Content Strategy
This project is part of a larger political campaign design epic.
(11 months)
Situation
A political candidate during the COVID-19 pandemic needed to reach voters without the advantage of personal contact. This campaign also ran during the George Floyd uprising in a very diverse city where more than 30 languages are spoken.
Task
Create content for all media that will reach the maximum number of voters, regardless of age, language, or other demographics. The writing needed to be accessible, translatable, and rich in keywords for SEO.
Action
I began by researching the candidate, the issues, the opponents, and past election trends. In order to be successful, the candidate had to demonstrate that she was opposite of her opponent, appeal to left-wing voters, and overcome historical norms that included age and skin color.
Over the course of the campaign, my writing was used for the candidate’s:
- Stump speech
- Endorsement applications
- Election forums
- Newspaper interviews
- Palm cards
- Door drop literature
- Newspaper flyer inserts
- Newspaper ads
- Direct mail postcards
- Social media
- Email newsletter
- Video ads
- Text campaigns
- Phone banks
Native speakers translated my writing into Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, Somali, and Tibetan.
Result
Simple, plain-language messages were very effective over the course of the campaign. UX writing, especially in newsletters and blog posts, generated the most website traffic and thereby the most donations.
- 528 original graphics
- 297 Facebook posts
- 134 Tweets
- 71 Instagram posts
- 8 email newsletters
- 8,747 door hangers and mailers
- 8,913 newspaper ads and flyers
In a no-contact pandemic, 3M Post-It Note door hangers with a few talking points and a sample ballot proved to be the most effective media for direct impressions and motivating voters to get to the polls. Because of their ease of use, these hangers also attracted the most volunteers.
