There is a hard truth about running for office.
A lot of very smart, very passionate people who try that lose. In fact, most who try it
lose, including highly qualified, articulate, accomplished candidates who could have won.
Was it because they didn't know what to do?
No.
Every intelligent candidate knows you have to have a message. That you have
to execute your message. That you have to have a strategy to reach your
target audience, and get your voters to the polls.
But knowing what to do, and knowing how to do it are two very different
matters. And usually that is what separates the winners from those who come up
short.
Who is this webinar for?
If you are running for office this year, it's for you. If you'd like to run for
office soon, it's for you. If you think you'd like to run for office someday,
it's for you. And if you are curious about modern day campaigns and want to help
good candidates win, this webinar will help you do that.
If you are hoping to learn how to spew hate and sow division, you will need
to go elsewhere.
What you will learn in this webinar are the four pillars of a political campaign,
the elements of a campaign message and how to construct yours, the various
ways to execute your message, and how to pick the one just right for you, how to plan your
campaign strategy, so that voters have a clear picture of what you are going to do for them,
and how to outsmart your opponent through an exercise
I call war gaming.
Campaigns in competitive jurisdictions are complicated. They are hard, tough, and
sometimes they're mean. Very few candidates win without the help of someone
adept at navigating the minefields of a political campaign.
I'll also be sharing with you a step by step formula I have used to help U.S. Senators,
Governors, candidates for President, Members of Congress, Mayors,
County Executives, Legislators, Judges and 200 other candidates who have won
competitive elections.
It is a formula I have developed during my years as a political consultant.
The formula works and my clients are proof.
Some were democrats. Some were Republican. Men, women, young, old, white,
brown and black. In large cities, the rural countryside, and the suburbs.
They all had this in common:
They sincerely believed in their cause, and were running to improve the lives of
those in their community, city or country. They were problem solvers, not bomb
throwers. They had integrity, and a strong moral code. They did not spew hate,
or sow division. They did not reflexivity recite some party line talking points.
They had a clear and compelling message, executed it well, had a well designed strategy and
outsmarted their opponents.
In this webinar I'll show you how to do what they did. If you would like to speak
with me about helping you advance your cause, I tell you how to apply at the end
of this webinar.
All campaigns start with few fundamental questions. No one can design an
intelligent campaign or campaign strategy without knowing the answers. Nor can you.
Anybody who tries to tell you how to run your campaign without this information is wasting
your time.
What is the job you are running for? All elected positions have a unique set of
responsibilities that profoundly affects your campaign strategy and the issues
you talk about.
When is the election? Turnout varies election by election, and that affects the number of
people you need to reach.
What are the rules for who gets to vote? That profoundly affects the tools and strategy
you will use to reach your target audience.
What are the demographics, partisan affiliation and voting history of your
jurisdiction, and how are they trending? That affects who you target and how you
reach them.
What is the current political environment? The headwinds of political discourse are
constantly shifting, and that affects your message.
What are your resources? Advertising costs money and you can buy only what you
can afford.
Who is or who are your opponents? That affects almost everything you say
and do.
No other campaign is quite like yours, for no two jurisdictions are the same. No two
election years are the same. No other jurisdiction has the same demographic
profile as yours. Nobody has the same opponent that you do. Nobody has your voice, your story,
your biography.
The answers to those questions determine your message, how you will execute it,
your campaign strategy, and how you will outsmart your opponent.
One of the reasons good candidates lose is they launch their campaign without first
knowing this information.
There are other reasons good candidates lose--common mistakes that even smart
candidates make:
They copycat. They look at what worked for somebody else
in a different year, in a different jurisdiction, and then assume that the strategy
that worked for someone else will work for them. It won't and it doesn't, for every
race requires a unique message, a unique plan to execute the message, and a unique
strategy. High-priced consultants have also been known to make this mistake.
They don't delegate. They spend too much time mired in the day to day operation
of their campaign, to the detriment of tasks only a candidate can do. Candidates are
the star performers in their own movie. They must always be at the top of their game, and
that is a full time job.
They waste money. On things that don't matter at the expense of things that do.
Usually because they are not up to date on how and where voters get their
information. Technology is changing everything. Very quickly. What was a great
way to reach a target audience two years ago, or even last year, may not be
the best way to reach them this year.
Their message is a confusing mess. Voters are busy people. If voters can't quickly
grasp why a candidate wants the job and what the candidate is going to do
for them, they will not spend time deciphering a confusing morass of blather.
