Practical Game Plan to Launch a Winning Political Campaign
When running for any electoral post, planning is key to success. What separates a winning campaign strategy from a losing political party is that the one with the greater advantage has a better approach. An effective electoral campaign is dependent on the voter size, the community, the public’s perception, timing, and manner of interacting with the electorates.
In general, there is no one-size-fits-all formula for an election campaign. A winning political campaign takes some effort and careful planning to identify what specific strategies work best for the voting public, which can impact the political arena. For any local election, a landslide victory is all about getting the pulse of most voters. Below are some pointers to consider when planning persuasive local political campaign efforts:
1. Establish an engaging message
A convincing political campaign promotes the candidate’s profile as a capable individual. It involves presenting in a positive light the running official’s background and previous achievements, which make him an ideal candidate to win the post. This highlights his views on the current local issues and economic policies that matter to him as a political candidate that may draw the attention of like-minded supporters. You must always keep the voters perspective and get their trust to support the candidate that you are promoting. The initial step to winning an election is getting the campaign message across by addressing the voters’ needs. You want to ensure you gain their interest and get them to vote by letting them know that a candidate’s victory can help improve their daily lives.
2. Raise awareness about what the candidate can do
Winning the majority vote is enabling the candidate to get strategic public support. For any local election, the people prefer a candidate whom they can identify with or someone who is part of the community. Create a campaign environment that focuses on indulging the locality. This initiative starts even before filing your candidacy by being active in community work and other developmental activities for the people. You should be seen as a local leader who can represent the majority.
3. Being introduced to private groups and communities
Let your supporters know that you want to meet their families and friends as a way to build a bigger audience. With this, your loyal supporters can link with other voters that they know through an in-person introduction, e-mail or unique event. Personal interaction by meeting people is the best approach to establish a wide supporter base during elections. These supporters are more than willing to campaign for you within their own circles and increase your voter list.
4. Go door-to-door campaigning
Door-to-door canvassing is one of the most effective means to convince new or undecided voters. This is more personal compared to other forms of campaign drives such as e-mails, rallies or public speeches. Also, it is cheaper than setting up posters or distributing campaign leaflets. The best approach is for the candidate to personally visit areas where he or she can get more supporters and sway voters while other volunteers help cover other nearby places. It is highly recommended to knock on as many doors as possible during the election campaign.
5. Seek the assistance of community influencers
Inviting social influencers to your campaign team is a plus factor for voters when deciding who they should vote for. You can win more community supporters through the help of their prominent leaders or influencers with their endorsement. Get in touch with these popular community members and seek their support by talking to them over a beer or coffee. You may ask them for a donation or for their presence during your sponsored event. This will entice their supporters who highly regard these local leaders in deciding who to vote for.
6. Sponsor community activities
The more visible you are during the campaign period, the greater the chances of taking the lead against your competitors. One of the best campaign strategies is to host or attend special events in your community. Participating in community activities is one of the best ways to meet potential voters or acquire endorsements from previous candidates or community leaders.
7. Spend within your available campaign budget
Whatever tactics you employ for your planned voter communication initiatives should be within the available limits of your campaign budget. So, it is essential to budget wisely the expenses needed to support your campaign activities until the election day. Make a feasible estimate regarding your expenditures and where your required funds would be spent. Plan your fundraising schemes so you can have a budget that meets your campaign goals in a timely manner.
8. Build various donation routes
In terms of fundraising for a local campaign, you should know if the local voters are familiar with several donation channels. At times, some supporters would donate during events or personally hand-in their financial assistance. Others choose to donate using direct mail or are more inclined toward donating via new channels through a candidate’s website or email links. Whatever donation method is comfortable to the voters’ means of contributing are the avenues that you want to create to help achieve the fundraising goal.
9. Strengthen the GOTV (Get Out The Vote) drive
As election day draws nearer, you want to ensure each voter who has shared interest will go out and vote. It requires a critical plan and an effective campaign strategy to provide funds for your volunteers to remind the public that it is time to make their way to the polls. A GOTV drive should be done a week ahead of election day and a final public reminder should be conducted during election day. Keep a voter database with full details and contact them during the campaign period. The voter details can assist you to strategize who among the community and demographics should be focused on during the GOTV drive.
10. Always be highly visible by the voting public
During local elections with funding constraints, you may not be able to use all the voter techniques you may use during a large-scale drive. It is best to select what channels to use with the goal of being the most visible to the public. Employ election materials and posters in public areas and busy intersections. It is very helpful to distribute door-to-door leaflets or even consider paying TV ads or take part in radio show time slots so voters can be informed on how to vote wisely and select the best candidates.
How robocalls can boost election campaigns
Aside from the 10 pointers for efficient local political campaign efforts cited above, some use political robocalling software like the one provided by Robocent as an election strategy.
Political robocalls are a cost-effective, far-reaching, quick platform. With these features, Robocent’s robocalls can be used as a good political canvassing tool for electoral candidates seeking to reach out to thousands of supporters but are constrained with time and budget. Here are the common ways voice broadcasting can assist in your campaign drives:
Evaluate your voters. As you plan a political campaign, it’s vital to identify what your voters value most. Poll surveys can collect people’s favorite topics that are of general interest. Use your political robocalls in creating surveys that enable voters to share directly their views through their dial-pad. With multiple-choice questions, you can identify the sentiments of the voters regarding the upcoming polls. Through the dynamic call lists, voters can instantly be integrated into the database based on their responses.
Provide instant responses. Political robocalls are regarded as one-sided conversations. Pre-recorded messages are sent to the voters. With Press-1 campaigns, these enable voters to provide feedback relating to issues by pressing numbers from 0 to 9. Also, they are given the option to conduct the conversation with a live volunteer or voicemail recording at one click. This allows political campaigns to get instant responses about the public’s sentiments on critical issues.
Keep supporters’ full engagement. In dialing a preset number, voters can seek your volunteer support line for more personalized conversations. Most advanced political robocalling software enables you to determine the dialing frequency while controlling those on your call list who will get the message right away. Although a reminder of an upcoming rally can be sent to hundreds of supporters instantly, you can also dial back several broadcasts with ease with a simply press-1 campaign for public grievances that are dependent more on direct voter conversations.
Send immediate updates. Robocalls are good to use for calls to action, inviting fundraisers, and providing campaign updates that are sent to the thousands of supporters using a voice broadcasting tool. Simply upload your call list into the dashboard and all systems go.
Personalize messages. Using huge call lists helps your political campaign send out messages instantly according to the voters’ choices based on their responses to different surveys. Campaigns can optimize call lists in relation to the pertinent issues at hand. Voters who opt not to be called again can be transferred to ‘do-not-call lists,’ which instantly eliminates their contact information from the calling list. In this case, broadcasts are only received by individuals who can benefit from them. Dynamic caller IDs are essential for more customized voice broadcasts. This enables poll campaigns to keep a local presence from wherever the call is taken.
Assess conversions. The use of actual reports and call analytics assist campaigns to identify how the voice of the campaign performs. Campaign reports provide records on how the public responds to the video broadcast. Also, these reports can assist campaign managers to do a comparative analysis of the various voice broadcasts sent at different days while promoting the campaign outreach initiatives.
Political strategies serve as the framework of a local campaign. A well-planned strategy will enable any political party to modify its campaign goals and budgets while meeting the candidate’s objectives. Get in touch with previous candidates or recruit a consultant to use the best strategy for your local campaign drive.