Get On the Stick…How to
Give Your Sign Campaign More Punch
Campaigns & Elections
In the modern age of technology and sophisticated political techniques,
there are a lot of things to know about when planning your campaign. But
one thing you shouldn't forget is quite simple: the first and last message
that voters will see will almost always be on a campaign sign. So take
your sign campaign seriously.
EVEN IN THIS HIGH-TECH, computerized world of instantaneous global communications,
the first, most basic and universal advertising medium in human history
is still the most important one. Businesses, services, governments and
political campaigns simply couldn't exist without signs.
Since campaign signs are the most essential selling tools for building
name recognition and your campaign image, it's important to follow a few
basic rules about planning and placing them:
1. Map Your Campaign Sign Strategy. Obtain a large, detailed
road map of the precinct, township, city, county, circuit or district
in which you are running. You can usually buy these maps from your county
government's printing office or planning and zoning department, or download
them from your state or local government Web site. You'll need this to
identify and mark key intersections and high-traffic areas for the best
sign locations.
Some intersections are obvious, but you don't have to guess about which
other locations are exposed to the highest number of motorists. Maps and
lists indicating the Average Daily Traffic Counts in your area are available
from state and county Departments of Transportation offices.
It is also a good idea to compare the map with a computerized voter file
that identifies those precincts with the highest concentrations of the
voters you need to influence to win. You'll want to cover the arterials
and intersections in these neighborhoods first. Mapping software like
Geo Voter, a Windows-based program designed by Map Applications, Inc.,
features census information evenly laid over political subdivisions. These
mapping information systems allow you to see, on a computer-generated
map, where key voter blocs are located.
Use different color dots, pins or flags (something non-permanent and easily
changeable) to identify "like to have," "need to have"
and "already have" sign locations. You should display this coded
map in a prominent place in your campaign headquarters, garage, den or
wherever else you hold your general campaign meetings. This map, and a
companion precinct map, should be the main exhibits in your "war
room."
2. Put Your Paperwork in Order. Create a file containing
documents authorizing you to place signs on an owner's property-written
permission slips, letters and official forms. Keep the originals in your
campaign office files and give copies to your sign chairperson and each
of your sign crews.
3. Know and Follow the Rules. Official jurisdictions
each have their own rules and regulations about what constitutes a "permit"
to place a sign on someone else's property. Be sure your sign committee
members have copies of those rules and regulations from your local elections
office before you begin erecting your campaign signs.
Some subdivisions have rules against displaying campaign signs, so it's
a good idea to check with neighborhoods that have a homeowners' association,
or a controlling builder or developer. No matter what the rules are about
displaying signs in a yard, the homeowners probably have the right to
place a sign or poster inside their front window.
4. Do Your Homework. For your list of "like to have"
locations, look up the legal descriptions of the properties and match
them to owners' names in the county records. Then you, or members of your
campaign committee who know these property owners, should contact them
to ask for their permission to place one of your campaign signs on their
property. It doesn't hurt to ask, even if you think the owner supports
your opponent. Certain big land owners will "hedge their bets"
or not want to offend anyone, and allow opponents in the same race to
place signs on their property.
If you have a friend in the general real estate business, he or she probably
has a direct computer link to the County Property Appraiser's and Tax
Collector's offices, so they can match properties and their owners at
the stroke of a few keys.
Some large and progressive counties have the tax rolls merged with a CAD
system that will actually print out plats indicating the location, legal
description, street address, ownership, zoning, size, configuration and
even the footprint of the structures that are on the property. Some, or
all, of this data can now be accessed directly over the Internet through
county government Web sites.
Another handy computer-generated chart that most counties now use is a
density map indicating, by various methods, the areas with the largest
concentration of homes. This map, combined with a Department of Transportation
"Average Daily Traffic Count" list or map and the precinct overlay
we mentioned earlier, will tell you at a glance where to place your signs
for maximum exposure and the most bang for your buck.
