Computer Software
The computer is vital element to the success of any campaign. As soon as you have decided to run for office, or are developing a grassroots lobbying effort, you must assess how the computer will fit into your campaign. “Computer” is a shorthand for technology. Almost everything aspect of a campaign can be simplified and enhanced by the computer. Computer use in your campaign is only limited by your imagination and skill.
Below is a partial list of ways the computer can aid your campaign:
1. Contribution Reports
2. Fundraising – recording keeping
3. Targeting your vote analysing each area as to its potential strength and vote potential
4. Opposition Research
5. Word- processing- Thank you notes, meeting notices, etc. – Letters can be standardized.
6. Press Releases – Standardize the press release format- Developing a Press List
7. In-House Polling
8. Phone bank support
9. General campaign organization – Keeping a calendar of schedules and events
10. Budgeting and expense tracking
11. Staff organization and communication
Computer work most effectively and efficiently if the software purchased is appropriate to the needs of the campaign.
For a local campaign:
1. Don’t get too complicated or sophisticated. You will want to keep your volunteers and contributors in a well thought-out program. In a campaign I ran many years ago, we had a young who did the data entry for volunteers. The first time we sent out a mailing to these volunteers, it was discovered that he had only entered their first name. 2. Keep a schedule for the candidate, his/her family, and campaign events.
3. Target and analyse your electorate. Keep it simple and straight forward. You want to be able to solidify your strong districts, and then go after the marginal or swing districts. 4. Collecting information. You want simple demographic and socio-economic information. Is the district easy to walk? Are they homes close together? Are there senior citizen centres? Are there apartment houses where you will have difficulty getting in?
There are many campaign software packages available on the market. The following are some questions you should be asking:
1. Can supporters be coded?
2. Will the software eliminate duplicates?
3. Does the software meet disclosure requirements? How easy will it be to file the campaign financial reports?
4. Can contributors be sorted by dollar amount, date of contribution, etc.
5. Can the software be modified if changes occur during the course of the campaign? 6. Can the software be networked? You may have several computers and you may want to link them together.
7. What kind of security does the system offer?
8. What kind of technical support is offered?
9. Compare costs. Does the software have bells and whistles you don’t need?
Finally – TIP: The expression, “garbage in, garbage out” rings true. The computer is only a tool. Your message and how you deliver it is the key to winning.
Don't Let Overhead Weigh You Down
Overhead! It’s a killer in business. And it’s a killer for campaigns.
The bad part about overhead is that it sneaks up on you. Money spent here, a trip to the stationery suppliers there, and the next thing you know, you’re struggling to keep your head above water.
Here are two creative ways you can cut down on your overhead.
Remember, money isn’t the only thing people can contribute. Office supplies and equipment are helpful as well.
You might also consider having a “Stock the HQ” open house when you open your campaign headquarters. Instead of asking people to give money, ask them to bring office supplies. Little by little, it all adds up.
How to use the internet in campaigning
Long before you announce, start buying up web site domain names for your campaign. Also, buy web site names that your opponents could use against you.
Put your web address on all your campaign literature, and mention it whenever possible. Some candidates put it on their cars and campaign buses.
On your home page, be sure to provide a “share this” function with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media icons so they can share your message with their own friends.
There are many website templates available, so you can get a professional-looking website for the most low-budget campaigns. There even are many website templates already designed for campaigns. Buy one, plug in your information, and you are set.
Here are a few web page creation tips:
Keep quotations short. “Probably no more than one short sentence.”
Use lots of bullets. Lists are more appropriate for the internet than for print.
Get to the point. “People go online to retrieve facts fast, not to read.”
Rely on words, not graphics or design. A graphic may take time to download, and the person may not want to wait.
Use “relative” font sizes. The user can then read the pages no matter what his or her browser settings.
Choose text colours that provide enough contrast from the background colour. This way, the text will be easy to read both on screen and printed out.
Guarantee ease of navigation by not requiring multiple mouse clicks to get to basic information.
The home page should contain a photo of the candidate and links to a biography of the candidate, information from news releases, and the candidate’s stand on issues.
Also, make sure your web page can collect the e-mail addresses of people who access it. This will be your database of online supporters, all of whom are potential voters, funders, and campaign volunteers.
The campaign must publicize the web page and Facebook page on all advertising materials. The pages must be updated frequently, and a staffer must be assigned to the task. For a barebones campaign, this could even mean a volunteer college student, but spend the money on a pro if you have it.
