Maximize Your Ad Spend Before Election Day
As Election Day approaches, campaigns are in crunch mode. The final days before voters head to the polls can make or break your chances of winning. In these last weeks, optimizing your ad spend and using targeted digital ads is critical to ensuring your campaign message reaches the right audience at the right time.
In this blog, we'll cover how to maximize your last-minute push and offer strategies to ensure every dollar spent on advertising yields the highest return. Plus, we’ll share how two campaigns successfully used data to adjust their strategies and win voter attention in the final stretch.
1. Focus on Key Voter Segments
In the final weeks before Election Day, time is not on your side. It’s important to focus on specific voter segments. Targeting undecided, persuadable, or likely voters who haven’t committed to a candidate can significantly increase your voter engagement.
With programmatic advertising, you can use advanced targeting tools to reach these key groups. Programmatic ads allow you to track voter behavior online, ensuring your message reaches valuable audiences beyond social media. This gives you a competitive edge as these voters may not be active on Facebook, Instagram, or other networks but are still online.
Tip: Use demographic data, voter history, and behavioral patterns to create focused ad sets that will convert undecided voters or encourage turnout among your base.
2. Leverage Real-Time Data to Guide Your Strategy
By now, your campaign has likely gathered a wealth of data from polling, field operations, and digital ad campaigns. To make the most of your ad spend, it’s essential to use this data to refine your messaging and outreach.
One client, a city council candidate, used data from their programmatic ad campaigns to adjust their field strategy. By analyzing engagement metrics—click-through rates, demographic breakdowns, and geographic data—they compared these insights with their recent polling data.
They found a gap in certain neighborhoods where polling showed interest but digital engagement was low. This allowed them to shift their efforts and tweak their messaging to better resonate with voters in these areas. The result? A stronger turnout from targeted districts that helped secure a victory.
Tip: Use real-time data from your ads to align your messaging with what resonates in different areas. This helps you focus on where you can make the biggest impact.
3. Adjust Messaging for Early Voting
In many regions, early voting has started or is about to begin. For campaigns, this means some voters are already making decisions. To capture these early voters, adjust your messaging to emphasize urgency.
Early voting ads can focus on the importance of voting now, reminding voters how easy it is to cast their ballot early. Campaigns should also use programmatic ads to highlight key policy positions and endorsements that can persuade undecided voters.
In a recent success story, one client exceeded their estimated impressions by 59% for their banner ads using programmatic targeting. This extra visibility boosted name recognition in their district, positioning the candidate favorably going into early voting. The candidate’s team capitalized on this momentum by adjusting their email marketing and door-knocking strategy based on areas with the highest engagement.
Tip: Early voting isn’t just about turnout; it’s about influencing the narrative early. Use targeted ads to drive your early voting message and secure votes before Election Day.
4. Use A/B Testing to Fine-Tune Ads
With limited time left, A/B testing may seem like an extra step, but it can pay off significantly. Running two versions of an ad—different images, headlines, or calls to action—will show you what resonates best with your audience. Even slight improvements in engagement can lead to higher conversions.
One political client running for state office used A/B testing during the last two weeks of their campaign. They tested different headlines for their display ads: one focused on policy achievements and another on community endorsements. Within days, they saw that the endorsement-focused ads outperformed the policy-driven ones by 25%. With this insight, they quickly shifted their budget to focus on the better-performing ad, helping them gain critical traction before Election Day.
Tip: Don’t be afraid to make quick pivots. Use A/B testing to find the best message and amplify it as your deadline approaches.
5. Stretch Your Budget Further with Programmatic Ads
As campaigns near the finish line, budgets can tighten. Every dollar counts, which is why programmatic ads are perfect for stretching your ad dollars. Unlike traditional media buys, programmatic advertising allows you to pay only for the impressions you need, avoiding wasted spend on irrelevant audiences.
Programmatic advertising also offers a faster turnaround time for placing ads. With programmatic systems, your ads can be live in just a few hours. This quick deployment is crucial for last-minute pushes when timing is everything.
With IAH Media, you’ll also benefit from low-cost ad setup fees. For campaigns with a certain ad spend, we’re offering free setup for programmatic ads. This allows you to allocate more of your budget towards reaching voters rather than overhead.
Tip: Keep your budget flexible in the last weeks to take advantage of programmatic’s precision targeting and fast ad delivery.
6. Build a Narrative That Stays with Voters
As the election approaches, voters are bombarded with information from multiple candidates. To stand out, your campaign needs a clear and consistent narrative. Whether it’s focusing on the local economy, crime, or education, voters need to know what you stand for and how you differ from your opponent.
With programmatic ads, you can create specific messages for different voter groups. For example, use one set of ads to focus on economic issues for older voters and another for younger voters concerned about climate change. By creating tailored messages, your campaign will stand out and drive more meaningful engagement.
Closing: Real Stories, Real Results
At IAH Media, we’ve worked with campaigns across the country, helping them fine-tune their ad strategies in the final stretch. One recent success involved a candidate who exceeded impressions by 59% on their banner ads during the last weeks of their campaign. The increased visibility boosted their name recognition in critical districts, leading to a win.
Another client used data from their programmatic ads to compare with polling data, allowing them to adjust their field operations and maximize outreach. By targeting neighborhoods that were less engaged online but showed interest in polling, they shifted resources and refined their messaging to resonate more with these voters.
If your campaign is ready to take the final leap, now is the time to act. IAH Media’s programmatic advertising can help you maximize your ad spend, increase your impressions, and stretch your campaign budget further.
