LAUNCH YOUR POLITICAL CAMPAIGN LIKE A PRO
(Without Hiring an Expensive Political Consultant)
You’ve been searching for it – and now you finally found it…
A Valuable Resource for New (and D.I.Y.) Political Candidates
This article is a resource for new (and D.I.Y.) political candidates who are in the process of forming their campaign for public office.
In order to launch your political campaign like a pro, you’ll need to understand the foundational principles (or strategies) of political campaigns.
On one hand, political campaigns can be an exciting, heady experience…
On the other hand, the endless tasks associated with organizing a political campaign can also make it time consuming and downright overwhelming at times.
You’ve been told you should hire a political consultant to handle all the details, but you just don’t feel comfortable paying the exhorbitant monthly fees that several consultants have quoted you.
So, you plug on…
You’re ready to kick the campaign into high gear, but you know that one wrong move and your new campaign could be toast – along with all the time and money you’ve invested thus far.
Guess what??
You’re not alone. Thousands of political candidates every campaign season face the same challenges your facing.
The Four Strategies You Need to Launch Your Campaign
In this article, I’ll lay out the four primary political strategies that you’ll need to understand in order to launch your political campaign like a pro (without hiring an expensive political consultant)!
These strategies will help you focus on the campaign tasks that are important – rather than getting sucked into the busy work vortex.
Stick around and I’ll give you the framework and show you all the secrets we use – without charging you an arm and a leg for the information.
My First Launch Was a Bust – Learn From My Mistakes!
When I first ran for office in 1992, I didn’t know about these strategies and I got an “ole-fashioned butt whoopin…”
That first political campaign was a real learning experience – and you can definitely learn from my mistakes.
I’ve had 10-12 successful campaigns of my own since then, and I’ve managed dozens of political projects in 42 states.
The ideas and strategic framework presented in this launch blueprint have always worked for me…
…I know they’ll work for you too.
There are four primary strategies that you need to master to launch your political campaign like a pro – without hiring an expensive consultant.
Let’s dive in talk about each one of the four strategies.
Here goes…
Launch Strategy #1
Political Targeting: Build and target a universe of voters who are likely to show up on Election Day…
I know this may come as a shocker to you, but only about half of the citizens in the United State are registered to vote. Of those who are registered, only a small fraction of those will actually show up in races other than presidential elections.
In his book, “Political Targeting,” direct mail guru Hal Malchow says that “targeting is the process of determining which voters you need for victory and identifying them as efficiently as possible.”
Dig Deeper: Check out Political Targeting by Hal Malchow on Amazon
To build a targeted universe of voters who are likely to show up on Election Day, you’ll have to look at past elections and calculate the average number of voters who have voted in elections similar to yours.
This initial election research will help you determine a “back-of-the-envelope” turnout estimate for your election.
Do You Know Your Campaign’s “Win Number?”
Once you have a clear understanding of the historical turnout from elections similar to yours, you need to calculate the number of voters you need to win the election.
This is your campaign’s “win number” and it is one of the strategic “north stars” in your campaign.
…this is the number of votes you’re fighting for every day of the campaign!
Once you have a turnout estimate and your win number, you need to go to the actual voter rolls and find those voters who are likely to show up on Election Day.
Here’s something you can take to the bank: Someone’s past voting history is an accurate predictor of their future voting history.
So, dive into the voting history of your target universe and build a list of voters who – based on past history – are going to show up and vote in your election.
These are the voters you need to pay attention from the launch your campaign all the way through Election Day.
Before you launch your campaign, make sure you have a clear understanding of the following:
- Likely turnout of your election – based on historical turnout
- The number of votes you need to win – your “win number”
- Actual list of voters from the voter file
(NOTE: Before you can launch your campaign, you need to understand how to set up the operational structure of your campaign – fundraising, communications, volunteer recruitment, voter contact programs, etc. Download our proven Campaign Launch Blueprint now and get real clear on how to set up your campaign launch like a pro.)
FREE RESOURCE: Download Your Copy of The Campaign Launch Blueprint
Launch Strategy #2
Voter Segmentation: Identify the issue and candidate preferences of each targeted voter.
While each of the four strategies is important, the voter segmentation strategy is crucial to your success because it allows you to allocate your scarce resources over the course of the campaign and deliver the right message to the right voters – at the right time.
Segmentation is the process of collecting data on how each target voter feels about the candidates and issues in the race.
Always remember that in a political campaign, voters either SUPPORT you, OPPOSE you – or are undecided. That’s it.
The goal of the segmentation strategy is to get voters to identify their candidate preferences so you can speak to them appropriately – and persuasively.
If done correctly, this voter preference data is leveraged and used to for campaign programs like voter persuasion and voter turnout.
So how do collect this magical data? Here are a couple tactics for you to consider.
- Door-to-door canvassing
- Mail surveys
- Phone surveys
- Digital surveys
Some of these may not work for you, but your campaign should develop ways to identify voter preferences into your campaign from day one.
Here’s why this segmentation data is so crucial.
Voter segmentation allows you to be more efficient by driving the right message to the right voter. Consider this:
- Supporters – no need to spend dollars persuading them. They’re already with you.
- Opponents – why waste scarce resources on voters who support your opponent?
- Undecideds – this is where you want to invest your campaign dollars!
One of the primary reasons for segmentation is to allow you – as much as possible – to spend the bulk of your resources on undecided voters.
