How a presidential candidate mobilized thousands of volunteers

Zelos Quote mark

“Managing a nationwide presidential campaign would be impossible without technology. Zelos saved us lots of time when managing the vast amount of volunteers.”

Deimantė Žebrauskaitė
Campaign Manager, Ingrida Šimonytė 2019 Presidential Campaign – Lithuania

600 volunteers using the Zelos app
20,000 candidacy signatures
443,394 final votes received
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Political campaigns now require more digital and community outreach, turning volunteer management more complex than ever. How can campaign managers coordinate volunteers efficiently to make a challenger stand out on a crowded ballot?

In the current political landscape, the key to becoming relevant is to stay in touch with volunteers so they can help to get things done as they join. This was proven by the independent candidacy of Ingrida Šimonytė, who used Zelos to communicate with her volunteer team and ranked second in the 2019 Lithuanian presidential election. 

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Why communication matters in presidential campaigns

Budget, no matter its size, is never enough to ensure that every candidate’s message will reach voters. Therefore, campaign managers need to establish a clear line of communication between campaign staff and volunteers in order to plan and execute a successful outreach strategy. 

Clear and efficient team communication is a great asset for all kinds of political contenders. Some of the things that a good communication strategy should include are:

  • Private staff communication channel
  • Public team announcements
  • Digital outreach tasks
  • Community outreach tasks
  • Team feedback

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How Zelos improves team communication 

Zelos is an all-in-one solution for volunteer management that facilitates communication among team members and coordinators. Rather than a simple announcement board, the application allows admins to segment groups of volunteers, post online or offline tasks, and track activity completions in a single platform. The workload of managers becomes simple, and fewer tools are needed to coordinate a team of volunteers. 

Zelos has a user-friendly interface, so volunteers can be onboarded quickly with minimal instructions and assistance.  Managers can grow their teams as big as they need and train them in a streamlined process. In the case of the campaign of Ingrida Šimonytė, over 600 volunteers used Zelos as a communication and coordination tool.

The app comes with a segmentation feature that can be used to organize large groups of volunteers into teams. Every group has its own task list and notification system, thus enabling managers to target announcements and activities accordingly. 

“When you publish a task you can describe it. You can also put your trainings there. So you do not have to arrange a training event, or send long emails explaining where, when, what, why. You can do everything with Zelos – that was very useful for us.”

Deimantė Žebrauskaitė
Campaign Manager, Ingrida Šimonytė 2019 Presidential Campaign – Lithuania

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Why campaign volunteers like to work with Zelos

The benefits of Zelos are not only for campaign managers. Volunteers find Zelos useful while on the campaign trail, since it can be accessed via Android, iOS, and web. Therefore, they can check information anywhere they are and get the latest updates regarding election activities.

Campaign volunteers can also browse different tasks and sign up for the ones where they can use their skills. They can also submit proofs of activity completion -like snapshots-  and send useful feedback to managers without having to change platforms. 

How Zelos can help political candidates to stand out

Running an independent presidential campaign is not an easy feat. Deimantė Žebrauskaitė,  Ingrida Šimonytė’s campaign manager, pointed out that perseverance and using technology are critical in order to coordinate volunteers better. Some of the tasks that her team listed in Zelos included:

  • Collection of signatures to support the candidate’s bid
  • Coordination of campaign events
  • Door-to-door canvassing
  • Leaflet delivery
  • Coordination of town halls with local influencers

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The excellent communication of Ingrida Šimonytė’s volunteer team helped her to win the primaries and place second in the final Lithuanian presidential election, a great accomplishment for an independent contender with no political party backing.

Easy to navigate and user-friendly, Zelos is a powerful tool for political campaign managers that need to activate their volunteer teams. From local council elections to nationwide presidential campaigns, Zelos improves team collaboration and keeps volunteers engaged as they spread the word about their candidate and encourage people to come out and vote.