Agencies managing multiple political campaigns are tasked with running efficient, high-impact digital ad programs while navigating shifting voter behavior, evolving ad tech regulations, and tight budgets. But even the best agencies are susceptible to common digital advertising mistakes that can lead to wasted media spend, ineffective targeting, and missed voter engagement opportunities.

Understanding these pitfalls—and knowing how to avoid them—can make the difference between a campaign that simply runs ads and one that actually wins elections.

Why Political Campaigns Waste Digital Ad Budget—And How to Stop It

The problem

In the rush to scale campaigns, many agencies prioritize impressions over impact, leading to significant media waste on low-quality inventory. Some common issues include:

• Serving ads through unvetted or low-quality SSPs results in low viewability and wasted spend. Without careful evaluation, campaigns risk running ads in placements that fail to reach or persuade voters.
• Relying on a block-list strategy leaves campaigns vulnerable to new bad actors, made-for-advertising (MFA) sites, and low-quality inventory that slip through before they can be identified and blocked. As the digital landscape shifts, this reactive approach often fails to prevent media waste.
• Over-reliance on broad audience targeting leads to wasted budget by reaching too many unpersuadable voters instead of focusing on those most likely to be persuaded. Without precise targeting, campaigns see higher costs without meaningful engagement.

The solution

A smarter supply path optimization (SPO) approach helps agencies refine their political advertising strategy, ensuring they buy high-quality media while reducing waste in programmatic advertising for campaigns. Agencies should:

• Work exclusively with vetted SSPs by evaluating partners using a rigorous scoring methodology focused on standards like quality, data signals, marketplace intelligence, and sustainability. Prioritize platforms that offer high viewability, verified voter reach, and direct publisher relationships to minimize reliance on resold inventory.
• Implement a dynamic inventory validation process that continuously assesses where ads are being served, rather than relying on a static block list. A more proactive approach includes real-time monitoring, fraud detection tools, and leveraging an allow-list strategy to prioritize high-quality inventory while blocking MFA and low-value placements.
• Leverage deterministic matching to ensure ads are reaching real, persuadable voters instead of relying on probabilistic or broad demographic assumptions. By using first-party voter data and validated identifiers, deterministic matching improves targeting precision and reduces wasted impressions.

For agencies looking to reduce media waste, creating a refined inventory selection and targeting methodology is a crucial first step.

Why Political Campaigns Need a Multi-Channel Digital Ad Strategy

The problem

Many agencies treat digital advertising as a single-channel effort rather than a coordinated, cross-device strategy that engages voters where they are. This results in:

• Static, repetitive creative that leads to voter fatigue and disengagement. If ads don’t evolve throughout the campaign, voters will tune them out, reducing overall effectiveness.
• Fragmented messaging across platforms that confuses voters and weakens brand recall. Without a cohesive narrative across CTV, display, and social, agencies lose valuable opportunities to reinforce campaign messaging.
• Missed opportunities to optimize in real-time, leaving ad dollars on underperforming placements rather than shifting spend toward the most effective creative, audiences, messages, or channels.

The solution

A dynamic, multi-channel approach ensures ads remain effective and relevant throughout the election cycle. Agencies should:

• Develop an omni-channel strategy that goes beyond simple consistency to ensure that each platform delivers a tailored experience—e.g., CTV for persuasion, social for engagement, and display for reinforcement—while maintaining a cohesive voter journey.
• Customize creative for each platform to maximize engagement. Video ads should tell a story, while display ads should be optimized for quick retention and call-to-action effectiveness.
• Leverage real-time data and programmatic tools like Deploy to dynamically adjust placements, budgets, and messaging in response to performance insights, ensuring campaigns stay agile and effective.

By treating digital as an evolving strategy rather than a set-it-and-forget-it buy, agencies can increase voter engagement and maximize ad spend efficiency.

How to Optimize Your Digital Ad Strategy by Aligning Spend with Voter Behavior

The problem

Many campaigns fail to align their advertising strategy with actual voter behavior, leading to inefficient spending throughout the election cycle. Some common missteps include:

• Wasting budget on voters who have already cast their ballots (especially in early voting states) instead of dynamically adjusting audiences based on real-time vote history.
• Failing to account for voting patterns, such as waiting too long to engage voters who historically vote early, missing opportunities to persuade them before they cast their ballots.
• Creating frequency disparities where some voters receive excessive impressions while others—who may need more persuasion or mobilization—are under-messaged.

The solution

A data-driven voter engagement strategy ensures ad spend is optimized by focusing on who is left to persuade, when they typically vote, and how to best engage them.

Both persuasion and GOTV efforts play distinct but critical roles in a campaign’s success. Persuasion ensures voters are moved to support a candidate or cause, while GOTV efforts ensure they actually cast their ballots. A campaign’s digital strategy should reflect both objectives, using voter behavior data to drive smarter decisions at every stage. Agencies should:

• Use real-time early vote (AVEV) data to exclude voters who have already cast their ballots while prioritizing those who remain undecided or unmotivated. This minimizes wasted impressions and ensures both persuasion and GOTV efforts focus on the right audiences.
• Start persuasion and GOTV efforts earlier for voters who historically vote early. Campaigns should analyze past election data to identify likely early voters and engage them before they cast their ballots. Reaching them too late means they’ll have already made up their minds or voted before seeing key messaging.
• Balance frequency across different voter groups to prevent oversaturation of engaged audiences while ensuring lower-frequency voters receive sufficient impressions. Instead of applying a broad late-money surge, campaigns should use dynamic budget adjustments to shift resources toward those most in need of persuasion or mobilization.

For agencies managing multiple campaigns, effective voter engagement isn’t just about spending—it’s about adapting to voter behavior in real time. Learn how to allocate last-minute ad spend effectively with our Late Money in Political Advertising webinar.

No two elections are the same, and campaign strategies should evolve accordingly to reflect shifting voter behavior, media consumption patterns, and competitive landscapes. Agencies that avoid these digital pitfalls and embrace targeted, data-driven, and adaptable digital advertising will have a decisive advantage in the races they run. By prioritizing high-quality inventory, cross-channel engagement, and timely voter mobilization, agencies can ensure that every ad dollar moves the needle—helping their candidates and causes win when it matters most.