They bomb on stage. They blow a speech in front of an important audience,
or wilt during a debate. They say or do something stupid in an interview with
a tv or newspaper reporter. Usually because they were ill-briefed and ill-prepared.
This is why good people lose elections they could have won. And every single one of these
mistakes can be avoided.
Let's now return to those four pillars of a campaign…your message, how you execute
your message, your strategy and an exercise I call wargaming.
Starting with your campaign message. All candidates need one, but knowing that you need one is
different than knowing how to do it.
Your campaign message has five components. Your biography, your story, your values, issue
positions and what you choose to say about your opponent.
Your biography lets voters know you have your feet on the ground and are qualified to do
the job.
It is through your story that you let voters know what makes you tick; that they can
trust you to make hard decisions on their behalf.
Voters need to know your values, your notions of right and wrong, good and evil,
causes important to you, for they want to know that your values are in sync with
theirs.
The issue positions you choose to highlight in your campaign lets voters know what you
are going to do for them; how you will improve their quality of life.
Then there is your opponent -- what you choose to say about the person you
are running against; why you are the better choice.
Finally, you need a slogan—a simple set of words that helps voters remember what
you stand for, what makes you the right choice, or different than your opponent.
Those are the elements of a campaign message.
Simple. Right? Not so fast.
What you choose to highlight about your background, your story, values, and issue
positions depends on what you are running for, who gets to vote, the demographic
profile of the voters you must have to win, the political environment and most important,
your opponent.
You have one mission in a campaign. To get more votes than your opponent.
As you make decisions about the elements of your campaign message, one question is paramount.
Does the information help voters conclude that you are the best choice?
Voters are busy people. Inundating them with information that is irrelevant to
the choice they face is a waste of their time and your resources.
Meet Sue Kelly. Florist, mother, President of her garden club.
She ran for Congress in a crowded field that included a four star general, an ex member
of Congress, and a West Point graduate who had won the Congressional
Metal of Honor.
What made Kelly different is that she held more conservative positions on economic issues
than her competitors, and more moderate positions on social issues.
She was also the only candidate who had lived in the district more than two years.
In her advertising, every aspect of her biography, story, values and issue
positions emphasized what made her different from the other candidates.
Her service to organizations that advanced health care for women, years of
community service in the district, support for abolishing the capital gains tax,
her libertarian positions on social issues, and the fact that she had lived in the
district more than 35 years. All things none of her opponents could say or would say. What
we called her unique selling propositions.
Her slogan made the point. "If you think they all sound the same, you haven't
met Sue Kelly."
She easily won the election and served 12 years in Congress.
Sometimes a simple slogan is all it takes to capitalize on the political environment
or flaws in your opponent.
Meet Nan Hayworth, who challenged an incumbent Congressman in an upscale
suburban district. In a year when voters were in a restive mood.
His slogan was John Hall. Congressman. Her slogan was Nan Hayworth. Doctor.
Mother. Businesswoman. Three things her opponent could never say.
In a year when voters were in an anti-incumbent mood, unhappy with the status quo, she easily
won a race the pundits said she'd lose.
This is the what, the how, the why of putting together your message.
Your biography, your story, values, issue postions, your opponent and campaign
slogan.
There is another reason you need to address all of the elements of a campaign message
in a competitive race.
If you don't tell voters what you have done in your life, voters won't know that you
are qualified to do the job…and your opponent will walk into the void and
paint you as unqualified.
If you don't share some piece of your story, voters won't know why they can
trust you, and your opponent will give them reasons they should not.
If you don't let voters know that your values, and your notions of right and wrong are in
sync with theirs, your opponent will find ways to prove they are not.
If you don't clearly articulate positions on issues important in your jurisdiction,
your opponent can and will portray you as a blank slate afraid to tell voters what you
think.
Later on in this webinar I'll tell you why this mistake cost someone an election
in a U.S. Senate race. A mistake that would have been avoided had her consultant gone
through the step by step process I just mentioned.
Now that you know something about the how and the why of your message, we'll talk
about how you execute it.
There is the what you say, and the what you pay to say, otherwise known as advertising.
I'll start with the words that come out of your mouth. You will need to give speeches.
You may have to debate your opponent. You will be expected to
conduct interviews with newspapers, and perhaps radio and television stations.
And unless you are paying for the campaign out of your own pocket, you'll need
to meet and speak with campaign contributors.
These are items only you can do. They cannot be delegated. The words that
fly off your lips can make or break your campaign.
When you become a candidate you become a public figure. Everything you say.
