Political yard signs provide a cheap and convenient way to raise your candidate’s name ID and show grassroots support. Most campaigns want to “out sign” their opponents by placing more election yard signs in better locations than the other candidates in the race, yet most campaigns rely on the exact same methods for placing their signs.
The best way to get your yard signs up, quickly and in the best locations, is to think outside the box. Use the traditional methods of working through your political party and giving signs out to committee people and political volunteers, and on top of that, use these three creative ways to get those yard signs placed:
1. Target High Traffic Corners
Many campaigns try to place yard signs as they go on their regular door to door rounds. This is a great strategy, but it often takes a really long time to get through all of the neighborhoods that you want to target.
At the beginning of your election yard sign campaign, make a list of all of the highest traffic intersections and roads in your district. Then, have a team go out to specifically target those areas. The best way to do this is to knock on the doors of all of the voters from your party who live at that intersection or on that stretch of road and ask them to put up a yard sign. Then, move on to the next targeted area. Another team of volunteers can come back to hit the rest of the neighborhood during the regular door-to-door process.
2. Maintain a Super Supporter List
This strategy works really well for incumbents. Most politicians who run for re-election notice that they are placing yard signs on the same voters’ lawns cycle after cycle. This makes sense: those voters are your most ardent grassroots supporters, and they put up campaign signs for you every year.
Next time you run, instead of putting yard signs up in on these lawns as part of the normal course of your campaign, try to get them up there first. Maintain a list of your yard sign “Super Supporters” who always put up signs for you. The minute your signs come in, call or e-mail these people and ask if you can put up a sign. Almost all will say yes, and won’t take convincing. Then go out and get those signs up. This is a great way to place 50 or 100 yard signs (or more) within a day or two.
Some campaigns even maintain lists of people who have told them they can always place signs, without calling first…
3. Yard Sign Captains
Many campaigns have found that the best way to get yard signs up fast is to recruit neighborhood yard sign captains (often seeking out people have large networks on their block or in their community). These grassroots leaders are tasked with placing 10 or 20 election yard signs (or more) during a defined yard sign blitz period. These captains may also be your campaign’s precinct or other grassroots leader, or may be recruited solely for the purpose of placing yard signs. (For more information on creating a grassroots organization for your campaign, read Winning Elections Through Local Organization).
Next time you run for office, instead of just placing your signs on an ad hoc basis, take the time to develop a yard sign plan – and think outside of the traditional box to get your signs placed fast and in the most desirable locations.
