couple of rules and regulations that the campaign management firms have to think about before starting the text-to-donate campaign. That is why make sure that you are aware of it all.

Writing Contribution Request Letters (also known as Political Fundraising Invitation) 

Every individual is different, and in every campaign, individuals respond differently. Amongst the different fundraising ideas on the list, political fundraising invitation letters should definitely be included. For making them personalized and meaningful, you can have them handwritten if possible. 

Nowadays, we don’t receive handwritten letters that often, so this strategy can have a lasting impact. In reality, it is not possible to handwrite each and every letter. So you can reproduce them and distribute them accordingly.

The Bottom line

Because of the high cost of running political campaigns, you need to spend an unreasonable amount of time asking people for money. None of it will be easy. But, if you are a political leader and are planning to contest in the coming elections, worry not. Your hunt for an effective political campaign strategist and a political consulting firm ends here. The expert campaign management consultants of the best political campaign consulting firms help the political candidates to manage the local offices and increase their vote count through hyper-coordination and civic engagement. 

Reach out to them today to know more about their services and strategies.