Texting is powerful on its own, but its real value shows up as part of an integrated program, coordinated with mail, email, phones, digital ads, and the doors. No single channel reaches everyone or does every job, and a voter contacted across several reinforcing channels is far likelier to act than one contacted once. Here's where texting fits in the mix and why integration beats isolation.
Why integrate channels at all?
Because different channels reach different people and do different jobs, and they reinforce each other. Some voters read email and ignore texts; some answer the door but not the phone; some see digital ads but nothing else. A voter who encounters your message across mail, a text, and a canvass is more persuaded and more likely to turn out than one who saw it once, that reinforcement is the whole logic of an integrated program. Betting everything on one channel leaves reachable voters uncontacted and misses the compounding effect of coordination.
What is texting best at in the mix?
Reach, speed, and mobilizing people you already have a relationship with. Texting excels at GOTV reminders, fundraising around deadlines, event turnout, and persuasion of your identified universe, the jobs where getting read fast and reliably matters. It's less suited to introducing the campaign to strangers (that's digital ads and the doors) or to long-form content (email). So in the mix, texting is the reach-and-mobilize workhorse for people who've opted in, working the bottom of the funnel that other channels feed.
How do channels hand off to each other?
The strongest programs build handoffs. Digital ads and the doors reach new people and drive them to opt in, growing the texting list. Text then mobilizes those opted-in supporters cheaply and fast, and can hand high-value contacts to a phone bank for a deeper conversation or to the field for a door knock. Email carries the long-form and the receipts; text carries the urgent reminders. Coordinated on a shared calendar and data, each channel does what it's best at and feeds the others. Texting isn't the whole program, it's the fast, high-reach mobilization layer that an integrated program is built around.
Frequently asked questions
Why integrate texting with other channels?
Because different channels reach different people and reinforce each other. A voter contacted across mail, text, and a canvass is more persuaded and likelier to turn out than one contacted once. Betting on a single channel leaves voters uncontacted.
What is texting best at in an integrated program?
Reach, speed, and mobilizing people you already have a relationship with, GOTV reminders, deadline fundraising, event turnout, and persuasion of your identified universe. It's the reach-and-mobilize workhorse for opted-in supporters.
How do channels work together?
Ads and the doors reach new people and drive opt-ins, growing the texting list; text mobilizes those supporters and hands high-value contacts to phones or the field; email carries long-form. Coordinated on shared data and a calendar, each does what it's best at.
Keep reading: texting vs digital ads and texting vs phone banking. For carrier registration, see The Campaign Registry.