Every word you say is subject to scrutiny. You are the star of your own play.
The main attraction in your own movie.
You must look and sound the part, for if you want voters to listen to you, you must look
like you are worth listening to.
You therefore must be well rested. Well dressed. Well groomed. Well read.
Well briefed. Well prepared.
Your supreme obligation is to play well the part only you can play. For most
candidates, that is a full time job.
There is an art, and a science to practicing for an important speech, an interview
or a debate:
How to pivot off a difficult question to a topic that gets you votes.
Knowing what you are going to say during the first two minutes of
an interview, regardless of the question asked.
How to control your body language and keep your cool in the face of hard
questions.
How to leave your opponent playing defense during a debate.
How to use a news story to offer the perfect sound bite during an interview.
I always help my clients prepare for interviews, debates and major speeches.
They are important. There is a lot at stake. Even the most talented and experienced of
public officials perform better if they invest in practice and preparation.
I mentioned there are two ways to execute your message. Now that we've
talked about the words you say, we'll turn to your advertizing tools, what you pay
to say, the media you use to present yourself to voters that will never meet you or hear
your speeches.
They include your website, video and television ads, radio, persuasion mail,
telephone calls, internet ads, newspaper ads, volunteers, handouts and yard signs.
All cost money. All candidates have to make some hard decisions about which are best for
them, for very few can afford to do all of them.
As you make choices there is one question that is more important than any other.
What is the most cost efficient and effective way to get your message to a voter?
There is no standard answer to that question, for no two jurisdictions are the same.
In a statewide race, cable and commercial television is usually imperative.
Mail and internet ads are used for niche markets. In small, rural jurisdictions,
sometimes mail, yards signs, and newspaper ads are the answer. In suburban districts,
it is usually an adroit mix of radio, internet ads, persuasion mail,
telephone calls and ads in weekly newspapers.
Ultimately, your decisions will be based on your resources, the jurisdiction where you
live, the number of voters you must reach, and the demographics of your target audience.
This is also a decision that smart candidates delegate. To people who do it for a living.
For with the rapid changes in technology, television viewership, radio
programming, social media, and internet advertising, what may have worked well
for a candidate a few years ago, or even last year, might not be the right answer this year.
Meet Rob Astorino, and Steve Neuhaus. In 2017, both were County Executives
in the New York's Hudson Valley. Both running for reelection. Both Republicans.
In a difficult year for Republicans.
Both had in past campaigns made heavy use of cable television to drive their message,
supplemented with targeted mail.
In the 2017 campaign, they took different paths when executing their strategy.
Astorino stuck with what he'd done in the past, spending more than 2,000,000
on cable TV Advertising.
Neuhaus took a fresh look at demographic and viewership trends, and decided to
change course. He cut all the cable TV out of his budget, and decided instead
to put it exclusively into mail, internet and facebook advertising.
In a bad year for Republican candidates in the Hudson Valley, Astorino lost.
Neuhaus won a landslide victory.
Technology has changed everything, and going forward it will profoundly alter where and
how voters get their information. There is a high price to pay if those working for you
are not up to date on where voters get their information in your
jurisdiction.
These are the steps to deciding how to execute your message. The what, the how,
and why it can be fatal if you execute a campaign based on data that is out of date.
As you interview consultants and professional help for your campaign, make sure they have
up-to-date information, easy access to this kind of research, and that they
know how to use it.
Now that we've talked about your message, and you how execute it, let's turn to
your strategy. The way you are going to roll out your message.
Think of your strategy as a movie. It has a beginning. An end. A story line.
A logical sequence. Otherwise the movie makes no sense.
You may have a great bio, a compelling narrative, values in perfect sync
with voters, and popular issue positions, but if you don't reveal those to voters
in a manner they can easily understand, they'll never understand you or your
message.
As you begin to plot your rollout, your strategy for what you are going to say,
and when you are going to say it, look at all the tools you have decided to use,
and select one that you will use as your primary tool, then use the others to
supplement and support it.
The best way to show you this is by example.
In a recent primary in New York, an underfunded candidate challenged a 10 term member of Congress
in a democratic primary.
She looked at all of her options and decided the only tools she could afford
to use were social media, a website, text messages and volunteer phone calls.
She produced a very compelling video that had all the elements of her message,
her biography, story, values, and issue positions.
She then used social media to share it and drive people to her website, where many
volunteered their email address and phone number. They were then contacted by
volunteers.
