How-To-Guide: Pitching to local political clients

For college students, a local election may not seem very important — but local elections can impact the way you interact with the community surrounding your college campus for your entire education and beyond. Candidates running for seats on city councils, county commissions, school boards, or other similar offices are looking to reach voters in a specific geographic area, and it’s possible your college campus may sit right in the center. And college students are a hard-to-reach demographic. In this guide, we’ll share some tips on identifying candidate prospects, making a compelling pitch, and closing the deal.

‍Who to target

Look for races in the geographic area where your college campus is located. That could include city or town council (or an equivalent), mayor, county commissioner, school board, judgeships, and other special races. If you’re unsure how to find the candidates and races, look to the county clerk's filings in your county or check with the editorial team at your student media organization. You can share these resources back and forth.

Some local candidates may have a campaign manager or communications contact — that’s a great place to start! — but there will be many candidates who are running their campaign solo. It’s OK to reach out to them directly. Their candidate website should have a contact form or other contact information.

When to reach out

Most candidates for local races will be making decisions in the eight to 12 weeks leading up to Election Day, so we recommend reaching out at the beginning of the semester and again about two months before.

‍Some best practices 

1. Know your political ad policy ahead of time.

Have a discussion with your team on what you will and won’t accept when it comes to advertising. 

There may be certain products that are “off-limits” to political advertising or certain types of messaging you won’t accept, and you will want to follow all rules for political advertising. (For example, every political ad should have a “paid for by…” disclaimer.) 

2. Make it easy to say yes.

Candidates are busy juggling many things at once. Make it very easy to say yes to advertising with you by coming to the conversation with pre-built packages that are realistic for a local campaign budget. Bundle a print ad together with digital or email newsletter so the candidate can reach students where they are. You may also consider offering design services, if able, because many smaller campaigns may not have all the assets they need.

3. Focus on the audience.

Your pitch isn’t “buy an ad in our student newspaper” — it’s “reach students who are voting in your district.” Make sure you have audience size stats handy, and even better, if you have specific reach numbers for the platforms you’re pitching to the candidates. 

What’s next?

Local candidates will be looking for a way to reach people in their community before Election Day, and many haven’t thought to reach out to the student news organization. We recommend identifying your top races early in the summer, so you’re ready to go when the cycle hits. Need some help, or want to talk about statewide or national election prep? Reach out to your account manager today.