Despite the rise of social networking, email is still among the most popular methods that political campaign consultants use to build and rally support. Although social media is a great way to push out content, you can use email to drive membership, foster advocacy, raise awareness and brand visibility.

In addition, political email marketing is a valuable instrument to promote a platform, recruit volunteers, solicit donations and get voter and constituent backing. Cultivating sustainable long term relationships and acquiring loyal high value supporters is a growing challenge for political campaigners. Email marketing technology enables you to easily and inexpensively communicate with large audiences of donors, supporters, activists, constituents and other concerned individuals in a way that’s immediate and relevant, in a highly personalized manner.

Highly personalized email campaigns work for political marketers because they can:

• Increase voter awareness. Personalized political emails can help raise awareness on key political issues.
• Keep constituents informed and rally support. Your email database is a great way to keep your constituents informed and up to date on issues. Execute campaigns and respond to timely issues in a matter of hours with minimal effort and cost.
• Track supporter behavior. Gain valuable insight into your supporters’ interests by capturng clickthrough data.
• Strengthen relationships with high-value donors. Segment your audience for better targeting (i.e., invite high-value donors to meet and greet fundraisers in your area), and maintain ongoing communication with them to keep them engaged.
• Build coalitions and loyalty. Keep in touch with coalitions through regular email updates. These folks can spread your message, raise money, deliver votes and provide volunteers.
• Engage in two-way conversation. Solicit real-time input through polls that keep voters and constituents engaged.
• Measure effectiveness of your message. Analytics will pay dividends over the course of a campaign, allowing you to measure the effectiveness of your campaign by gauging what messages and issues are relevant to your audience.

Whether you’re running a campaign for a local, state or national office, an effective email campaign can help increase your odds of getting a politician elected. Long after the campaign has ended, continue to engage voters and constituents by delivering your message and soliciting their support; every time your candidate’s name shows up in a voter’s or constituent’s inbox, you build name recognition and loyalty.