Politicians Use Text Messaging to Reach Voters

SMS Marketing and Political Campaigns
In this age of technology people want the main points delivered to them in the most efficient way possible; SMS marketing provides this medium. An sms (short message service) message is delivered instantly – the same as any standard text message – and is limited to 160 characters. It is likely that you will have more than 160 characters worth of information to get out, but think of this as the hook when you are writing. Give them the most important or interesting information that will pique their interest and then direct them to a short video or website where they can learn more about you and your campaign.

Keep in mind, everyone will have to opt-in to your campaign before you can send any message. An easy way to get people to opt-in is to add your keyword and short code to all of your other campaign advertising. Using your name as the keyword is a good way for people to identify with you. At the time of the opt-in the subscriber will be returned an autoresponder message. This would be a good time to tell them about yourself and direct them to a place they can get more information.

After the initial opt-in you will have established permission to text them going forward. Don’t send messages too frequently, so that they become annoying, but use the SMS marketing to provide essential information about your political campaign. If you want to really individualize the messages according to the desires of your subscribers you can create groups and have them specify which messages they would like to receive. Some may want all updates about your campaign, others may only want reminders about voting dates, debate or rally locations and times, others may want to know when and where public interviews and question and answer sessions will be held. Customizing your sms marketing to most closely meet the needs of your subscribers will ensure they don’t opt-out and miss a lot of relevant information. Check out our article on how to setup and use groups if this is something you are interested in utilizing.

Automate Your SMS Marketing Messages with the Scheduler
If you are concerned about the amount of time and resources the sms campaign will require, don’t be. With the TXT180 scheduler you can schedule all messages for the week, month, or even an entire year and beyond. At your campaign meetings you can determine the exact message you want to go out and which groups it should be sent to. The marketing manager can then go into the scheduler and input all the messages on the calendar. The system will load the current contact list for the keyword or group the morning the message is set to go out.

Use SMS Marketing to Poll Your Campaign Followers
It is easy to set up a poll and have people text in their responses. For example, maybe you want to find out which topic your followers would like you to address in an upcoming speech. Ask them to vote for the most important topic by texting vote.12 for taxes, vote.13 for education, vote.14 for public safety. or vote.15 for job concerns. The format for the vote will need to be keyword.extension with the keyword being one you have chosen for your campaign and the extension is whatever you choose when creating each individual group. This format can be used to get important feedback from your campaign followers so that you know which issues are their top concern.

Originally Posted on: September 9, 2021

Posted in: SMS Marketing Uses by Industry
Tags: political campaign, political sms messages, sms marketing