Just like your campaign’s ground game changes up for getting out the vote, so must your digital strategy.

I usually plan that “digital GOTV” is the last 3–4 weeks before the election. The ads you run, emails you send, and how you do it will change up quite a bit — which makes sense since your objective has changed.

Below, I throw out a few tips on what to do for smaller, grassroots campaigns — but most of the following are still applicable for larger efforts.

Getting your supporters to vote

The whole reason you’re doing this — you have to get your supporters to actually go out and vote.

You should be running Facebook ads to your list of supporters, which I’d recommend being optimized for reach and engagement. Your ads should at least include the following information:

• Election date
• When polling places open and close
• Polling locator — usually easiest to link to your state’s Secretary of State’s website. If you have more time and budget, consider making a Voting Action Center page on your website that includes voting information.

Last ditch effort for non-supporters

Even though it’s almost election, you should still be trying to convince non-supporters to vote for your candidate. The biggest difference between your GOTV ads for these folks and previous ads will be making these very direct and succinct. They’ll need to know the candidate’s name, that they’re the ____ candidate, and why it’s so important that they vote for you.

Get to the point — you’ll have only a couple sentences in an ad to convince them, so keep it simple.

For these ads, I’d recommend optimizing them for reach (so you can reach as many folks as possible) and link to your website’s voting action center or an issues page.

For a general election, it’s much more important to make sure everyone on your side goes out and vote, so the other side doesn’t win. In a primary, it’s more important to point out what makes you better for the office compared to your opponent(s).

When to stop asking for money

No one is going to donate on election day — and you don’t want them to. It’s much more important for supporters to go vote. While it’s smart to do a final fundraising push the week before election day (to help fund final phone and door-knocking efforts, for example), you should stop asking for money the last three days before election day.

Engage!

Supporters and undecided voters will be asking questions on social media — you should respond! Even if it’s as simple as linking to your website’s issue page, answering their question could make the difference between whether or not they vote for your side. ESPECIALLY during primaries, when the ballot is crowded with similar candidates, making the effort online can your team the edge to win.

While every election is different and there isn’t a “formula” to win, implementing a few of these tips is a solid starting point.

Every single month, your inbox is flooded with campaigns asking for donations before their end of the month deadline. But what’s the best way for a campaign to go about their end of the month (or quarter or year) fundraising?

Well, below I’ll break down a few do’s and don’ts for your end of the month email strategy.

DO:

• Have catchy or creative subject lines. Fundraising emails generally have a much lower open rate, so try not to make it obvious. Make your supporters want to open the email to see what’s inside.
• Vary the format. Assume your supporters are seeing dozens of these emails from campaigns, so by getting creative with formatting (bold, highlight, images, emojis, bullet points, buttons, etc), they are more likely to actually read your email.
• Make it personality driven and easy to read. If it makes sense with your sender, the more informal your emails, the better they’ll perform. Personal requests from the candidate or a last minute ask from the Campaign Manager will outperform bland, formal contribution asks. Your supporters will feel like they’re doing a favor, rather than making a donation to a political machine.

DON’T:

• Be overly desperate. The world isn’t ending and the campaign won’t shut down without Sharon in Ohio’s $25 donation. Obviously, donations ARE important but you’ll just burn through your list faster if you annoy your supporters. Make them want to donate, not guilt them into doing it.
• Send just one email. Depending on how large your list is, plan on sending at least more than one email at the end of the month. Most of your supporters won’t open all your emails, so you’ll want to hit them a few times to make sure that if they want to donate, they’re given the opportunity to.
• Send the same email to your entire list. This is a pet peeve of mine. If you send a fundraising email asking for $25 to all your supporters, you’re vastly limiting your fundraising potential. If a supporter hasn’t donated yet, it’s much easier to convince them to donate a small amount, like $5 for their first contribution rather than a larger amount. And for previous donors, if their average donation is $50, asking for only $25 will result is a smaller donation than what they’re potentially willing to give. I suggest writing multiple versions of an email with different tiers of donation amounts. It’s also always nice to acknowledge how previous donors have really helped the campaign in the versions being sent to them.