The strategy worked. Her video was viewed two million times. She won the
election, despite being outspent 18-1.
Two years ago in a race in a suburban district we concluded that cable
television viewership had become too fragmented to be of much value.
We instead used mail as our lead tool, a sequence of mail pieces sent
to a broad audience to reveal the candidate's biography, her story, her qualifications,
her work on behalf of children, the elderly and the poor.
We then used internet ads to supplement and highlight information contained in
the mail pieces to highly targeted niche audiences. Volunteers were
used to knock on doors and make phone calls in key geographic areas.
She was the only candidate in a four way race who used this strategy. She won a
landslide victory.
In a recent campaign in a small, tight knit rural district, we used newspaper ads,
for it happened to be a community with a very well read local newspaper. We used the ads
to highlight the accomplishments of a long serving incumbent who faced a very spirited
challenge from a well financed opponent.
We supplemented the newspaper ads with persuasion mail to reach certain niche
audiences. His volunteers knocked on doors and made phone calls.
He won a comfortable victory in an anti-incumbent year.
I am not sharing these examples to suggest they are just right for you. I share them
to illustrate a point.
There is no one size fits all campaign strategy that is right for every candidate
in every jurisdiction. Your strategy is unique to you, unique to your jurisdiction,
your resources, where and how voters get their information, the political
environment, the demographics of the voters you must have to win, the opponent
you face.
Any professional help you hire should be factoring in all of these as they construct
your strategy.
Do any of these strategies have anything in common? Yes.
In every single one the candidate used the lead advertising tool to communicate
all the elements of a campaign message, a biography, story, values, and issue positions
in a logical sequence that voters could follow and easily comprehend.
We then used secondary tools to reach important niche audiences.
This is the what and the how of a campaign strategy. If you want voters to
understand your message, follow this step by step process. People who are
experienced in the business of helping candidates know the art and science of creating a strategy
and rolling out a message.
If you cannot find that kind of help, I'll show you how to apply to work with me
at the end of this webinar.
A quick review.
I mentioned at the beginning of this webinar that there are four key pillars of a campaign.
We've now covered three of them, your message, how you execute
your message, and how you devise your strategy. I'll finish up by addressing
something I call war gaming.
If you've ever watched a great football coach, you've seen it. When the coach
notices the other team pulling out the star runners, and putting in star pass
catchers, they in turn send in players good at defending a pass play.
They know what they are going to do in any situation because they have studied
game films; they know the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing team. They anticipate every
stunt the opposing team might try, and what they're going to do when they see it coming.
It's called war gaming, something all smart candidates do after they've put together
their message, execution plan, and plotted their strategy.
I'll show you how it's done. First, jot down what you are going to say about
yourself-your bio, story, values, issue positions. And what you expect your
opponent to say about their own background, story, values and issue positions.
Next note what you plan to say about your opponent, and how you expect your
opponent will respond to you.
Finally, anticipate the attacks your opponent will launch against you, the holes they
will try to poke in your biography, or your story, your issue positions, or silly things
you once did or said.
Then war game. Develop a plan to respond everything your opponent might do.
In every competitive election I have ever worked we have gone through
this exercise, and you should too.
It was the middle of the night in Santa Barbara when my phone rang.
When I answered I heard a familiar voice, the campaign manager of a
U.S. Senate race I was consulting in California. He wasted no time getting
to business.
"Jay. Our opponent last night sent a new spot to the stations. It starts airing
at 7 am on the Today Show."
It was a blistering attack ad, which the manager recited to me as I took notes.
We had anticipated this might happen, and we had a plan in place:
I called the manager of a local editing facility, and told him we needed to
edit a spot at 4 am. I called our voice talent, told him grab some coffee
and meet us at the studio. I then wrote the script of our response ad.
We finished the edit at 5 am, sent the spot to the stations. We were on with
our response before our opponent's attack ad ever aired.
Nothing had been left to chance because we had war gamed everything. I had a thick file
of research and facts at my fingertips. I had preselected the editing
facility and voice talent we'd use. They knew to keep their phones by their
bedside.
I had created a large file of pictures and footage so that we had plenty of visuals
to use in the spot. We had pre-planned how to quickly get our spot to the stations
regardless of the hour.
It saved the career of a United States Senator.
There is a price to pay for not going through this exercise. It's call chaos.
Chaos happens when you get hit with something you never saw coming.
Chaos happens when you have no idea what to do. Chaos happens when nobody on
your team anticipated the attack, when nobody on your team can agree on what
the response should be. Chaos is one of the reasons good candidates lose.