Another reason for segmentation is to build your list of supporters so you can turn them out in early voting or on Election Day.
If you get a month out from Election Day and you don’t have any voter preference data, you’re flying blind – and you may be in trouble.
When you build this segmentation process into the foundation of your campaign (from day one), you’ll be building a data file that will allow you to allocate scarce resources more efficiently – and you’ll be able to make more strategic targeting decisions.
…and you’ll be light years ahead of the other campaigns out there.
(NOTE: Before you can launch your campaign, you need to understand how to set up the operational structure of your campaign – fundraising, communications, volunteer recruitment, voter contact programs, etc. Download our proven Campaign Launch Blueprint now and get real clear on how to set up your campaign launch like a pro.)
FREE RESOURCE:Download Your Copy of The Campaign Launch Blueprint
Launch Strategy #3
Voter Persuasion: The bulk of your campaign’s resources should be focused on persuading undecided voters to support you…
You will discover over the course of your campaign that voter persuasion is the most time consuming and costly piece of your campaign.
Persuasion is defined as the “act of persuading someone to do or believe something.”
During the campaign, you’ll be trying to persuade voters to support you on Election Day. But as the definition implies, persuasion is a process that takes time.
Voter persuasion is a process that should be focused on targeted voters and should flow from the campaign’s core message – a message that magnetically attracts like-minded voters.
There are three things about the persuasion process that you need to remember as you launch your campaign:
First, the persuasion process should be focused on undecided voters. In the heat of the campaign, this is easier said than done.
…because you have limited resources – time, money and people – you must target your resources to the voters where you can have maximum impact. In most campaigns, that’s the undecided voters.
Second, the persuasion process to undecided voters should flow from your campaign’s core message. What you say and how you say it will have a major impact in your ability to sway – and ultimately persuade – voters.
You’re either magnetic to voters – or you’re not…
The most effective way to persuade undecided voters is to have a compelling core message that excites and engages voters.
Finally, the persuasion process takes time and effort. Let’s face it. Voters are skeptical today. They don’t automatically believe what you say – no matter how earnest you are or appear to be.
For a voter who doesn’t know you, you’ll need to build your positive name identification, so people know and like you. Over the course of the campaign, it will take 8-12 positive points of contact to persuade them to support you.
While voter persuasion is the most complex (and expensive) part of your political campaign, the process of convincing voters to support your campaign is also the most rewarding.
(NOTE: Before you can launch your campaign, you need to understand how to set up the operational structure of your campaign – fundraising, communications, volunteer recruitment, voter contact programs, etc. Download our proven Campaign Launch Blueprint now and get real clear on how to set up your campaign launch like a pro.)
FREE RESOURCE:Download Your Copy of The Campaign Launch Blueprint
Launch Strategy #4
Voter Turnout: Focus on turning out YOUR supporters in early voting and on Election Day…
Your campaign’s job is to turn out YOUR identified supporters in early voting and on Election Day. That’s right. Not everybody. Just YOUR identified supporters.
Turning out your supporters is not some vague exercise…
Remember earlier in this article when we discussed the segmentation strategy?
This is the strategy where you identify the candidate and issue preferences of your targeted voters…
…so you can target your persuasion efforts and have voter data for your election turnout efforts.
Here’s why voter identification (or segementation) is so important.
In order to turn out YOUR identified supporters in early voting and on Election Day, you have to have the supporter data…
…You have to have a list of supporters!
If you don’t have a list of supporters, you’re flying blind into the most important part of the election.
However, if you do the hard work of identifying your supporters as early in the campaign as possible…
…and keep building the list throughout the course of the campaign, you’ll be sittin pretty when it comes to voter turnout.
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind:
- The number of voters who are voting in early and absentee programs is increasing dramatically in most states. This means you’ll have to proactively build a voter turnout program to drive your supporters to early and absentee voting stations.
- Every political jurisdiction has different election rules (especially for early and absentee voting) so you will need to know the election rules for your campaign’s district.
- Finally, on Election Day, there are lots of moving parts, so your mission is turning out every supporter that you’ve identified over the course of the campaign.
There you have it. The four launch strategies I used to win elections. Dig in and use these ideas in your campaign. They’ve helped me win my elections and they’re guaranteed to help you too.
(NOTE: Before you can launch your campaign, you need to understand how to set up the operational structure of your campaign – fundraising, communications, volunteer recruitment, voter contact programs, etc. Download our proven Campaign Launch Blueprint now and get real clear on how to set up your campaign launch like a pro.)
FREE RESOURCE:Download Your Copy of The Campaign Launch Blueprint
About the Author
Dan Tripp is President of Voter Contact Solutions, Inc., a company that designs targeted voter contact programs for data-driven political campaigns and issue advocacy projects.
Tripp formerly served for 12 years as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives (’94 – ’06). After getting out of government and working in the private sector for a dozen years, he was elected to Greenville County Council where he serves today.
Tripp has worked on dozens of national, state and local campaigns, and has traveled the country organizing boots-on-the-ground political campaigns and issue-advocacy projects. To date, he has organized or managed campaigns and projects in 43 states.
Tripp has served on four presidential campaigns and one presidential Super PAC: Keep the Promise Super PAC (Cruz ’16), Scott Walker, Inc. (’15), Herman Cain (’12), John McCain (’00) and Phil Gramm (’96).