Get Your Resources
If you’re looking to build a year-round ballot strategy, you need to get started with our Ultimate Guide to Ballots. In this free download, you’ll get everything you need to know about how to sell ballots, ideas to promote for maximum exposure, best practices to ensure your success, and lots of case studies.
Key Takeaways
1. Focus on Top Opportunities
There are a lot of potential niche ballot ideas you could choose. We’ve narrowed down to seven top ballot categories consistently driving great results: High School Sports, Weddings, Professional, Food & Beverage, Family, Year in Review, and Holidays. Start by considering these seven top categories and seeing which would most resonate with your audience.
Do you have a lot of passionate high school sports fans? Is your city an up-and-coming craft beer town? Are you wanting to promote entrepreneurship? Ballots like Football Fan Choice Awards, Top 20 Professionals Under 40, or Best Craft Brew can drive a ton of sponsorship revenue and even more engagement from your audience. See how a high school sports ballot drove $115,000 and 11,000+ opt-ins!
2. Promote Across All Assets
If you want your niche ballots to be successful, it all starts with the right promotion. Email should be the foundation of your robust marketing plan. Time after time, email consistently drives the most participation. Make sure you’re leveraging emails at all stages of your ballot.
Beyond email, include digital ads on your website like banner ads, rail ads, or even take-overs. Take advantage of your core media. If you have a print product, promote in print. If you have on-air time, run on-air spots. Plus, don’t forget the businesses on your ballot want to win. Make sure to create a social media kit with downloadable images they can use to promote themselves and your ballot at the same time.
3. Create Ballot Revenue Plan for Success
You’ve seen the big revenue opportunity of ballots. But it’s not enough to just make a lot of money. You need to have a plan to grow your revenue year after year. On average, ballot programs should put a plan in place to grow their revenue by 30% each year. If it’s an anniversary or milestone year, you may be able to make even more!
Beyond that, adding in additional niche ballots to your overall ballot program allows you the adaptability you need to transform into a revenue generating machine. By capitalizing on the big interests of your community and finding the open times on your sales calendars, you can grow your ballot revenue exponentially in just a few years.
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Julie is the Senior Customer Success Manager at Second Street and a former client in local media. Her best advice for driving the most success with your revenue and audience engagement strategy is to include promotions in every business initiative.