Everyone who is online has an email address making email the universal digital platform, even in an era of social media and private messaging services. But most campaigns only use email marketing strategies for online fundraising.
As the digital landscape continues to fragment and voters become more difficult to reach, campaigns should look to email newsletters as a format for sharing information with supporters – especially those who are not donors. Publishing a newsletter takes discipline, but most campaigns are already creating enough content to fill a newsletter. The best way to create an effective campaign email newsletter that supporters actually want to read is to follow a proven format.
What Makes An Effective Campaign Email Newsletter?
Effective campaign email newsletters are, first and foremost, informative. It should provide value to the supporter, whether that’s in the form of news they won’t get elsewhere or some curation of other news. This instantly sets your email newsletter apart from the deluge of fundraising emails that most voters receive.
The most successful email newsletters publish on a regular, reliable schedule. You want subscribers to look forward to it so much they worry about you if it doesn’t arrive on time. Your campaign should send a weekly newsletter on a specific day of the week and time.
Your email newsletter should also be relevant to a specific audience. This could be broad, like all campaign supporters, or more narrow, such as campaign volunteers. Of course, anyone can sign up for the email, but keeping an audience in find ensures you’re really providing relevant information.
Following an email newsletter format is the best way to achieve these three objectives.
Format #1: News Roundup
The most familiar campaign email newsletter template is the news roundup, where subscribers get a recap of recent activity by the candidate. The various sections of the newsletter should be the same each week with consistent content types.
Check out Texas Congressman Jodey Arrington’s “The Alarm” for a good example of a news roundup email. Each week, he includes a brief note, a video, links to op-eds, news stories, and press releases, and a “Question of the Week.”
Format #2: Curated Links
In a world of online abundance, surfacing the most relevant news and information can provide significant value to newsletter subscribers. This format is also the easiest to adopt since it doesn’t require you to create any new content. For example, if your newsletter is for grassroots volunteers on your campaign, include links with brief summaries or excerpts to relevant events and opportunities in your area. By becoming a trusted source of knowledge and connector for your audience, you’ll gain support as well.
Key to an effective curated links newsletter is as much what you exclude as what you include. Brief and to the point is the goal. Check out my own Learn Test Optimize newsletter for an example of what this could look like for your campaign.
Format #3: Weekly Article
Your campaign email newsletter could be as simple as a weekly blog post or op-ed written by the candidate. Your supporters want to hear what you really think and a brief newsletter article – as short or as long as you want – is a great platform for sharing. These can even be evergreen pieces of content so you can write a few ahead of time depending on your schedule.
North Carolina Congressman Jeff Jackson’s “Quick Update” Substack newsletter is a great example of this style.
Format #4: In Case You Missed It
Quality content should always be cross-posted on all of your campaign’s channels, but it’s essential that you transform it into an appropriate format for your email newsletter. For example, transcribe videos from TV interviews or social media and edit them down for supporters who might prefer to read what you had to say.
Use AI To Work Smarter, Not Harder
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT can speed up your newsletter production workflow. Use AI to transcribe interviews, summarize articles, and reformat content you’ve written elsewhere.
Conclusion
Your campaign can’t afford not to communicate more effectively–beyond fundraising emails–with supporters via email. Following one of these formats is the best way to create a campaign email newsletter that supporters actually enjoy seeing in their inbox.
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