How SMS Marketing Can Benefit Political Campaigns

SMS or text message marketing is one of the most effective tools for political campaigns. You can use text messaging to for a number of activities related to your political campaign, such as reaching out to voters and organizing staff. Because people tend to be extremely responsive to text messages, this is one of the best ways to help you manage a busy political campaign.

Why SMS is Perfect For Political Campaigns

A political campaign is a fast-paced environment where things are always changing. It’s important to have efficient communications for this type of activity. Because almost everyone carries around a cell phone nowadays, text messages are usually the fastest way to reach people. This includes the staff members and volunteers on your team as well as voters.

When reaching out to voters, it’s important to keep the issues of the campaign fresh in their minds. People who are busy and easily distracted need constant reminders if you want to keep their enthusiasm strong. There’s no better way to achieve this than SMS (according to a recent NY Times article, outlining how powerful SMS is for the 2016 presidential election). People often ignore emails but 98% of text messages are read, usually within an hour after receiving them. SMS therefore provides you with the most reliable way to actually reach your audience during the campaign.

Use for SMS in Political Campaigns

Let’s look at some of the ways that you can leverage SMS during a political campaign.

Build a list of voters. On all campaign related material, give people a keyword they can text to a shortcode, such as “Text SmithForSenate to #41242.” You can promote this anywhere, such as on your website, campaign posters, flyers and ads. This allows you to build a growing list of supporters who you can text about anything campaign related, such as rallies, fundraising events or relevant news.

Sign up volunteers. Every campaign depends on getting a group of dedicated volunteers. SMS makes it easy for people to sign up for the campaign.

Election news. You can use SMS to inform people about important events and issues that your candidate supports. Remember, people can easily forward text messages to their friends, so this can help you reach more potential voters.

You can send out polls and surveys to find out how voters feel about various issues.

Election reminders. The most important factor in any election is the actual voting. Many people actually forget to vote on Election Day if someone doesn’t remind them. You can send frequent reminders as the election approaches to increase voter turnout.

Attract young voters and volunteers. One of the best things about SMS marketing for political campaigns is that it’s a great way to connect with younger voters and volunteers. Young people always carry a mobile phone and are especially responsive to text messages.

Coordinate staff and volunteers. SMS is an efficient way to communicate with staff and campaign volunteers to let them know about scheduling and tasks.

SMS Helps You Build a Stronger Political Campaign

As mobile phones become increasingly popular, more and more businesses and organizations are discovering the benefits of SMS marketing. This dynamic form of marketing is also ideal for political campaigns.

Communication is the key to a successful campaign. You must be able to contact voters, volunteers and staff members in the most efficient way possible. While it’s possible to reach out to people in a number of ways, none compares to SMS in speed and responsiveness.

If you’d like to learn more about political SMS campaigns, read the Best Practices for using Text Messaging in Political Campaigns or contact us to talk to one of our campaign specialists.