As some of you know, I was in the 2019 class for Emerge Oregon, a candidate training program for women who want to run for office. Although I’m not running at this time (I will!) I have been talking with candidates across the region who are running in November and who have had questions about email marketing for their campaign.
Since canvassing (knocking doors) isn’t a safe option this election cycle, candidates have to change up how they’re communicating with voters, donors and volunteers. And you know what I think is a great way to do that? YES – a newsletter. So, here’s a few tips and tricks I’ve been recommending.
- Send an update at LEAST monthly – reach out to your network to let them know what you have been up to, how you’re engaging and how they can connect with you. Make sure to include ways they can volunteer, donate or host a virtual event.
- Make sure there’s a subscribe form on your website and that every donor, volunteer or person who contacts you via your website gets added to your email list.
- Create a welcome email – “thanks for subscribing, here’s how you can get involved…”
- Have a standard Thank You email for events – make sure that within one day you’re thanking everyone who came to that virtual house party or kickoff party. Remind them of the ways they can get involved, donate and spread the word about your campaign.
- Add social media sharing icons to the footer. This way people can share the email on their social media channels – this wouldn’t be necessary for thank you emails but for the regular updates it could be a nice way for raving fans and your advisory board to easily support and promote the campaign.
- If you’re using Mailchimp I encourage you to connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts (if you’re using these platforms) so you can automatically post your emails to your social media channels. With Facebook you can also add a sign up form to your page.
- In the design of your email make sure that all the logos and images are linked back to your website. Encourage them to follow you on the social media channels you’re active on and ALWAYS have a donate button even if that email isn’t about fundraising. It’s always about fundraising…
- Add a donate button to EVERY email that goes out. Subtle at the bottom just above the social media icons – you don’t have to ask for donations anywhere else in the email (you should sometimes though!) but having that donate button is a helpful subtle reminder, and it WORKS.
- Always include ways that people can get involved (lawn sign, donation, virtual house party, etc.) too.
Every campaign is different so you may want to adjust how you’re communicating. Make sure that you’re communicating regularly and giving your audience as many ways as possible to support you! Good luck and don’t forget to VOTE!
Summer has FINALLY arrived, which means it’s warm enough (sometimes TOO warm) to sit outside and read – my favorite way to read. I had a great get away to the Oregon Coast for my birthday last week and was able to finish a book and get started on a new one. Not quite as much reading as I anticipated, but it was a great time to get out of town for a few days.
Welcome to summer… the weather is warmer, it’s time to sit outside with a cold drink and learn to be anti-racist. The past month has been eye opening for me in a lot of ways, and I have been grateful for all of the lists and recommendations on ways that we can educate ourselves on racism and the Black Lives Matter movement using some of my favorite pop culture mediums. Every non-fiction book was immediately sold out, but there’s some great Black fiction that I “kept meaning to get to.” And now I am finally doing it. It hasn’t all been educating myself, I still found plenty of time for mindless entertainment, I promise.