How Politicians are Using Text Message Marketing with Success
Political text message marketing has grown tremendously since President Obama rolled out a text marketing campaign during his election run. Now it is seen as a must have for politicians running for office as it is a perfect medium to connect with the younger voting demographic who are not easy to identify through traditional methods such as door knocking and home phone calls.
A text marketing campaign also does not take an extra staff member to execute properly or an over priced campaign advisor to tell a campaign how to use it correctly. Mobile marketing for political campaigns is about as simple and effective as it can get compared to the other strategies used during a campaign to reach voters, communicate with them and get them active in the campaign.
To begin a political text marketing campaign you must begin to build your SMS opt-in database of subscribers. Place call to actions on your website, Facebook page, Twitter account and print campaign material. Ask people to text your keyword to the short code 83936. The supporter’s cell phone number is automatically added to the database and a short auto-reply message is sent. Auto-reply messages thank the subscriber for signing up for the text alert list and to look for future campaign updates and pertinent information.
The list will build in the background on auto-pilot and the campaign can send weekly updates about community meetings, standouts, events, debates and text messages asking for volunteers or donations. A new message can be sent out in minutes and compared to the time and resources it would take to call thousands of people to find volunteers or participants, the ease, cost and time savings are unmatched.
This is a great tool for election day as well to remind people throughout the day to get out the vote. While normally it is not recommended to send out multiple messages, on election day having this tool is an invaluable resource.
Once the election is over you can retain you list and continue to use it to communicate with your voter and supporter base. I recently got a text message from Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown directing me to submit an essay on one of his websites to tell him what the Fourth of July meant to me. In return I had the chance to win Red Sox tickets and would get to go to the game with Senator Brown. This is an great example of keeping supporters engaged throughout the political cycle and reminding everyone about the work the candidate is doing and his support for his constituents.
Political text message marketing has become an essential tool in the political realm and one can’t afford anymore not to take advantage of simple tools like this that will increase participation, voter support and reach the elusive 18-30 year old demographic.
Related posts:
Stuart Richardson5:45 am on August 12th, 2010
Mobile marketing for your political campaign is much better than traditional marketing. You pay less for a mobile marketing and what’s important people are more receptive to this kind of campaign. Door knocking marketing was really annoying and some people even preferred to ignore political activists knocking at their doors. Now they can’t ignore a text message, that’s for sure.
Brian1:06 am on August 13th, 2010
With the recent technological advancement plus the number of mobile users steadily increasing by the day; it is high time for every facet of our community to fully utilize its prowess. Politicians have joined the ride too and I hope that other social units will soon follow.
Byron Eckblad2:32 pm on March 10th, 2011
I cannot wait to share this article will all of my Facebook friends. Thanks for discussing! Continue the good work!