As a candidate, one of most space and cost effective tools you can have at your disposal is a palm card. Palm cards should be thought of as “campaigns in a capsule” because they should contain all of the highlights of your candidacy. With that said, having a good palm card is not as easy as slapping your name in a pre-formatted card from your home printer. Here are a few tips to have a great and memorable card.

Tell the voter why you deserve their vote.

Your campaign should have a motto or catchphrase “Confident. Caring. Committed.” or “For a better today and a brighter tomorrow” are some examples. Use this and expound on it. Give a short stump speech as to why you are the candidate they should vote for.

Use high quality, professional photos.

Just because you might have a good camera at your disposal doesn’t mean you should skimp here. Pay for a professional photograph and use it on the card. Some retail stores even have booths you can make an appointment for. They don’t take long, look great, and are usually quite inexpensive. Also use high quality stock images.

Follow election laws: remember your disclaimer!

All election advertisements or publications must include who paid for it. Find out exactly what has to be included and have it somewhere on the card. Note that the font can be as small as possible while still being readable.

Be consistent with the rest of your campaign.

Don’t try to cater to everybody if that’s not what the rest of your campaign is about. Keep your message, and thus your campaign or “brand”, consistent as it will affect your credibility and public image.

Include your contact information.

Make sure to include reliable contact information on your card so that potential donors or political contacts can reach you. If you don’t already have “secondary” emails or phone numbers that you check regularly it might be useful to set them up: odds are you will not want to have your mobile number or primary email for every John Doe that you hand a card to.

Separate yourself from your opponent wherever possible.

This includes not only message but media appearance. Avoid similar colors or design schemes that your opponent uses, include key policy differences, and always try to have positive themes about yourself on your cards. Remember, these are like tiny summaries of your campaigns and should represent you as such.

As a note, one vendor we have received good prices and great palm cards from is Voter Contact – www.votercontact.org. If you haven’t already, check them out today!