How to Launch Digital Marketing for Your Political Campaign

So you finally landed that job working on the campaign of an amazing candidate. But on your first day—before you’ve even finished your first cup of coffee—the candidate calls you to get the ball rolling on the digital marketing for the campaign. Panic starts to set in. You have no idea how to launch a digital marketing campaign!

Relax.

Launching a digital campaign for candidates and PACs can be a challenge, but Arena can help.

We’ve launched digital marketing campaigns for hundreds of campaigns and political organizations over the last decade.

Read on to see our checklist of what you’ll need to get started on your website design and build, and digital advertising.

Information needed to build your website

Before your candidate announces, you should have the website ready to go live. You’ll need a platform to communicate the candidate’s position on issues and, more importantly, you’ll need an online home for your digital fundraising efforts. Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

Registered domain for website

This is usually one of the first tasks a potential candidate tackles when considering running for office. You’ll want to make sure you lock that domain down early. Open an account with godaddy or hostgator to search and register a domain name.

In addition to the domain name for your site, you’ll need to provide access to the account where the domain is managed.

For political campaigns, consider also purchasing variations of the desired domain to ensure an opponent can’t acquire one that can be used to damage your candidate’s reputation.

Approved candidate photos

Photos from a smartphone might work, but your best bet is to find a professional photographer to get quality shots. The quality of the images on your website will translate to the quality of the candidate.

Either way, Arena will review and color correct the photos provided to ensure the best presentation possible.

Make sure to include images with family, and images of community leaders and events. Landscape (horizontal) images are the most popular.

Logos

If you have logos already, make sure you provide horizontal and vertical versions, as well as reversed/knocked out versions so the website designer has options. Your designer will understand this request. If you don’t have a logo, Arena has a great team of designers who can help.

Make sure to include all the popular social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (X).

Branding is important and you can rely on Arena to set up your social banners to make sure they match up with the branding on your website and other marketing collateral.

Organization banking information

You’ll need to set up an account with a digital fundraising platform like Winred or Anedot. Arena can help as needed. Your banking info will be linked so that online donations from your website are deposited in the correct account.

Approved bio text

Provide a long and short version of the bio. Some candidates will want a dedicated About page and, in that case, a long version is appropriate. If the website is a one page site, a shorter version might come in handy.

Official disclaimer for organization

This will be used on all paid media.

Email address for website form submissions

Try to avoid using a personal account or the account of a staff member. This email account will be used by the website content management system (CMS) to notify your staff when submissions are made.

Basic contact information to list on website

Include a physical address, phone numbers and an email address.

Information needed for political verification of your campaign’s digital advertising

Registered domain name

Same as described above in the website information section.

FEC ID or State Board of Elections ID

This number is used for computer indexing. Don’t confuse this with taxpayer identification numbersa required by the Internal Revenue Service or the state tax commission.

EIN + documents issued by the IRS or state tax authorities

Examples of issued documents include: CP575, 147C, CP299, 988, 937, 1050 and 5822. As an alternative, you can provide a Certificate of Business Incorporation Issued by the state where you conduct business.

Physical address of the entity

This might be the address listed on the incorporation documents and cannot be a post office box.

Phone number

This must be a valid, answerable phone number publicly associated with the entity (cannot direct to voicemail).

Email address

This email address must match your organization’s website domain. So if your web domain is www.abc.com, the email would need to be name@abc.com.

Same as described above in the website information section.

Now you’re ready to launch your digital marketing campaign

Arena has the experience, know-how and resources to help launch your digital campaign. Our in-house digital developers, media buyers, reporting analysts and client strategists make the process as easy as possible for you and your organization. Contact us now and we’ll be happy to discuss how we can help launch the digital marketing for your campaign or PAC!

How to Launch Digital Marketing for Your Political Campaign