So you have decided to use signs in your campaign. Now what?

 

In my last post, I discussed what value signs can bring to a campaign, but signs are not a campaign in themselves.  Signs can raise awareness, provide a show of strength, and they can reinforce your brand.

But there are other questions that must be answered:

1. Does it matter if I am running for school board or United States Senate whether I get signs?
2. Who needs to see them?
3. What should they say?
4. How many colors should they have?
5. What size should they be?
6. How many political signs should I get?
7. Where should I put them?

Does it matter if I am running for school board or U.S. Senate if I get signs?

The primary difference between a school board race and a U.S. Senate race is budget.  Senate races presumably have larger budgets than a local race, but they also have more territory to cover, geographically speaking.  So if the purpose is to raise awareness, signs can help in all sizes of race.  You budget will dictate if you can afford more or less, and possibly other items such as size and number of colors.  Regardless of the office you seek, signs can be an excellent tool.

Who needs to see my political signs?

I have seen signs placed haphazardly in a campaign as well as well-planned signage that takes into account such things as visibility, traffic count, density of voters and other factors.  Your audience should be the voters who will participate in your election.  It is that simple.  In marketing, the audience is the driving force in all decisions.  So always keep in mind the demographics of the registered voters in your district, where they live, and where they commute and shop.

What should my campaign signs say?

This is my favorite part.  Sometimes I have candidates who want to put all of the information on the signs that they can.  When they are finished, their untrained sign design is the political equivalent to a victim in a slasher film:  It’s messy and terrible, and it may turn your stomach.

There is an excellent story I like to share with my candidates about simplicity.  It is a story retold by Thomas Jefferson as relayed to him by his friend Benjamin Franklin:

 

Extract from Thomas Jefferson’s Anecdotes of Benjamin Franklin

[4 Dec. 1818]

“I have made it a rule, said he, whenever in my power, to avoid becoming the draughtsman of papers to be reviewed by a public body. I took my lesson from an incident which I will relate to you. when I was a journeyman printer, one of my companions, an apprentice Hatter ... was about to open shop for himself—his first concern was to have a handsome sign-board, with a proper inscription. he composed it in these words ‘John Thompson, Hatter, makes and sells hats—for ready money,’ with a figure of a hat subjoined: but he thought he would submit it to his friends for their amendments. the first he shewed it to thought the word ‘Hatter,’ tautologous, because followed by the words ‘makes hats’ which shew he was a Hatter. it was struck out. the next observed that the word ‘makes’ might as well be omitted, because his customers would not care who made the hats. if good & to their mind, they would buy, by whomsoever made. he struck it out. a third said he thought the words ‘for ready money,’ were useless as it was not the custom of the place to sell on credit, every one who purchased expected to pay. they were parted with, and the inscription now stood ‘John Thomson sells hats.’ ‘sells hats’ says his next friend? why nobody will expect you to give them away. what then is the use of that word? it was stricken out, and ‘hats’ followed it, the rather, as there was one painted on the board. so his inscription was reduced ultimately to ‘John Thomson’ with the figure of a hat subjoined.”

(Original text from the Monticello.org web site)

In short, a business owner who makes hats started with a sign for his shop that contained a plethora of information comprising 10 words and the image of his hat.  After a series of refinements, the sign was reduced to its most basic components that effectively conveyed the message: the name of the hat store owner and an image of a hat.

Whatever goes on the sign, it should be simple and bold.  These are the most important elements in my rule:

1.       Last name of candidate

2.       Office sought

Additional elements that may be included if they do not distract from the message:

·       Slogan

·       Image element that adds to the message or draws positive attention

·       First name of candidate if there is a purpose

·       Party affiliation

·       Professional affiliation if it is relevant to the office sought (i.e. MD for a coroner or medical examiner, CPA for an auditor or fiscal officer etc.)

But always avoid distracting elements.  You are competing for a person’s attention – a person whose brain processes billions of bits of information every day.  Your image is one of myriad images that a voter will see and subconsciously process every day.  Make it simple and easy to be processed.  The more “noisy” it is, the more likely it will be filtered out by the brain.

And speaking of the human brain, in the Western world anyway, we process information right-to-left then top-to-bottom.  If you want a brain to process the information on your sign, make certain that the layout of the sign follows this simple rule.

Keep it simple.

How many colors should my campaign signs have?

I will reiterate what I just said: keep it simple.

My favorite sign-color story from politics comes from a campaign I ran for a judge in 2010.  We wanted to stick out.  I suggested that our sign colors should be black-and-white.  My candidate put a great deal of faith in my advice, and we ran with black-and-white signs.

They stood out.  In fact, they were often the only signs people noticed in a sea of signs along a road. 

Some people even thought that our campaign did not have much money since we were using black and white as our colors.  We got good laughs from this because black and white signs cost just as much as any other color with white on a sign.

 

But people were talking about them – and that was the best part.  The signs were noticed, and they became a topic of conversation throughout the district (and beyond).  Everyone knew who my candidate was, and they were talking about him.  And when people are talking about you, you are relevant. 

The black and white decision was a huge win.  I will use these colors rarely, but when I do, they have an impact.

As for your colors, there are different reasons for different colors.  Some candidates like a patriotic red, white and blue.  Some candidates try to match the colors of the local school district.  Some conduct extensive research on effective sign colors.  One campaign I worked on  had a candidate who spent a lot of time researching sign colors and meanings of colors and other aspects of coloring.  We landed on blue and orange for our colors – a combination never before used in the region.  Her research helped, and the signs were very noticeable, and they had the impact she desired based on her research.

Whatever colors you use, keep in mind that additional colors comes with additional cost.  I typically try to use one color on a white sign.

What size should my political signs be?

I use various sizes for my candidates.  If they have a long last name with more than 6 letters, I typically gravitate towards signs that are wider but with less height.  I typically try for yard signs that are the largest I can afford.

For road signs that will be on high traffic areas, my favorite size is 3’ x 5’.  A 3x5 can fit into an SUV, van, sedan with seats that fold forward from the trunk, and any size of pickup truck.  3x5 signs have high visibility from a long distance.

I do not recommend 4’ x 8’ signs.  Although they can be seen from greater distances, the effort of transporting them is significantly greater than a 3x5.  Also, some jurisdictions will not allow a 4x8 sixed sign but will allow a 3x5 sign.

How many political signs should I get?

Never buy more signs than you can:

1.       Afford, or

2.       Place appropriately

Signs are not the only element of a campaign.  Putting too much of your budget in signs would be a folly.  Buy only the signs you can use.  You do not want to reach election day and still have dozens or hundreds of unused signs.  And always place them appropriately.  Voters do not like to see public spaced full of sign pollution.

To help you calculate your sign prices, the PCSigns.com web site has an excellent calculator for ach of their sign offerings.  You plug in the quantity you want, the number of colors and the number of sides with printing on each sign, and PCSigns will tell you how much they will cost – and you don’t have to give them you email or other information to get an instant quote – it appears on the screen.

For what it’s worth, I buy all my signs from PCSigns.com.  They do a great job, are quick, and their prices are always reasonable.

Where should I place my political campaign signs?

Place your signs responsibly.  Get permission wherever you place them. 

Do:

·       Place them in neighborhoods with high voter density

·       Place large road signs on high traffic roads in your district as well as major roads entering and leaving your district.

·       Homes where you have met the owner

·       On properties of influencers

Do NOT:

·       Place signs in yards where you do not have permission

·       Public rights-of-way

·       Spots that obstruct the safe view or flow of traffic

 

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