You’ve landed a big endorsement for your campaign. This endorsement carries such weight that it will increase your profile as a candidate. It may help you raise money, convert voters into supporters, pick up other big endorsements, or perhaps all of the above. But how do you get the word out? Here’s five ways to properly announce and publicize it.
1. Send a Press Release
The press release is the most traditional way to announce your endorsements. It’s been around forever and still works.
Whenever you land a significant endorsement you should always send a press release to all the media outlets (newspapers, radio stations, and television stations) that are covering your race.
At the least you may get a story in your local paper. At the most the endorsement could get mentioned in a radio news report or maybe your local TV news may send a crew out to cover the announcement.
Here’s the guidelines you’ll need for writing a standard press release.
2. At An Event
Depending on the endorsement, you might want to make the announcement at a live event with the endorser.
You could hold a press conference with the endorser to specifically get the announcement into your local news. If that’s the case, you’ll need to send the media a press release inviting them to the event.
You also can announce the endorsement at a fundraiser and have the endorser speak there. This can help you raise money by creating a buzz among your donors and show momentum is on your side during the campaign.
3. By Email
Since you’ve already written a press release about the endorsement, you should definitely massage that copy and email this news out to the voters.
At the very least email it to your supporter list. If the endorser is a name that will help bring voters to your side, you should also email it out to your targeted voters as well.
And since we’re talking about email, be sure to remember these 15 best practices for sending out campaign emails.
4. On Social Media
Whatever you send out to the traditional media, should also be shared on all of your social media channels and posted to your website.
Even if your local press doesn’t cover the endorsement, you can make sure the news is out there through these new media channels.
Create a post on Facebook about the endorsement. Send out a Tweet announcing the endorsement with a link back to your website with details on the endorsement for those who want it.
And remember, social media is very very very visual — always include a picture of the person endorsing you in your updates.
If your endorsement an organization like a police officers or teachers association, use their logo if they will allow you to do so. But always be sure to get permission to use their logo and don’t ever use a government seal or logo by mistake.
5. Live on Facebook
This is the newest way to announce an endorsement, live in a video your campaign’s Facebook page.
Facebook wants more people to use the live video functions, so it pushes live video content in the News Feeds for more people to see.
If you hold a press conference to announce an endorsement or do so at a fundraiser, have someone stream it live to your Facebook page.
Or you can simply pick a time and a place to go live with your endorser on Facebook. That works too and may actually be less demanding.
A police officers association I consult for did that this past week with the two candidates it decided to endorse for upcoming city council races.
Both candidates met the president of the association at a set time and place. He went live on Facebook to announce the endorsement then allowed each candidate to speak.
After ending the live stream on your Facebook page, you can then edit the video, add captions, trim the video’s length, and keep the video up on your page.
The endorsement video I mentioned was posted 48 hours ago. It’s already had over 1,100 views. I doubt turnout will exceed 11,000 voters in November so the video’s already been seen by potentially 10% of likely voters.
Candidate Take-Aways
Big name endorsements are great to have on a campaign.
Unfortunately, they do nothing to help you get elected or raise money if people aren’t aware of the endorsement.
But if you utilize as many of these five ways of publicizing your big endorsements when you get them, you’ll effectively get the word out to voters, donors, and other elected officials.