Ask your party leaders or your politician friends in other races for a
list of the property owners who have offered them sign locations. There's
almost always room for another sign, especially if the property is a big
vacant parcel. Politicians who are retired or not running in the same
election year can be a big help too. Check with them to see who contributed
prominent sign locations to their campaigns.
5. Use Big Little Yard Signs. Those small l4"x22",
18"x24" and 24"x24" signs are a great way to display
grassroots support. When voters display your campaign signs in their yards,
it shows neighbors that they believe in you enough to temporarily alter
the landscape of their property. We recognize the power of that association,
and we take it one step further.
6. Utilize the Concept of "Adopted" Campaign Signs.
You can make these signs pay for themselves, and even clear a fundraising
"profit" for your campaign by "selling" customized
yard signs with supporters' names imprinted on them in computer-cut vinyl
letters. Instead of a sign that reads "Elect Steve Hunt," customize
it to read "The Fleming Family Supports Steve Hunt."
An "Adopt-A-Sign" program creates a neighborhood identity for
your campaign and dramatically demonstrates voter support. The association
between your name and theirs is forged in print. It shows that you have
lots of friends, and that you are a candidate of the people. It virtually
assures you that the yard sign will be used, displayed and protected as
if it were the homeowner's personal property. After all, they "paid"
for the privilege with a campaign donation, so it is personal property.
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Although they are more expensive to customize, you can do the same thing
with 4'x8's. Even if you don't customize them, you can still "sell"
standard locations to potential "adopters" for enough to cover
the cost of a 4'x8'.
7. Go Into "Business" for Yourself. Yard signs
aren't just for residential lawns anymore. Sometimes sign committee chairpersons
forget that, although 4'x8' signs are usually prohibited on residential
property, yard signs are almost never prohibited on commercial property.
That means every business is a prospect for a yard sign, either out on
the curb, or prominently displayed as a poster in their storefront. Note:
Print cheaper, interior grade window and wall posters in the same size
and format -- and do it at the same time as your yard signs. You'll save
money in the long run if you do.
Especially in small downtown areas, you can look like you "own"
the place with a dozen or so yard signs and window posters. The same is
true of major residential thoroughfares, particularly those heavily traveled
roads leading into the heart of a commercial district. Solicit residents
along those "main drags" to put your signs in their yards early
in the campaign.
8. Create Sign Shrines. Yard signs can be used to increase
the impact and effectiveness of 4'x8' campaign signs. At Artype, Inc.,
we call the arrangement a "Sign Shrine." The concept works like
this: At your key 4'x8' sign locations, tease the viewers by placing a
single yard sign where you'll eventually install a 4'x8'. A few days later,
add another, and then another so that the cumulative visual effect is
that the signs are multiplying.
Then, at the appropriate time (no more than five weeks, and no less than
three weeks before the primary or general election date), replace the
first yard sign with the "Mothership" -- a, by then, seemingly
huge 4'x8'.
We especially like what we call "Shrining a Corner." We pick
a key, high-traffic intersection and start placing a "trail of crumbs"
with signs following the traffic flow around the corner.
One of our local county commission candidates, Charlie Bigelow, did this
exceptionally well. He placed a Mothership right at the corner, led his
yard signs up to the 4'x8', continued his yard signs around the corner
and past that 4'x8', and ended the series with another 4'x8'. The repetitive
effect went something like this: Bigelow, Bigelow, Bigelow, Bigelow, Bigelow,
Bigelow Bigelow, Bigelow, Bigelow, Bigelow, Bigelow, Bigelow!!!
It was such an effective approach that one voter approached Charlie at
a campaign rally singing his name to the tune of "Figaro," and
said that his name was all she could think about when she drove to work
each morning.
Words of Caution
Here are a couple of tips that will prevent your signs from giving a negative
and erroneous impression about your campaign.
* Instruct your volunteers to avoid placing signs in protected areas like
environmentally sensitive wetlands, and never, ever nail one of your campaign
signs to a tree.
