Who is your competition?
It may seem like a simple question with an obvious answer.
But if you answered, the Democrat, youve responded incompletely. At the ballot box on election day, yes, thats your competition.
Now that campaigns are happening mostly online, however, youre competing with everyone. Every voter youre trying to reach online day in and day out is also being targeted by companies, organizations, and influencers for their attention. That means your opponents also include Target, Kylie Jenner, and Game of Thrones.
Because your competition is so stiff online, its essential that everything your campaign does online is done as effectively as possible. Simply doing better than your immediate political opponent isnt good enough.
Best practices matter because youre not just competing against Democrats or even other politicians. They matter because youre in the fight for individuals attention, which is a finite resource and becoming scarcer by the day.
You cant add more hours to the day for voters so were all fighting over the same scraps of attention, usually left over from something far more entertaining than politics. And in those rare seconds when you break through and get their attention, youve got to seize the moment.
Your website needs to be found instantly on Google. The homepage should load instantly and render correctly on their mobile device. The call to action to sign up for your email list should be clear and compelling. When you email them, the subject line has to be descriptive and catchy and hit at the exact right moment. The link to donate in the email needs to be clear, compelling, and near the top.
Remember, were talking about seconds, not minutes here. Everything should work perfectly. Thats where following best practices comes in. Just being better than the campaign next to you on the ballot doesnt cut it anymore.