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I was witness to a very interesting political campaign. I was also subscribed to the same political candidates digital marketing program. The Candidate (I will not reveal who they were) did a good job putting their digital contact strategy together. They solicited names via email, Facebook, & Twitter. They put up videos on YouTube & lots of pictures on Flickr.

The Candidate did a good job monitoring their social strategy - they leveraged Blogs, community discussion forums, & were quick to put out campaign alerts. The Candidate also did well to leverage endorsements & relevant news. All of this was quickly listed on their sites, there was one key site that provided a central repository, & The Candidate did a good job personalizing the messaging.

They did very well. From a non-contender, The Candidate grew their sphere of influence and kept inching their way to the top in polls. They did well to stay in touch with their electorate (that mattered) and emerged a winner in the primaries. Well, almost. In a five candidate field - The Candidate finished with a whopping 25 point lead over their closest adversary. Yet the 49.5% victory has now led to a runoff!

The Candidate could have done more - a lot more via email. The advice to this candidate would be to use email to influence people - to get more people to pay attention to their messages, & to get people to come out and vote.

Here are five specific things they could have done.

First, The Candidate should welcome new subscribers immediately. They can do it with a three step welcome campaign. The first email says welcome, the second email solicits the voters opinion, & the third email leads the voter to go participate on social media sites. Don't forget to lead with intrigue.

Second, The Candidate should be testing subject lines. Not all subject lines are created equal. An A:B test to see what might solicit more opens will go a long way in getting more people to pay attention to the campaign.

Third, The Candidate should re-try those that did not open the email. No harm sending it twice to try and grab someone's attention.

Fourth, The Candidate should tell a story within each email. Rather than the vote for me, give me more money, or a smiling picture - the Candidate should include voter feedback, more pictures, & a clear call to action.

Fifth, The Candidate should try to leverage their email subscriber base to help spread the message. Simple things that say - 'forward to someone who cares,' or 'post it on Facebook' make it easier for anyone to get the word out.

The advice here is not just for The Candidate but for many in the email marketing world - focus on the fundamentals and you can enjoy greater success. Here's wishing The Candidate the very best in the run-off - hope you can apply these simple rules and win.