Down Home Digital: Keep Your Digital Bandwagon Out of the Ditch

We’re all now believers in the power of digital politics. Web 2.0, social networking, social media, social campaigning—whatever it’s called, we want some of it for our campaigns. But it’s wise to consider a few thoughts before we hit the magic “viral button.”
The web campaigns that have gotten the big headlines—the 2008 Obama campaign, Bob McDonnell’s 2009 campaign in Virginia, Scott Brown’s Massachusetts campaign in 2010—were all well funded operations that could afford to spend big on their digital efforts. Look deeper, and you’ll find effectively managing even a free Facebook account can impose considerable burdens on smaller campaigns. Over the next several months, we’ll discuss how you can plan and implement a successful digital strategy for any level of campaign that will help improve results and limit costs.
The first digital element—the one that that preoccupies most campaigns although it is perhaps the least important—is the website. It doesn’t knock on doors, make phone calls, send emails or actively distribute your message to supporters. It’s like the brochures stacked in the corner of your office: You must deliver them to people, not just wait for people to come get them. It’s important to set up an effective website and move on—so it doesn’t become a distraction or a liability as you roll out your campaign.
Before you start to build anything, have a graphic artist develop a logo that will work on yard signs, brochures and the website. It doesn’t have to be the next “O,” but it should be consistent across all materials. (There’s a reason the Coke can looks similar around the world.) You’ll also need some good pictures of the candidate—smiling, with good lighting—in a variety of poses and situations.
Make sure the website can be updated quickly and easily as the campaign progresses. Nothing says “disorganized” more than a website that has the campaign announcement up for six months. If you have to ask (and pay) a web designer to update even the smallest item on the site, you’ll let it slide like your gym workout. Ask prospective vendors which content management system (CMS) they use. If they tell you they don’t use a CMS, find another vendor. With a good CMS, you can update your website as easily as you edit a Word document.
Even if you do want your vendor to manage your site, a CMS lets them make the updates more quickly and cheaply than if they need to handcode HTML each time. There are lots of CMS options, and if you are new to running a website, an open-source CMS, such as WordPress, is a safer bet than one home-built by the vendor. Your website not only should be easy to update, it should be attractive and easy for your potential supporters to use. Don’t cram a lot on the home page and don’t add gratuitous design elements, such as flashing buttons, which can overpower the content. Less is more. Keep the message on your home page brief and provide visitors a short list of what you want them to do. Put the “sign-up,” “donate” and other action items at the top, so it’s easy for visitors to give you their e-mail addresses, make donations and get involved. If visitors must study your home page like a bus map, you’ll likely lose them.
Before you start the project, talk to several vendors, look at a variety of options and make sure you’re on the right track. Plan to spend $3,000 to $5,000. You can spend more, but it’s not necessary unless you have a specialized digital campaign plan. You can also spend a lot less, but only if you have someone with experience whom you trust to be around for the entire campaign or if building it yourself doesn’t distract from other duties, such as knocking on doors and raising money. And remember to save money in your budget to actually use the website as part of a larger online campaign.
Campaigns usually are short and intense, and money usually is scarce. A little planning and due diligence up front can help you avoid wasting your time and money building a digital black hole. Steve Pearson is President of CivicNEXT, which provides practical networking, communications and fundraising solutions for political campaigns and organizations. Ford O’Connell is President of ProjectVirginia, winner of the 2010 Reed Award for Best Use of Twitter and whose blog reports on “Where Politics Meets Social Media.”