Five Ways To Brand Your Campaign Beyond A Logo

As campaigns look for ways to stand out, connect with supporters, and raise more money online, developing a brand is consistently mentioned as a key component of this strategy. Branding is much more than just a logo. It encompasses the entirety of what your audience believes about your candidate, campaign, or organization. 

Being thoughtful and intentional about the aspects of your brand are essential for building meaningful relationships with supporters and voters alike. Here are some aspects of branding that go beyond your logo.

Visual Identity

This encompasses all of the visual elements that represent your campaign, like color schemes, typography, imagery, and the overall style you use on your website, direct mail, TV ads, and elsewhere. 

Voice

Voters are increasingly interacting with campaigns primarily through written text like emails, SMS, and social media. Your brand voice includes the tone and style of language you use and should be a reflection of the candidate. This is why it’s important to have him or her engaged in creating content and repurposing those words in campaign materials.

Values

Your brand values are the core principles and ideals that the campaign stands for. At a minimum, these should be articulated internally to your team and therefore reflected in all your actions and decisions. 

Story

Storytelling is integral to effective campaigning but too often this begins and ends in the candidate’s stump speech. Make sure you’re retelling the story over and over again with all of your channels so every voter you reach knows it. 

Positioning

Elections are zero sum contests. There are winners and losers so how you position your campaign matters more than in other endeavors. Ensure voters know what makes your campaign unique in contrast to your opponents. 

Consistency

Having a consistent brand – from your visuals and voice to your values and your story – builds trust and credibility with voters. That’s why branding on a campaign is everyone’s responsibility. It’s not just about the logo or digital graphics. 

Conclusion

Remember where the term “brand” comes from. It refers to the practice of marking livestock so they can be identified with their owner. Brands must be distinct. The more specific and unique your brand is, the more effective it will be in moving supporters to action and driving voters to support you at the ballot.