Reaching every single voter manually can be a daunting task.
It’s time-consuming, including assembling a group of people and encouraging them to vote.
You can easily do it with political phone banking, a fundamental tool various electoral campaigns use. Political phone banking can be a game changer once used properly, from persuading voters to sharing important information.
So, here comes the big question- “What is phone banking and how to organize it effectively?”
Let’s find the answer.
What is Phone Banking?
Political phone banking is a campaign strategy that involves reaching out to potential voters through phone calls. Most political campaigns use this powerful tool to increase voter turnout, mobilize supporters and persuade the undecided voters to support a specific issue.
The volunteers receive a list of potential voters and engage them in a political conversation. According to a study, 97% of US residents own a mobile phone, so reaching out to them over a phone call is easy. The core objective of political phone baking is to maximize voter turnout while persuading them to support a specific issue. This can be done either through pre-recorded messages or manually.
Top 7 Tips to Organize Your Political Phone Banking Strategy That Brings You Results
Studies show that political phone banking produces positive results instead of door-to-door canvassing. However, you should do it properly to get the maximized results. Here’s how-
1. Write Effective Scripts
Without a proper script, it’s not easy to accomplish the goal. To create an effective script, you should step into the voters’ shoes to understand their thoughts. For example, writing long paragraphs mentioning the campaign goals may stand persuasive, but that doesn’t guarantee the voters will listen to the previously recorded messages.
You can keep the messages short, simple and sweet. Also, you can present them to your team members to receive feedback.
2. Set a Clear Goal
What is the objective of your political phone banking campaign? You can link multiple goals in your script. However, ensure that the goals align with the voters’ expectations. Connecting with former candidates will enable you to dig deeper into their goals. Therefore, you can set your goal realistically, which brings you the ultimate results.
3. Segment the Contacts
Every individual has different needs or commitments to society. Therefore, the relationship to the campaign is different. Based on that, you must customize the scripts for different audiences that define the relative positioning better.
4. Host Sessions
Gathering all the callers in a single space provides you with many benefits. You can ask the questions, while receiving answers more quickly. This creates a sense of community while sharing feedback. You can plan a Google Meet/Zoom meeting and ask the voters to join the call by sending them the invites.
If you have a website, you can put the meeting details by creating a featured post. However, if you don’t have a website, you can create one with Dot Vote Domain. This will ensure that your political campaign stands out while simplifying your objective to the voters.
5. Follow-up with SMS
Multiple touchpoints with a voter will enable you to increase the chances of building the relationship better. Here, SMS plays a pivotal role in staying connected with the voters. You can combine political texting with phone banking for better results.
6. Develop Strategies for Various Situations
Generally, the conversation between the volunteer and a voter is about the campaign and how it will benefit a voter. However, there can be other various situations. Based on that, you should organize your phone bank. Consider the following scenarios with the volunteers-
- If the voter doesn’t pick up the call
- If someone other than the voters respond
- If the voter asks to call some another time
Once you ask to review these things with your volunteers, they will have the proper idea of the different scenarios they encounter during the calls.
7. Pay Attention to Feedback
Ensure you’re paying attention to how the voters engage with the callers. This will help you to stay innovative and adaptive to challenges. As a result, the outreach will be more engaging.
Examples of Successful Phone Banking Campaigns
- During the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, phone banking enabled the voters to act. Also, these campaigns used phone banks for consistent recruitment of volunteers.
- Elizabeth Warren used phone banking in 2020 to mobilize the voters. This campaign targeted young and progressive voters to get more support on social justice and economic reform issues.
- Bernie Sanders incorporated the effectiveness of phone banking in his campaign in 2016. As a result, he got the desired results by consistently following the voters.
It’s Time to Take Your Phone Banking Campaign to the Next Level!
As of now, you’ve already got an idea of how to organize your phone banking effectively. However, if you’re still on the fence and need more support, Qualify Candidates is ready to help you! From building political strategy to communicating with the voters, we don’t follow a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, we curate the strategies meaningfully that align better with the goals of the voters. Best of luck!