It always has been difficult to get the media to cover some local races; with the internet, you can do the media’s job for them. You can load up your web site with all the information you want about you and the office you’re seeking.
This makes for a fundamental change in voter contact. Voters formerly were passive recipients of information from campaigns. Now, the internet allows the interested to actively seek and obtain information easily.
Not only will voters who are interested look at it, but the media will, too. With the information right in front of them with no digging required, the chances that they will actually cover your race are increased.
While the initial information on your web site home page should be short and sweet, you can link your home page to additional pages on your web site where you have put everything—news releases, speeches, position papers, and more—on the web. This allows the truly interested voters and the media to get all the information they will ever want.
For campaigns with fieldworkers, e-mail and texting enhance the campaigns’ ability to communicate with those fieldworkers and with others related to the campaign, such as the party or multiple campaign offices.
Email also is vital when something big happens and you need everyone in the campaign to speak with the same voice and message. In one minute you can send three pages of talking points to hundreds of people.
The internet allows even the smallest campaign to provide a daily update for the staff, the public, and the press. It also allows rapid response to a negative attack or other surprise development.
It may even allow the particularly financially strapped campaign to operate without a campaign office. Consider also holding a chat session between the candidate and internet users.
Monitor your web page constantly, and have a web pro, such as the person whom you’ve already assigned to do the updating, available to quickly deal with any dirty tricks. But make sure the monitor is doing his or her job; neither the staff nor especially the candidate should spend a lot of time surfing the internet. It is a tool, not a toy. If the candidate is a tech-head, you have to get him or her off the computer and out campaigning.
Social Media
Social media can be used to increase awareness, engage supporters, listen to the community (social media are a two-way street and are not just about getting your message out), and monitoring the competition.
Social media are viral; post or send something to your friends or followers, and they in turn post or send it to their own friends and followers—people who have no connection to the campaign, but end up getting its message anyway, from a source they trust.
Keep your social media postings fresh. The easiest way to do that is to draw from daily developments on the campaign trail.
Facebook is the world’s most popular social network, and every campaign should be on it. People actually go to Facebook and other social media more than they go to candidates’ and companies official websites.
Create a public page. On Facebook, the campaign can easily disseminate information
Add content. Videos, notes, blog posts, and news articles—and the campaign can monitor which supporters care about most. Update your status. The campaign’s updates show up in Facebook followers newsfeeds and keep the campaign in front of them.
Ask your supporters to donate their status. Ask them to update their status with the campaign’s messaging.
Raise money by texting people who have used a credit card to contribute and ask them if you can charge it again for another donation. Use text messaging to drive turnout for fundraisers and other events, gather volunteers, or respond to negative attacks.
Raising Cash
Candidates are always searching for new ways to raise money, but in reality there are only a few solid ways of raising money for campaigns. Campaigns must focus on realistic, manageable and efficient fundraising programs.
One such program is the establishment of an Executive Finance Committee — a group of individuals who will raise money for the campaign through their contacts and associations. Usually the first committee members are personal friends of the candidate and business colleagues.
The more people who get involved in raising money for your campaign, the better. The committee should include all of the candidates contacts who are willing to help with fundraising.
The following are the key steps in developing an Executive Finance Committee:
Identifying members: Make a list and do an analysis of potential fundraising committee members.
The campaign literally needs to sit down with all the individuals who will be involved in the fundraising process including the candidate and brainstorm. Although it is a repetitive process, brainstorming and making lists must be done at the beginning and throughout the entire campaign.
Analysis of committee members: First, identify the background and the issues of concern to the individual. Second, determine if only a phone call and a meeting is needed to bring them on board. Third, identify how much money you think the individual can raise.
Solicitation of the potential committee member: Once the candidate understands the background of each committee prospect and issues of concern, he or she should call or meet with each one.
Usually the candidate’s pitch combines the campaign’s message with reasons to why the candidate can win. That may include mention of other key supporters.
The last thing the candidate must do — and it should be done after the prospect has agreed to be on the Executive Fundraising Committee — is to ask them to raise a specific amount of money. If the new committee member is not comfortable with the specific amount the candidate has asked for, then the candidate should simply negotiate a new goal to be raised.
Follow-up: The candidate must call each member of the Executive Committee periodically to encourage them to meeting the goals. The finance director will also be heavily involved in this process. Ideally, meetings of the committee should be held at least once each month to report progress.