Meet Jill Docking. She once ran for the U. S. Senate in the State of Kansas.
Stellar qualifications. Well spoken. The kind of middle of the road democrat
that can win an election in Kansas.
She also happens to be Jewish. Fearful that voters in a state filled with conservative
evangelical Christians would not react well to her religious affiliation, Mrs. Docking
omitted any mention of her religion during her campaign.
During the final days of a hotly contested race, thousands of evangelical voters received
a phone call. What is called a push poll. They were asked who they planned to vote for.
If they said Jill Docking, they were asked a second question---"would you still
vote for Jill Docking if you knew that she refuses to let her children go to church or
attend Sunday School?"
Because she'd never talked about her religious affiliation, those receiving
the call knew nothing of Mrs Docking's religious beliefs. And because they
knew nothing, they assumed that Mrs. Docking was an atheist or agnostic.
Because her team had never anticipated that her opponent would pull such a filthy stunt,
it sank her campaign.
Competitive politics is sometimes a blood sport. You don't have to be filthy,
or unethical to win, but you should never assume your opponent shares your
ethical standards or your moral code.
Now you know why you heard me say that competitive campaigns are complicated.
They are hard, tough, and sometimes they're mean. You stand a much better
chance of winning if you go through the step by step process I've described
in this webinar. It is very hard to win a competitive election if you don't.
There are a number of ways you can apply what I shared, or find help
to advance your cause
You are welcome to use the information I've shared in this webinar to
design and execute your own campaign. You can watch the 300 free videos on my You
Tube Channel, which cover in detail almost every aspect of a political campaign.
You can contact the political party organizations in your state or community.
There are organizations that maintain a list of companies and people that help
candidates for office, including Campaigns and Elections, and the American
Association of Political Consultants.
If you'd like to speak with me, I do accept a limited number of clients. If you are
interested, please complete the application. In it you'll find some questions that
will help me research your jurisdiction so that I am well prepared for a conversation
with you.
Once I've reviewed it, I'll send you an email so that you can schedule a time
for our talk on a day and time convenient to you.
There will be no charge for the call. You should expect that our conversation
will last an hour.
I am particular about who I work with, just as I expect you to be particular
about who you work with.
This is what I will expect of you:
You must be sincere about what you want to do for your jurisdiction, community,
city or country. I care that you are willing to stand for something grand. That you
fervently believe in a cause.
You must have integrity.
You must be coachable, and anxious to learn.
You must want to win.
This is what you can expect from me.
I don't care what party you belong to. I have worked with democrats and
republicans, and people of all persuasions around the globe. There are good
people in almost all political parties.
I don't care about your ideology, or whether you call yourself a liberal, moderate or conservative.
If you are running for the right reasons, to fix a problem,
correct an injustice, right a wrong…those labels don't mean much.
It is not my role to impose my beliefs on you. My job is to help you express
your views and win an election in your jurisdiction.
I will not ask you to parrot the playbook of a political party, or sing the gospel
of a special interest group. I will be helping you express your ideas, and doing what works
best for you and your campaign.
During our conversation we'll talk about your jurisdiction, your message, how you plan
to execute it, your strategy. Urgent challenges that you may have. Problems that need attention.
How I can best help you.
If I can't help you, I'll say so. If I can, I'll tell you how.
I can also tell you this.
If we work together, you will grow. Personally, and professionally.
You will become a smarter and a much better candidate.
You will speak with greater confidence, passion and authority, knowing that you
have a message, a plan, a strategy that is right for you and your jurisdiction.
And while no one can guarantee you victory, you will run a much better campaign for having
worked with me.
That is the what that you will receive from me. There is also a why I do what
I do and before I close I'll share that with you.
I believe politics can and should be a noble profession. For it is through people
unafraid to live their passion that billions have been freed from the yoke of bondage,
freed from the chains of poverty and offered some measure of the freedom that is the inherent
right of all humankind.
The greatest rewards I have known have come from helping good candidates
prevail in the marketplace of ideas, right a wrong, correct an injustice, advance a cause,
improve the lives of people in their jurisdiction.
It is what I was born to do.
If you are interested in talking, complete the application. I'll send you a link with
available time slots on my calendar, and you can pick a date and time convenient
for you.
I hope something I've shared served to advance your cause. Or made you a wiser candidate.
Or inspired you to use your talents to advance a noble cause.
Until we meet again, or even if we don't, I wish you good luck, a good campaign
and success in public life.
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