It’s no secret that running a political campaign costs an immense amount of money. Unfortunately, the money required to successfully run for any kind of public office, on any level of government, prohibits many motivated and eager to serve individuals from running for office.
The secret lies in the ways that political candidates raise the money they need to have enough exposure to get elected. While we’re not here to raise a large debate, the overwhelming majority of successful candidates are able to do two things:
1. Build a Connection with Their Audience
2. Promote Their Agenda Through Campaign Donations
The beauty of technology is in the amount of software and platforms that are tailored to build connections or generate revenue. Methods and preferences may vary but there’s little argument that text messaging is the most direct way to communicate with anyone today. With this in mind, imagine a world where you could text, educate, and monetize your supporters in seconds and on a recurring basis.
*Poof!* That’s the reality—and is the political game these days. To help driven and passionate world-changers like yourself, we’ve compiled a quick checklist for the best way to raise campaign funds and build constituent connections with text message memberships.
Step 1. Brainstorm Content/Educational Campaigns Your Audience Would Like to Subscribe To
Accurate information and education is critical during a political campaign. You’re likely already using content strategies across social media platforms to better connect with your intended audience. This approach to deploying content should be similarly adapted to the content that you will deploy in your text message campaign.
Text Message Content Ideas:
- Polling Updates
- Press Releases
- Campaign Event Schedule
- Social / Live Media Updates
- Platform Related Content
- Funding Campaigns
Within each of these categories, you should brainstorm smaller content categories that could easily be conveyed in a text message for your audience. If you have larger content you need to share with your base, you can send direct links with information about the kind of content they can expect to find when they follow the link.
Step 2. Create One (or Several) SMS Membership Products with a Subscription Provider
Because you’ll be requesting a fee to get a text message membership, you may want to create several products to target different things. The overall idea is that you are consistently adding value to your supporters with the kind of text message subscription content you send to them. While you may have various demographics of supporters that would be interested in different types of content, you can easily create targeted membership products to ensure your base gets the highest value and resonates with the correct message.
Be careful to deploy content strategies that send text messages too frequently, however. Texting your audience is a worthwhile endeavor, but don’t bombard your constituents with text messages. If your campaigns begin to cause interruption into their day, you run the risk of losing subscribers and damaging the relationships.
*Pro Tip: Because members are expecting and paying from text messages from you, your campaign is safe from robotexting complaints.
Step 3. Build a Stronger Relationship with Your Supporters with Two-Way Texting
If you truly want to be accessible to your audience and grow your connection with your constituents, you should choose a text subscription service provider that offers one-on-one messaging with subscribers.
While campaign calling was a tried and tested method of connecting with voters in the past, the younger generations prefer not to be called. Connecting with voters by text message and allowing them to reply back to you (and get responses) shows voters that there is another person on the side of the phone willing to answer any questions or provide more information.
By continuously communicating with your base through subscription text message, your constituent relationship will begin to grow, as well as word of mouth about your campaign and your platform.
Step 4. Run Donation Campaigns & Benefit from the 99% Text Open Rate
You can make the perfect campaign, choose the perfect visuals, write the perfect copy; but none of that matters if no one sees your campaign or if the right people don’t see it. From algorithms to personal schedules, deploying content online can be a lot like fishing. While fishing may be an ideal Saturday afternoon, it is not ideal when you’re a political candidate that needs to raise funds.
It’s likely not your campaign or platform at all that is costing you donations, but simply a bad day of fishing. With text message memberships, subscribers are not only asking for and expecting your content, but they are almost guaranteed to not miss it. It’s been reported that the average American checks their phone at least once every 10 minutes, where social media varies from daily to monthly frequencies.
Knowing the prevalence of texting in our daily lives, it becomes clear that this fast and minimally invasive method of communication could be an incredibly effective campaign tool.
Start Creating SMS Subscription Products for Free with Subflow, Today!
You can start implementing these marketing practices for your audience today and get a jumpstart on your campaign for free with Subflow. Our founders and engineers understand the financial constraints that come with a political campaign and will not charge you a dime until your membership products begin to generate income.
The best part is, no matter how many membership products you create, or how many subscribers sign up for your text message membership, your Subflow pricing will not change. For a small revenue percentage, you can run as many political membership products as you want, and easily manage your products and text conversations from the Subflow Management Dashboard. Easily collect payments through the platform and set any price you’d like for your SMS products.
Schedule a free demo today to get a visual understanding of how Subflow can help you raise funds for your political venture.