Hopefully, this list of tips and tricks helps. Good luck and happy fundraising!

Exciting news for our client Jeff Johnson (who’s running for Governor in Minnesota) — this past weekend he won the state party’s endorsement!

Let’s set the scene: For the past two months, we’ve partnered with Jeff Johnson as he pursued the Republican nomination for Governor in Minnesota. And even after the last-minute entry of former Governor Tim Pawlenty into the race, Jeff’s campaign pulled off a major feat—winning the support of the biggest conservative activists from across the state.

This endorsement is huge. Minnesota — surprisingly — will be a major battleground for Republicans in 2018. With two Senate races, a Governors race, and several Democrat-held Congressional Districts squarely in Trump country, there’s a grassroots-led Red Wave sweeping across the state.

How We Helped: Grassroots Advertising & Email

Here at Hines Digital, we are so proud to have played a role in securing this hard-fought endorsement—helping to oversee digital advertising and email engagement by leveraging our Ladder of Engagement approach.

Digital Advertising

From the start, we made extensive use of Facebook advertising to help spread the word about Jeff’s campaign in a cost-effective way.

Whether we were working to re-engage Jeff’s 2014 supporters or reaching out to voters for the first time, our goal was the same: to make it clear that Jeff was the candidate who is fighting for Minnesotans.

By leveraging Facebook’s ad platform, we successfully activated and expanded Jeff’s email list, driving small-dollar donations and helping build a sense of momentum ahead of the crucial endorsement convention.

Email Engagement

Beyond Facebook, we worked aggressively to re-engage Jeff’s 2014 email list—and bring new supporters into the campaign.

We know that email is about more than fundraising: it’s about connecting with voters, building a relationship, and inviting them to be a meaningful part of a campaign that’s larger than themselves.

None of that is possible without strong inbox placement (the ability for emails to actually reach supporters inboxes without getting routed to the spam folder), which is why we’re so proud that after more than 600,000 emails sent we’ve helped Team Jeff achieve a fantastic 18.5% open rate.

Now that he’s secured the Minnesota Republican Party endorsement, Jeff’s gearing up for the primary election against former Governor Tim Pawlenty—and we’re proud to be standing right his side.

We believe strongly in grassroots-powered campaigns and hard-working, authentic candidates. In Jeff Johnson, the people of Minnesota have both!

Enjoy this case study? Looking for more?

Learn more about how Hines Digital has helped campaigns, causes, and companies around the world grow their grassroots communities, raise more money, and achieve their goals:

• Supporting Ed Gillespie for Governor
• Campaigning to preserve Britain’s place in Europe
• Holy Digital ROI, Batman!

Hey everyone, I’m Amie Eichman. I’m the Digital Director at Hines Digital — handling day-to-day account work and content creation.

I grew up Wisconsin (yes, I’m one of those “cheeseheads”), and decided at an early age that all I wanted to be when I grew up was an engineer. But everything changed when I took a Current Events class in high school. The teacher — a Summer of Love Hippie and liberal — was the best teacher I’ve ever had, and became something of a mentor. Mr. Carter’s dedication to educating unbiasedly made angsty teenagers care about what was happening in the world around them. He pushed me to keep thinking and figuring out what I believed in. I started watching the news every day, attending town halls and protests — I couldn’t get enough. I had caught the political bug, and it’s never left.

Maybe it was my love if Friday Night Lights, but I found my way to Texas. With half a decade of agency experience, I’ve spent almost the last two years working in political digital advertising in Austin. As a hub of creativity and tech, Austin has carved out a magically special place in my soul and continues to inspire me daily.

I’ve worked with anyone from campaigns to advocacy groups to non-profits to private sector companies. I know that while clients can be vastly different, one thing is always the same for me: I aim to create kickass content for each of them that uniquely fits their digital strategy.

When I’m not working, you’ll find me dealing with my dingo dog Jameson (he’s cute, but boy is he a handful), getting dirty looks from Dallas Cowboys fans during football season, or enjoying a beer at any patio bar around Austin.