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* You can also avoid fines, confiscation, a lot of heartache, lost impact
and wasted money by not having your signs placed in state, county and
municipal road medians and rights-of-way. If the lawnmowers don't get
them, the bureaucrats will. Generally, the way to eyeball the right-of-way
is to look for mowing lines and obvious public structures like streetlights,
sidewalks, drainage ditches and utility poles. If you keep your signs
slightly behind them, chances are they'll be OK.
Although "bootleg" sign placement is rampant in some jurisdictions,
we never advise our candidates to do it. The scofflaw image is just too
risky. If your campaign volunteers are known sign ordinance violators,
and your opponents can't find anything else to tag you with, they can
brand you as a sign crook. It may be a small issue to you, but it won't
sit well with average, law-abiding citizens
.
* Don't fix and forget your signs. In Aesop's classic fable, The Fox and
the Lion, he wrote that "Familiarity breeds contempt." Setting
and forgetting campaign signs is a big mistake that both first-time and
longtime politicians make. Campaign signs that just sit there day after
day become so familiar to viewers that they rapidly lose their impact
and actually become part of the scenery.
By applying "riders" and "add-ons," you can not only
keep your signs fresh for the length of your campaign, but you can actually
build interest to a peak just when you need it - the morning of the election.
You see this device used all the time on real estate signs - "Sold,"
"Just Reduced," "Make Offer" or "For Sale By
Owner." None of those just mentioned make particularly great copy
for political signs, but here are a few that do work: "Vote Tuesday,
Sept. 3rd," "It's Time For A Change," "Vote Today"
and our all-time favorite, especially on the days following the first
and second primaries, "THANK YOU Vote Again Oct. 6th."
Saying thank you to the voters immediately after a successful primary
victory projects the humble, "good guy" image of a graceful
winner. It is also a powerful reinforcement to your supporters; wins you
converts among the supporters of your defeated opponents and kicks off
your brand new second primary or general election campaign on a very positive
note. It also reminds voters that they need to go to the polls again to
protect their monetary and emotional investment in your candidacy.
Tell Them When to Vote
Another obvious rule, right? Again, you'd be shocked at how many politicians
ignore the obvious.
In some counties, particularly those with a sizable part-time population,
voter turnout in the primaries is as low as 12 percent. Don't take it
for granted that your supporters will show up. Low turnouts make it easier
for single-issue candidates and candidates with narrow but deep support
to make a good showing.
If you're one of those folks, don't tell the general public when the election
is. But if you're a serious candidate with broad appeal, you need to keep
pounding away at the election date. If your name is on a long primary
ballot, your ballot position should be promoted too. "Punch #171."
To inform the voters, and build interest in the fact that there's an election
date coming, use riders and add-ons, as well as other elements-balloons,
streamers, pin wheels, anything that attracts attention and says "Today's
the day!"
The Final Assault
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One sure-fire way to let the voters know that it's election day and get
one last shot at name recognition, is to place yard signs as close to
each and every precinct polling place in your city, county or district
as the law will allow. To avoid embarrassment and potentially costly penalties,
know what that distance is and use a tape measure. Organize your crews
to put these signs up after dark on the night before the election. It
will add an element of surprise on election morning, and it will reduce
the chance of having your signs "gooned" or challenged by the
opposition.
Other Uses for Campaign Yard Signs
Yard signs, particularly the rigid, corrugated plastic or poly-coated
cardboard kind, can be easily adapted to a host of other useful campaign
applications.
Tape them together back to back at the top, and spread them at the bottom
- they become large table tent cards. Using the same construction, hang
them over a clothesline to make a continuous "banner" for rallies,
speeches and public appearances.
Use them for any outdoor application, including inexpensive and easy-to-make
"car toppers" (back-to-back signs on a framework of 2"x2"s,
sitting on one of those cheap suction cup-type roof racks). They're so
lightweight and durable, you can tape them up as campaign posters and
reuse them again and again.
End
Copyright 2008 Gwennies. All rights reserved.
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