President Donald Trump has become a model for Republicans in the midterm election, as a new "RNC Testing Booklet" urges candidates to copy his positive image, including his frequent use of a thumbs-up.
American Majority, a conservative campaign training organization, issued a list of lessons from a "Test Booklet" of analysis from the Republican National Committee. They found that positive images and words, along with cool colors, were more popular with donors. They compared two images of Trump, one of a frowning Trump in black-and-white used in campaign literature before the Republican National Convention, and one of a smirking Trump giving two thumbs-up in full color.
The RNC "found that the thumbs-up image continued to be more effective."
"This was a theme for the RNC last year — thumbs-up pictures of Trump were the most effective," American Majority write. "In some cases, it increased per-visit revenue by 30 cents to 40 cents over other images! The next time you send your donors to a splash page for donating or signing up, try using an image of the candidate with their thumbs up — and definitely smiling! Maybe your candidate has a different 'signature look.' Use images that make your candidate look the most appealing and positive to a website visitor."
American Majority also singled out that "positive, inclusive language was consistently successful for Trump website engagement. Using phrases such as "I'm in" and "Contribute" were more effective than 'Sign Up' and 'Donate.'"
The RNC also tried using a picture of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in a negative light, but found that "the Hillary Clinton image was an immediate drag on revenue, with donations almost 2-to-1 in favor of the image of Donald Trump."
"Bringing up negative feelings did not make donors want to give more," American Majority writes. "Keep this in mind if you are trying to raise money using negative messaging. Run some tests on that strategy before going all-in on negativity."
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