Texting For Change - Highlights from Our 2024 Webinar Series

Peer-to-peer (P2P) texting has revolutionized the efficacy of issue advocacy and campaigning, fostering real change and driving success stories nationwide.

This year, we explored the transformative power of peer-to-peer (P2P) texting through a series of insightful Texting for Change webinars. 

Webinar 1: How P2P Texting Made the Difference for Issue Advocacy in 2023

In 2023, issue advocacy reached new heights through peer-to-peer (P2P) texting, thanks to innovators like Iron Light’s Founder, Austin Berg, who tested the power of the texting medium.

During our first webinar of 2024, hosted by our texting and campaign expert Dercy Teixeira, we explored how P2P texting has transformed issue advocacy and covered texting best practices. We also showed how adding texting to issue advocacy work has proven to be a game-changer, effectively connecting advocates with supporters to drive meaningful change.

Iron Light: A Leader in Issue Advocacy

With a mission to create and implement impactful communication strategies that move the needle, Iron Light helps its clients connect with their audiences on a personal level. Utilizing innovative technologies such as P2P texting with their proven methodology ensures that every message resonates, inspires action, and builds communities.

How Do Issue Advocacy Clients Use P2P Texting?

Issue advocacy clients leverage P2P texting to engage with their audience directly. This method facilitates personalized, one-on-one communication, making supporters feel valued and heard.

Austin stressed the importance of precise targeting, noting that effective targeting can lead to a significant impact at a minimal cost. By having the right contact list, you can communicate and engage with the people you genuinely want to reach in a quick and direct manner that other communication mediums often lack.

According to Austin, a surefire way to start achieving great targeting is by pairing P2P texting with live events. For instance, incorporating P2P texting during and after documentary film screenings can enhance interaction with event attendees. This approach boosts engagement during the event and maintains momentum in the aftermath, fostering continuous advocacy through direct and meaningful communication.

Which is More Effective: MMS or SMS?

One of the questions asked by the audience was whether MMS or SMS is more effective for capturing people’s attention. To understand their effectiveness, it’s important first to define each type of message:

• SMS (Short Message Service): These are text-only messages consisting of 160 character segments. They are straightforward and quick.
• MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service): These messages can include multimedia content like images, videos, and GIFs alongside your text copy.
  
  

Austin found that the effectiveness of MMS or SMS largely depends on your approach to engaging the audience. If your text message feels personal and genuine—like a friend reaching out rather than a robot trying to sell something—it can make a significant impact.

He added that while video text messages are often the most effective for engagement and storytelling, incorporating images and GIFs through MMS can be just as attention-grabbing when used appropriately. The key is ensuring that multimedia content adds value and resonates with the recipient, enhancing the overall message. 

Learn more about Peer-to-Peer Texting Best Practices: Discover how MMS can outperform SMS to get the best insights to boost your outreach strategy.

How Long Should a Video Be in a Text Message?

When sending a video in a text message, Dercy highlighted the variability of this approach, emphasizing that it depends on the information shared. However, brevity is always crucial. For videos around one minute, the main message should ideally appear at the beginning to capture the viewer’s attention.

For longer videos, Dercy suggests creating a short clip and including a link to the full video. This allows genuinely interested recipients to watch the full piece of content while keeping the initial message concise and engaging. He concludes that 15 to 30 seconds is ideal for maintaining the recipient’s attention.

Learn more about RumbleUp’s award-winning Enhanced Video Texting (EVT) technology to start sending simple, direct-to-camera videos!

Additionally, Austin recommends using GIFs, noting that they have performed exceptionally well for their campaigns. GIFs often have a better impact because most people prefer fun and raw content over highly polished videos on their phones. This reinforces his point of creating more personal and authentic messages, leveraging GIFs’ informal and engaging nature to communicate effectively through text messages.

Webinar 2: Success Stories of Advocacy Architects Using P2P Texting

Our second webinar of the year, hosted again by texting expert Dercy Teixeira, provides a unique opportunity to learn from Advocacy Architects who have turned this innovative communication channel into remarkable success stories.

Advocacy Architects

Founded by Dan Tripp and assisted by Director of Operations Belma Ajazi, Advocacy Architects helps businesses navigate and manage legislative threats across the nation. Their mission is to partner with public affairs professionals to combat harmful bills and legislative challenges that impact industries and trade associations. 

They design targeted legislative and political advocacy programs to effectively address and counter these threats, ensuring their clients are well-prepared and proactive in their advocacy efforts.

Impact of P2P Texting in the Advocacy Space

Dan emphasized that a highly targeted approach, while delivering a concise message with a clear call to action, is crucial for effective advocacy. Belma Ajazi added,

 "With the constant noise from digital advertising and social channels, converting traditional 'knocking on your door' strategies into a single, human, and targeted text message can truly bring communities together." 

Belma continued to comment that P2P texting, coupled with AI and other technological advancements, is perfect for creating and engaging with micro-communities. When used ethically and without spamming, it provides an easy way to share information and can ignite the flame of people becoming advocates for an issue.

Examples of Tap-then-Send Response

Dercy shared an insightful experience running a high-profile congressional race in New Hampshire. While supporting this candidate, they encountered a hot-button issue they knew they needed to engage voters through texting. They soon realized the need for a shift in messaging based on the feedback they were receiving. 

To address this, they utilized RumbleUp’s Tap-then-Send Response feature to create a tailored response quickly. The customizability of the Tap-then-Send feature enabled them to shift their messaging mid-send while better understanding voters’ opinions on issues critical to that election, which would not have been possible on mediums such as direct mail or digital ads.