Members can also participate in major fundraising events as hosts or hold house parties. Events give Executive Finance Committee members a deadline to meet their monetary goal.
One of the best ways to keep in touch with all the members of the committee is through faxes. The campaign can either hire a broadcast fax company or enter the names of all the committee members into an in-house computer faxing program. Then, regularly fax them with “talking points” and good news about the campaign.
Regardless of a committee structure, the candidates must always be the chief fundraiser. This is crucial to the ultimate success of the fundraising effort.
The Campaign Staff
Running a campaign is much like running a corporation. The President is the Candidate, the Chief Operating Officer is the Campaign Manager and the Chief Financial Officer is the Finance Chairperson. Other key officers can include: Treasurer, Volunteer Coordinator, Scheduler, Telephone Supervisor and Press Secretary.
It is the job of the Campaign Manager to pull the campaign together and hold it together. An effective Campaign Manager communicates with everyone, making sure the staff knows what to do, that the candidate is “on track,” and that the outside world has a positive view of the campaign. There should be regular staff meetings, reviewing the Campaign Plan, making alternations and discussing potential problems.
The Campaign Manager should be the first person the candidate hires, long before he/she has announced for public office. Whether it is paid person or a friend, it should be someone with whom the candidate can confide in and, at the same time, has the confidence of the staff. The Campaign Manager is involved with the development of the campaign plan and ultimately has the responsibility of coordinating and executing the Campaign Plan. As the Chief Operating Officer, he/she has to steer the campaign in the right direction and resolve disputes along the way. He should be a good listener, know how to analyse situations and make quick, reasoned decisions. The Campaign Manager should be good representative for the candidate.
The Finance Chairperson should also be on board before the Candidate announces publicly. Raising money is critical to the success of any campaign. The Finance Chair should help put together a Finance Plan detailing how the funds are to be raised. He/she should help raise the money and find others to join the Finance Committee. It is always helpful for the Finance Chair to be financially secure, with financial connections in the community. It is also helpful if he or she is well regarded within the community. However, the Finance Chair has to be someone with more than “just the name.” Find someone who also has the time to devote to the campaign. The fundraising component of a campaign cannot be underestimated.
A Campaign Treasurer should have the responsibility of collecting and recording campaign donations and expenditures. He or she should open the bank account and immediately check with the Board of Elections for recording deadlines. He or she should be in charge of writing checks for the campaign. However, 2 signatures on a check might be a good idea. The Campaign Treasurer should have basic accounting skills. Campaign opponents will check the Campaign Filing Statements. Avoiding simple accounting errors avoids unnecessary problems for the Candidate.
The Volunteer Coordinator can play a pivotal role in a campaign. He or she will try to involve others in the campaign. If he is cheerful, brings a friendly atmosphere to the office and provides interesting chores, the campaign will exude those same qualities. People will want to participate. Volunteers are giving of their time and effort without pay. And, while there is a dedicated core of friends, party activists and issue-oriented supporters, most volunteers join a campaign because it is “social” and it is “fun”. A Volunteer Coordinator always has something for the volunteer to do. You never want to hear a Volunteer Coordinator say, “there is nothing to do.”
A Scheduler keeps the campaign “ticking.” A scheduler should be an organized person who is good at follow-up. He or she receives and answers candidate invitations, sets the coffees, fundraising and other campaign activities on the calendar. He or she should have a good sense of the district to be able to schedule door knocking and a reception in the same neighbourhood. He or she should have a sense of how long it takes to get from one place to the next. The Candidate who has good driving instructions, knows who to contact at an event and arrives punctually, starts out “miles” ahead.
The Telephone Supervisor is in charge of a key voter contact component. If phone calls are being made by volunteers, it is important that the Telephone Supervisor have some experience in telemarketing. Developing the proper script, training people to make the calls and finding sufficient people to “man” the phones, requires expertise. Phone calls are made to ID voters, to follow-up on party invitations and finally for the Get Out The Vote Effort. If the campaign is using professional phoners or automatic dialing systems, it is still important to have one person on the campaign who is the liaison to the telemarketing operation. It is critical to know the number of calls being made and the success rate to be able to evaluate the progress of the campaign.
A Press Secretary coordinates all activities with the Press. These activities could include: writing press releases, monitoring the newspapers, radio and TV campaign coverage, holding press conferences, and arranging for the Candidate to meet individual journalists. A positive relationship with the press can be critical to the success of a campaign.