Selling to Political Campaigns (Join the Race: Election promos provide seasonal selling opportunities)

Pitfalls

To avoid controversy, it’s generally a good idea for candidates to use U.S.-made products. Though Swart says campaigns with barebones budgets may sacrifice on this point when purchasing less-visible campaign items, distributors should consider other benefits of purchasing domestically produced items. “Importing products may not be practical considering many of the races get accelerated in September and October,” says Tim Bayne, a marketing analyst at New Century, Kan.-based Stouse Inc.

Turnaround times are quicker when overseas shipping is removed from the equation, points out Paula Piano, a marketing coordinator with Las Vegas-based Visstun. “To make a good thing even better, distributors will not have to incur shipping costs to get products to the United States from overseas,” she adds.

Safety concerns could also do great harm to a campaign. “The recent lead-paint problems associated with some overseas manufacturing has really put the spotlight back on American-made products,” reports Lisa Goebel, marketing manager for ColorWorx in Macomb, Mich. “Being eco-friendly and adding environmental logos to campaign promotions will be hot this year, too.”

Another way to keep your candidate out of hot water is to remember legal disclaimers. “Since we get a lot of candidates who are new, we have to advise them to make sure that they put their disclaimers on everything that it’s possible for them to put it on and (advise them) how to word it,” Swart explains. Forgetting information such as who paid for and authorized the message can lead to fines.

“These (disclaimers) are legal requirements, and any distributor who wants to get into politics should become versed in them so as to advise their clients correctly throughout the campaign process,” Muller advises.

The bad with the good

If you’re used to corporate clients, you’ll have to make some adjustments to get into this market — good and bad. “When you sell to a corporation, opportunities exist year-round, while selling to candidates is definitely seasonal,” Muller concedes. Moreover, repeat business may be years away. “If your corporate client appreciates your work, you might get another order next month, but if a candidate appreciates your work, you might get another order in four years,” she says.

Swart also acknowledges this down side to working with campaigns. “You figure out your business by the election cycle every couple of years,” he says. In addition, Swart maintains that politicians are more likely than businesses to buy on price. “They’re working on campaign donations, and one can only understand they’ve got to be prudent with the money that they have,” he says. “They’ve got to be responsible like we want them to be responsible when they get into government.”