The Power of Branding Your Political Campaign

It doesn’t matter if you are part of the establishment or a complete outsider; every political campaign needs a brand in order to effectively communicate with voters.

Today, this is more than just a logo, colors, and slogan. How you act or conduct yourself in public and online affects your public image as a candidate.

Here are tips to create and enhance your political branding.

Stake a claim to your political brand

If you want to know how to brand a political campaign online, it starts with the basics. Get your campaign domain name, X (formerly Twitter) account, and Facebook page as early as possible. Use a similar name for each, so someone can easily tell that they are from the same campaign. For example, a candidate named Jane Doe might choose handles like @JaneDoeForOffice or @VoteJaneDoe across all platforms for uniformity.

Whatever you do, don’t start advertising or having print materials created before you have your website and/or social media accounts under your control. We once had a client who had printed materials before they registered their campaign website domain name. And guess what? It was already taken. The client had to register another domain and toss out a whole lot of flyers.

“The best strategy for building a personal brand is to be 100% ‘you,’ without watering down your personality in any way.” – Gary Vaynerchu

Keep a consistent look across all platforms

One of the first things you’ll want to do is decide on your color scheme and logo design. Take some care in deciding these things, as it is never a good idea to switch your look during a campaign.

Once you have your colors, you’ll want a good campaign logo design that reinforces your campaign brand. Even your font selection and imagery contribute to the overall look. There are certain conventions that political campaigns adapt. In the United States, for example, this often includes standard block lettering, red-white-blue color themes, and a more horizontal layout.

Here are several political logo examples that we’ve designed for our clients:

The capitol building is incorporated into the logo because the candidate is running for – you guessed it – US Congress.

The star symbol indicates that the candidate is running for county sheriff. It a has a solid font, emphasizing the candidate’s last name. This design works well for law enforcement candidates.

In this logo example, the legislative district has been incorporated into the look. Note the traditional block lettering rather than a serif font.

If you are an underdog and really want to stand out from the crowd, switch up your fonts and colors. This is why many independent candidates tend to go with yellows, greens, and purples in their designs. Having a tall logo rather than a wide one will stand out. However, it might be a little difficult to adapt to signage and print pieces, such as letterhead.

Are you running as an outsider? Your political campaign branding strategy may be to present yourself differently than your opponents. Once you have an established look, plan to stick with it.

TIP: Put together a brand guide, that defines your logo, color scheme, typography, and voice for all media and content. This ensures consistency no matter who on your campaign creates any print, web, or other media material.

Consistency beyond color and font

Use your campaign logo and color scheme as much as you can. Take social media, for example. Both Facebook and X/Twitter allow you to add an image to the top of your page. While they both have different dimensions, the header images should have a similar look and feel. On Twitter, you can even adjust the colors of your profile page. Even your campaign emails should have a consistent look to them.

TIP: Have your personal photographs taken by a professional. Select a few good photos and use them consistently on your website and social networks. That way you will be recognizable across multiple online platforms and offline mailings. Add them to your media kit.

Maintain a single winning voice

Ever wonder why politicians use the same phrases over and over (and over) in speeches and interviews? It’s all part of branding a consistent message. This is why political speech tends to be simple, with easily repeatable catchphrases, rather than nuanced and detailed.

Many times, political candidates will stick to an effective campaign slogan. A good slogan will summarize a campaign in a short, memorable phrase. Sometimes it is so important that it is incorporated into a campaign logo.

Content should also be part of your brand. Remain consistent in the tone of your website and social media content. Your material should match previously stated policies and issue positions. Even if others post for your campaign, the ‘voice’ should remain the same. Stay clear, consistent, and positive.

Don’t make everything you post lifeless and dry, as if it were vetted by a dozen public relations experts.

Take some risks and go outside the box. Give an opinion or two. Make an observation about what’s going on in the world. Share some inside information with your followers. Make some interesting and fun posts about events, fundraisers, and the things you are doing on the campaign trail. Spice it up with photos and video.

“There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice.” – Michelle Obama

Enhancing Your Brand with a Style Guide

Enhance your political campaign’s brand with a focused approach to your style guide:

Collaborate: Once everyone has settled on the design and is sure that it meets the needs of campaign, put together a style guide ‘bible’. A well-defined style guide will ensure brand unity across online and offline messaging.
Gather and Centralize Assets: Collect all visual elements, including logos, photos, and fonts. Store them on cloud services or shared drives for easy team access. This ensures style guide accessibility and that everyone is using the same base creatives for consistency.
Provide Clear Examples: Use the style guide to demonstrate correct and incorrect logo usage. You’ll want to include visual do’s and don’ts to prevent common branding errors and promote uniformity. For example, this could include using the right colors or to keep the logo’s proportions intact to avoid stretching
Create Templates: Develop templates for emails, social media posts, and other documents. This makes it easy to start creating.

These branding techniques help makes your campaign’s visual identity consistent.

Make your campaign memorable so your brand is worth following

Don’t fall into the habit of just blasting donation requests by email and social media to your audience and followers. It’s not a winning strategy. Vary your social and email communication with news, updates, and behind-the-scenes information. Too much asking without providing a good reason for support will eventually turn people off.

A well-defined (and liked) brand helps your message cut through the online clutter. That ability to get attention when you need it will be critical when you need to get out the vote.