Dan echoed this sentiment, explaining how Advocacy Architects leverages our platform and features, such as Tap-then-Send Responses, with a highly targeted approach to ensure their P2P texting efforts are real-time, robust, and highly effective.

Examples Where P2P Texting Makes the Difference

When considering how P2P texting makes a difference, Dan shared a compelling experience involving the Speaker of the House’s proposed tax on renewable energy. The proposed tax was deemed unfair compared to other renewable energy sources, so Advocacy Architects quickly launched a texting campaign with RumbleUp as the primary communication method. They developed GIFs, crafted messages, and implemented call-to-action strategies for all their texting projects.

Within hours of sending their projects, they saw a significant increase in traffic to their landing page. Constituents began emailing their legislators en masse, leading to a swift response. As a result of these efforts, Advocacy Architects successfully helped pull the amendment that included the unfair tax within 24 hours of initiating their texting campaign.

This example underscores the effectiveness of peer-to-peer texting in issue advocacy. By enabling real-time, targeted communication, Advocacy Architects was able to mobilize constituents quickly and achieve significant legislative results. The success of this campaign proves the powerful potential of P2P texting in driving immediate action and making a tangible impact on public policy.

Webinar 3: Local Impact, Big Results

Our third webinar of 2024 featured Scott Jordan and Nick Wilock of the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee. They discussed how they use P2P texting to significantly impact down-ballot campaigns using texting strategies that inspired voters to action.

Republican Assembly Campaign Committee (RACC)

The New York State Republican Assembly Campaign Committee (RACC) works tirelessly to increase the Republican presence in the New York State Assembly. Scott Jordan, Director of Upstate Regional Services, oversees the western New York and upstate regions. Nick Wilock, Director of Creative Communications, manages government-side communications for the state legislature and assembly.

The press office, led by Nick, handles all mass communications, and text messaging is crucial to their strategy. They use text messaging extensively for various legislative initiatives and campaign efforts. Nick operates in both houses of the legislature and volunteers time on campaigns, overseeing several races in upstate New York alongside Scott.

How Can P2P Texting Reach Non-Traditional Audiences?

During the webinar, Scott addressed this question by sharing an example from a New York City district election, a traditionally challenging area for Republicans. Using RumbleUp, they crafted a targeted text message campaign aimed at Asian and Chinese voters, a significant portion of the district’s population. By engaging with these voters in Mandarin or their preferred language, they effectively reached out to minority communities. Although the election did not result in a win, this approach demonstrated their ability to connect with diverse audiences.

Nick added that their partnership with the RLSC played a crucial role by providing high-quality data. This data allows the RACC to tailor their messages precisely, whether targeting high-propensity GOP voters or swing voters. Text messaging, used alongside other digital approaches, guarantees that communications are as effective and targeted as possible.

RACC 2022 Success stories - Reaching swing voters

Scott highlighted the RACC’s remarkable success in 2022. Despite the national expectation of a “red wave” that did not fully materialize, the RACC’s strategic planning and use of modeling data, in partnership with the RLSC, distinguished them from others. By integrating mail, TV, and peer-to-peer texting with RumbleUp, they effectively targeted voters in swing districts.

This targeted approach enabled the RACC to flip six seats previously held by Democrats, moving them to the Republican side. They were among the few caucuses in the entire country to achieve such success in a predominantly blue state. The precise targeting ensured that messages were delivered directly into the hands of swing voters, playing a significant role in their overall success. This achievement underscores the power of a well-coordinated, data-driven communication strategy.

Reasons to Stick with RumbleUp

One of the RACC’s biggest concerns is deliverability. In the early stages of peer-to-peer texting development in 2018, they used a different service that resulted in extremely low deliverability rates, with messages frequently filtered out as spam. However, after finding RumbleUp, they saw a significant improvement due to RumbleUp’s strong partnerships with carriers, ensuring their messages were successfully delivered.

Scott further commented on RumbleUp’s effectiveness: RumbleUp has been instrumental in helping us achieve high deliverability rates. Nick jumped in to say the following;

 “I think the customer service when we ran into issues on our end has been rapid and very helpful.”

He continues with a current example, where they need ongoing, specialized help from RumbleUp to collaborate with their New York-based clients and members to execute text messages in a specific manner. He states,

 "You guys are always willing to listen to us on how to improve the platform experience, providing prompt reports to candidates and members, following up with respondents, and always being open to ideas based on our needs, again, specifically in New York." 

Nick and Scott agree that RumbleUp's reliability and support have been essential to the RACC's communication strategy.

The Bottom Line 

The “Texting for Change” webinar series in 2024 showcased the transformative power of peer-to-peer (P2P) texting for political campaigns and advocacy groups alike. From revolutionizing issue advocacy to illustrating the impact of localized hyper-targeting, each webinar offered invaluable insights into how they used texting to achieve their goals.

P2P texting has proven to be a game-changer, enabling campaigns to mobilize supporters, maintain high deliverability, and achieve significant results with targeted, impactful communication. These success stories highlight its effectiveness in political environments and other sectors.

If you like seeing our webinar recap videos, follow our YouTube channel for our latest updates and more inspiring stories to come.

Ready to take the next step and add P2P texting to your outreach strategy? Sign up today at rumbleup.com or book a meeting with our sales team at (833) 530-4400 or sales@rumbleup.com to see how P2P texting can transform your outreach strategy.