Accelerate your political campaign: 5 effective SMS marketing examples

A political campaign, or election campaign, is the means by which candidates and political parties prepare and present their ideas and positions on current issues to voters in order to influence their decision making and cast their vote in favour of a specific candidate or party.  

In order to pull off a successful political campaign, candidates and political parties use a variety of marketing techniques to reach voters in the lead-up to election day. This includes radio advertising, billboards, flyers, events and more.  

A great way to accelerate your political campaign is by utilising SMS marketing. With open rates as high as 98% and 7.5 billion mobile phone users by 2026, SMS marketing can assist your political campaign by reaching your voters on the channel they use the most. We dive into the top 5 effective SMS marketing ideas to accelerate your political campaign and the advanced SMS features available with Notifyre below. 

1. Political campaign alerts and updates

Make the most of those important days leading up to the big election by sending political campaign alerts and updates via SMS. These could be for events, political views, positions and more.  

Examples: 

1. We’re hosting a sausage sizzle in Corbins Mark @ noon. Come on down and wear blue to support your local candidate! Opt Out reply STOP 
2. We’re putting a stop to greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. Vote #1 for ABC Party this election: bit.ly/abc-more-info Opt Out reply STOP  
3. Show your support this Saturday at Michelle’s café! Your candidate will be answering questions on how they’re working to alleviate unemployment. Opt Out reply STOP 

2. Organising volunteers

Many political parties are backed by their volunteers, who volunteer their time at local campaign meetings, handing out how-to-vote cards on election day and more. SMS provides an easy way for you to organise your volunteers, including sending them notifications, event reminders and more. 

Examples: 

1. Your presence is requested at the ABC Party campaign meeting on Friday, 9th May at People’s Restaurant. We’d love your support. 
2. We need volunteers for our mailbox drop in Palmview area. Can you help? Bit.ly/pv-drop 
3. Are you available on election day? Lunch is on us for volunteers assisting at polling booths across the city. We’d love your help: bit.ly/poll-day 

3. SMS reminders to cast votes

One of the easiest ways to get in front of your voters is to send a political SMS broadcast reminding them to cast their vote on election day. In some countries, including Australia, voting is compulsory and so a friendly reminder can go a long way.  

Examples: 

1. Don’t forget to cast your vote this election day! Polls open at 9am. Vote #1 for ABC Party and help us make a difference! Opt Out Reply STOP 
2. Jason, the polling booths close tonight at 6.00pm! Make sure to get your vote in and have your voice heard. Vote #1 for XYZ Party Opt Out Reply STOP 
3. Are you ready to vote tomorrow? We’re ready to start making a difference in your local area. Vote #1 for FEG Party Opt Out Reply STOP 

4. Links to find a local polling booth

Elections don’t happen often, so make sure your voters know exactly where to go by sending a political SMS with a link to find their local polling booth. Utilise 2-way SMS to get your voters engaged.  

Example: 

You: "Peter, tomorrow is election day! Do you know where to vote? Reply with your postcode and we’ll send you polling booths in your local area" 

Peter: "4553"

You: "There are 6 local polling booths for your area. View more here: bit.ly/where-to-vote" 

5. Election result announcements

After the election is ended, you can take the opportunity to send your voters a political SMS broadcast to let them know if any of your candidates won their local area election, or were successfully voted in.  

Examples:  

• Hi Felicity, thanks for your vote! We’re pleased to announce that Janet Joseph will now be your local Member of Parliament. Any questions or concerns? Get in touch here: bit.ly/janet-joseph 
• Your new Prime Minister is Fred Frankly! We appreciated your support at the polls this year. Find out more about Fred’s plans for Australia here: bit.ly/fred-frankly 
• Thanks for your vote, Michael! We congratulate Kiara Knight on gaining a seat in Parliament!  

Powerful SMS features built for political campaigns

Notifyre’s advanced SMS features means you can personalise your SMS marketing messages and ensure you capture your audience at the right time, every time. SMS features include:  

• Email to SMS – Send your political SMS messages without ever leaving your email client. Compatible with Gmail™, Outlook™, Yahoo!® and more.  
• SMS broadcast & bulk SMS – Ensure your election alerts, reminders and political text messages reach your entire audience, all at once. Send a bulk SMS broadcast to your entire audience. 
• 2-way SMS – give your voters the opportunity to reply to your political SMS message with free SMS replies for up to 48 hours via a Notifyre system number.  
• Dedicated virtual SMS number – receive unlimited SMS replies from voters via a dedicated virtual mobile number. Choose a number specific to your political campaign to analyze the effectiveness of your SMS marketing messages. 
• SMS personalisation tools – add a personal touch to your political campaigns by utilising our SMS personalisation tools, including dynamic fields, custom sender ID, emojis (Unicode support) and more.

Enhance your political campaign with SMS marketing today

The sky is the limit when preparing and managing your political campaign. By utilising SMS marketing, you can reach your voters before, on and after election day. Start sending SMS messages today with Notifyre and take full advantage of our SMS features to enrich your message and make your political campaign stand out from the rest. Sign up to get started!