HONEST CAMPAIGN ADVICE!
Winning an election is like running a business, being organized, having the right staff and getting enough money to fund a successful organization. We don’t want to discourage anyone from running for office, but you need to know what you are in for – and if you have lost an election before, you need to understand WHY.
Here are some (hopefully helpful) campaign tips, based on our years of experience with many different types of candidates:
By engaging in an unorganized, unfunded effort, you are seriously damaging your own credibility and will never be taken seriously as a candidate. Don’t do it! Before you take the plunge, reach out to friends, family and colleagues and ask them to pledge to donate to your campaign. If you can’t even get friends and family to help, it is probably not a good idea to run.
Many first time candidates use their 401K, savings, investment account or credit cards to get started. In most cases, you can “pay yourself back” from campaign funds. Once we professionally get your campaign off the ground, it will be much easier to raise the money needed to fund the campaign moving forward.
If you think you can manage a campaign AND be a candidate, you should not run for office. Managing a campaign is very hard work and is very time consuming. You won’t have time to be a candidate if you are spending all day managing the campaign. Candidates should not be spending their time dealing with phones, emails, finances, vendors, media or volunteers.
You need to look NICE – all the time. Even if all you can afford is one high quality outfit, buy it, wear it, let it become your “uniform” if need be. People need to be able to visualize you as a LEADER. Dressing down in an attempt to “be one of the people” will not work. If you want to be one of the people, don’t run for office. If you want to be a leader, play the part!
Pick the top THREE issues that are important to your VOTERS (not you!) and run with it! Be the expert on those issues. Make sure the issues relate to the office you are running for. If you are running for city office, your platform should not be about federal issues and vice versa. Remember, this is about voters, it is not about you.
Don’t expect groups or people to formally endorse you if you have not been a supporter of theirs or a paid member. Groups are very wary of candidates who think only of themselves. Many groups will send out candidate surveys – look for them! If you don’t fill those out COMPLETELY and on time, you will get no endorsement.
There are many, many bad actors in this business and many of them claim to be expert fundraising “consultants”. Some will throw out some “big names” that they supposedly worked for before (you’ll usually have no way to verify that). It’s easy to raise money for a big name candidate – they already have name recognition.
Some fundraising consultants even claim that they have all kinds of awards for their “service”. Let me let you in on a little secret, most of those “awards” are paid for. Yes, the organizations that give them out charge money for them. That is how they make money. You should be EXTREMELY careful before talking to any fundraising company – unless you are a big name or have held elected office before, some fundraisers won’t work with you at all, some will charge a high monthly fee, and ultimately, most just give you an old donor list and a crappy script and tell you to make calls all day. It just isn’t worth it.
Do not make any official announcement until your campaign is well put together with a great website and professional looking social media that already has a following. You may only get one first shot to impress voters (and the media!).
Google yourself BEFORE you tell anyone that you plan to run for office. You might have some cleanup to do!
Do not make any sort of announcement whatsoever until you have cleaned up ALL your social media and you have put all your profiles on private or friends only.
Getting a free or cheap website such as WIx, Weebly, GoDaddy, NationBuilder, etc., will make you look like you have no money and are not a serious candidate. Yes, people know the difference and your competition knows too. When inexperienced candidates announce their campaign and they have a crappy website and nothing on social media, that signals to anyone else thinking of running that you are a WEAK candidate and easy to beat. However, if you have everything together BEFORE you announce, it should put the fear of God into anyone else thinking about running for that office.
While you will more than likely need to finance your campaign rollout out of your own pocket, don’t make the mistake of self-funding everything. People don’t like candidates who think they can buy an election. Raising money is important for many reasons. First of all, it gets you out there talking to voters and secondly, every dollar someone gives you is an INVESTMENT in you. Even that $5.00 donation is very important. You’d better believe that the person who gives you $5.00 feels just as vested as the guy who gives you $500.00.
Pay attention to filing deadlines. Ideally, you want to start AT LEAST a year ahead of the primary for federal races.
Hiring a fundraising company will NOT make up for your lack of support (or your laziness). Many fundraising companies won’t even work with an unknown candidate because there is no assurance that they will make money.
You must establish a campaign budget. Most big donors are going to ask to see it before they take you seriously or give you money.
Always remember, the less said the better. Every time you open your mouth, you are giving someone a reason not to vote for you!
If someone asks you a question, give them a straight answer. Always! Don’t pander and don’t shy away from your beliefs!
Don’t let your ego get the best of you. Don’t think you are going to reinvent the wheel with your campaign. You’re not.
Don’t be in everyone’s face all the time. Learn how to be quiet and LISTEN!
Realize the world does not revolve around you. If you want to be a “Public Servant”, you’ve got to act like one!
Don’t fight with ANYONE on social media. Ever. That is the worst thing you can do.
Politics is dirty and nasty. It is a blood sport. If you do not have the stomach to fight for the seat you want, voters will presume you will not fight for them either, if elected.
Always take care of your volunteers, even if they are family. Buy them lunch, give them gas cards, tell them you appreciate them.
Pay attention to filing deadlines. Ideally, you want to start AT LEAST a year ahead of the primary for federal races.
Use traditional campaign colors – Red White and Blue! Always!
DRESS THE PART! It isn’t cute to “dress down” in some weird attempt to blend in with the people. Look like you are about to walk into the capitol and go to work. People need to see you can fill the part. Always have nice hair, a nice manicure, be clean and showered at all times.
Don’t get a domain name with hyphens or numbers or abbreviations. It will be very hard for people to find you. Plus, it looks goofy. Your domain name should be a .com
Anytime you are doing an interview, make sure to mention your website several times. Let your campaign manager come up with your talking points. That’s what they are there for.
Don’t manage your own social media – it is impossible for you to be objective. It is a HUGE distraction for candidates. NEVER allow your family/friends to run it. You will be sorry!
Watch out for unscrupulous campaign consultants who will encourage you to run, even though you may not be a viable candidate. They only want your money.
You need to let your campaign team carefully create your policy statements. They need to be very brief and concise. My favorite saying is “Bullet Points”!!
Being able to raise money says that you have SUPPORT. People WILL look at your campaign finance reports and the media will probably report on it. You NEED the support of others.
Buy a CURRENT voter list directly from the source (registrar of voters). It should be for your district only and if it is a partisan race, you might consider only buying the names of those who are registered with your party – especially for a primary. It is the best investment you will ever make. Do not buy lists from third parties!
People don’t care about all your policy positions and they hate know-it-alls. Trust me, that is the truth! Be nice, gracious and pleasant. THAT is what people vote for. If voters cared about policy, do you think we would have the congress that we have? People don’t care about how smart you are. They just want to like you.
There is no need to attend events just for the sake of attending an event. Some events are just not worth the time, effort or money and when you show up there is like, 20 people there. You could have used all that time being on the phone talking to voters or donors.
YOUR PATH TO VICTORY STARTS HERE!
Hello Patriot! My name is Lauren and I am the owner of Election Day Strategies. Call me at 888-726-2020 so we can put you on the path to victory today!
