Metrics are dangerous. Yes, it’s great to get real-time feedback on how your efforts are working, but if you don’t have the right context or understand what’s important, metrics will distract you.

You’re not going to build an email list capable of sustaining your campaign on free efforts alone, but putting these best practices into place will give you some increase, but most importantly, it orients your campaign to a list-building mindset.

Don’t be afraid of trying things out because everything is easily reversible, but don’t test out on something important.

Here’s a quick run through of the process I follow when writing an email to ensure it raises as much money as possible.

The bottom line: don’t get discouraged if you don’t see early, immediate online fundraising success.

Video is a dynamic medium for you to connect with supporters directly, share your lighter side, and reach more voters.

Running for office is challenging enough, but early on as a candidate (or in the exploration phase), you understand how critical digital marketing is to your campaign.

The question becomes one of priorities. Do you want your campaign to communicate effectively with voters online where they’re getting more and more of their political news?

Nobody is expecting you to be a digital campaign expert, but we do want you to listen to people who know what they’re talking about and set the right priorities for your own campaign.

In fact, most of these technology considerations aren’t really about the tools themselves, but rather the mindset behind decision making.