Election Day Marketing Strategies

Are you wondering how to advertise your business on election day? There are a number of ways that you can take advantage of this day, but it is also important to understand the challenges. In this blog post, we’ll outline some of the best Election Day marketing strategies and what you should look out for.

Fun Facts

• Election Day occurs the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November.
• In 1884, comparisons of presidential candidates included an analysis of their (literal) skulls.
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first United States president in history to be elected for a full third term.
• Before election day, the weather and farming dictated when elections were held.
• The highest voter turnout in U.S. history was in the 1876 presidential election, with about 82.6% of eligible voters casting ballots.

Statistics

Statistics provided by 2020 Census.

• 7% of the population are registered to vote.
• 3% voted in 2020.
• 59.5% of registered men voted 63.0% of registered women voted.
• $11 Billion were spent on the Federal 2020 election, almost double the 2016 amount.

Challenges with Facebook Creative

The 2016 election unsurfaced many holes in Facebook’s ad screening process. Accordingly, they are much stricter, especially around election season. Hot button topics will be closely screened and most likely blocked from many platforms if you do not have the correct authorization to run these kinds of ads.

When planning your marketing campaign, keep this in mind when designing your messaging you involve military, politics, and social issues. It is important to err on the side of caution to not get your ads disapproved or completely lock your ad account.

Challenges with Ad Supply and Demand

Paid digital Ads are priced based on the current market bids for both Facebook and Google Ads. Political Campaigns have very large marketing budgets that buy up a significant chunk of ad supply, flood your consumers’ attention with messaging, and ultimately drive up the price of your normal campaign cost. It is important to evaluate your spending to see if the ROI is worth it as it may be better to utilize another ad medium. It might be even worth putting a pause on digital ads until the election cycle ends.

If Advertising, Keep Messaging Fun

While some companies may find it beneficial to have a political stance., it is important to do your research and understand your customer persona to be sure it will not damage the company’s reputation.

For most companies, it is best to stay neutral on the politics, you can still have fun with Election Day marketing campaigns.

Advertising

• Create your own election that customers can cast a vote on
  • Vote which sports team, chips, movie character you like. This can be done with two tip jars, paper ballots, candy, etc.
  • While planning the “election” be certain that it cannot be misinterpreted or found offensive.
• Encourage people to vote.

Sales

To boost sales, many brands can be seen selling “Vote” merchandise. The most popular campaigns are companies encouraging their customers to get out and vote! Companies have encouraged customers to vote by providing discounts on products or services for those that have a Voted sticker. Some examples:

• Krispy Kreme gave out a free donut
• Planet Fitness gave a free workout and HydroMassage
• Chili’s discounted the Presidente Margarita to $5
• Lyft gave 50% off one ride up to $10 to any polling location or dropbox
• Uber gave 50% off roundtrip rides to the polls up to $14 for two trips

Social Media

Companies are not shy to dabble in Meme and GIF culture these days. Utilize these formats to make fun content to catch your audience’s attention.

• Create a GIF or Meme spotlighting your company election. Have your top two choices battling to win. (ex. Sour cream and onion battling salt and vinegar chips)
• Create a GIF or Meme encouraging your customers to go out and vote in the actual election.
• If you decide to make a stance you can use this format and platform to announce your support for a candidate.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a great way to reach your audience especially while other strategies are being flooded by political spending. Most importantly the cost is fixed in your email subscription service and will not be affected by the rate premiums of other advertising platforms.

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