By Leslie Sorrell
Though it may not be obvious, Election Season is upon us! The 2023 primary elections will be held August 8th with the general election in November, but the filing deadline will soon pass —February 1st. Following are some helpful tips for those running for office and for those wanting to volunteer for someone running for office.
Winning Candidate Attributes
• Inspire, engage, and connect with voters. Develop your “elevator speech” that, in about 30 seconds, lets voters know why they should vote for you.
• Use smart voter data. Knowing before the election which voters will likely vote will help determine how time and money will be spent. Candidates who run without using voter data are not running efficiently. Communicating with the masses is communicating with non-registered voters, registered voters who don’t vote, and others who aren’t supposed to vote (out of towners, certain felons, etc.)
• Don’t wait until Election Day to show people what they want to do when elected. The Freedom of Information Act covers most government information that would allow the development of government improvement strategies.
• Ask for support in form of votes, time, money, and influence. Not making the ask is how rookie candidates campaign. Don’t assume anything. The #1 reason a person doesn’t support a campaign is because they were not asked. People like to be wooed.
• Value performance over personalities. Too often, candidates for office hire their friends (or let help) and people they “like” —-as opposed to people who will get the job done. And then, the candidate is surprised a campaign report did not get filed or other important tasks of which they were ignorant and thought someone else would handle.
• Earn media coverage. For example, your city has an Oktoberfest where 15,000 people have booths, music, and food. Keep in mind, many will be from neighboring towns that can’t vote for you, are not registered voters, much less likely voters. So, why go? To wear your campaign t-shirt, shake hands, and get your photo taken by the local papers. To get an interview on the local radio and TV stations. That earned media is worth going to a festival. Just be sure to understand when all those festival folks tell you “I’ll support you,” they are being polite because odds are, they can’t even vote for you.
12 Ways To Lose a Political Campaign:
1. Letting your opponent define you and your campaign.
2. Surrounding yourself with people who tell you what you want to hear rather what you need to hear.
3. Refusing to use smart data.
4. Not knowing who your base is and how many votes you need from the other side.
5. Saying “I am feeling pretty good,” when asked about your campaign without actually knowing the data to measure where you stand.
6. Adjusting your campaign plan based on what other people, who are not professional political strategists, tell you.
7. Wasting money communicating with the masses rather than likely voters.
8. Getting a low-visibility campaign office with no windows, no signage, and no parking. (Storefronts are best.)
9. Taking your voters for granted.
10. Ignoring historical data as an indicator of future voting trends.
11. Failing to analyze absentee ballot votes before the election.
12. Getting surprised on Election Day. (Campaigns using smart data know if they have won or lost before the election.)
Things People May Tell You to Do that May Not Make Sense:
• Put yard signs along roadside right of ways. First, doing so is supposed to be against the law and constitute littering. Second, doing so demonstrates the candidate or volunteers are failing to connect with supporting voters that actually want to show support in their own yard in the contest area.
• Put your photo on your campaign signs. Your photo is not going to be on the ballot—just your name. Unless you’re a celebrity, forgo the photo.
• Have a four-color logo. Often four-color printing is more expensive so check with your preferred printing services about costs prior to defining the logo. You can always have a digital color logo, but for print materials, stick with more cost-effective ways to campaign.
• Have campaign paraphernalia one-sided. Use every side for your advantage! Business cards can have your social media, campaign bullet points and more and are more economical than brochures. T-Shirts are a walking billboard.
• Have political signs only printed on one side. Unless the sign is wall mounted, sign display will requires putting two signs together. Real estate, yard sale, etc are all two-sided signs. Why would political signs be an exception?
• Use expensive wood to frame the larger political signs. Frugal and experienced candidates use zip ties, grommets, and t-posts. When ordering large signs, have the printer add grommets
• Follow the lead of your opponent. Instead, you must break away from the pack by evaluating campaign strategy and working smarter and better rather than simply harder. Remember time and money are limited.
Leslie Sorrell is an Amazon bestselling author of From Clients to Crooks-An Insider Reveals the Real Washington D.C., former Fox News contributor, and founder of The Magnolia Group, a political consulting firm of national influence.
