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3 Tips to Get Your Message in Front of State Legislators and Staff

Insights • July 13, 2018

Imagine a legislative aide walking out of a meeting with your state lobbyist, getting a report from staff that the office has received hundreds of constituent emails on your issue, seeing a clips report with a friendly op-ed – and then when the staff member wants to take a break and check Facebook or read a news article, he or she is served one of your targeted, persuasive digital ads.

Rational Digital manages digital influence and advocacy campaigns across the U.S. that reach state legislators and staff directly on mobile devices and computers. State legislators and staff are:

• Busy;

• Looking for quick information on variety of topics;

• Spending increasing time on phones and computers;

Below are three tips on how to incorporate specific legislator and staff-focused targeting in your campaigns:

1. Identify and serve ads to elected officials and specific staff members based on job title data. LinkedIn, Facebook and some third-party ad networks have access to job title information, meaning organizations can serve ads to people in specific areas with job titles like “state senator,” “assemblyman,” “chief of staff,” “legislative director,” “legislative assistant,” or “press secretary” within a mile of buildings where they work. LinkedIn has the best job title related data – and that targeting can be used on LinkedIn and other websites to serve ads

2. Gather email addresses or IP addresses of key staffers to build and serve ads to custom advertising audiences. Many ad networks allow organizations to upload email addresses and serve ads directly to people on that email list. Organizations know the legislators and staff who make key decisions, and can generally find email addresses to match to various ad networks. Match rates on email addresses can vary widely by network. IP addresses, identifiers for phones and computers, can be matched to street addresses for many government buildings at high confidence rates, allowing organizations to supplement effective campaigns with IP targeting.

3. Blanket state capitol buildings, legislative offices and popular legislative hangouts – including coffee shops, restaurants and bars – with digital ads for people inside. Advocacy organizations and lobbyists often have intel on when key legislators are in their offices and where they go when they’re not, which provides an opportunity for delivering highly targeted messages at key moments. For example, if a party caucus or committee has an off-site meeting, organizations can serve ads at that meeting. Once the meeting ends, organizations can serve ads to anyone who attends – even after the individual leaves the geo-fenced area.