5 Team Members Every Campaign Needs. One of the most important parts of any campaign organization is the campaign team — those individuals that the candidate relies on to carry the campaign to victory. While all campaigns are different, and thus have different needs when it comes to campaign organization, there are five positions that must be filled on any campaign, no matter how small. Some campaigns may be small enough that one person can serve in two of the positions, but each job must be done and done right. Whether the job is filled by a paid staff member or a volunteer, each of the following job descriptions is integral to the success of your campaign: 1.
Campaign Manager After the candidate, the campaign manager is the most important member of the campaign team. The candidate should never, ever function as the campaign manager, no matter how small the campaign is. The campaign manager is responsible for all aspects of the campaign. 2. 3. 4. 5. Tagged as: campaign staff, political organization, volunteers. The Insider’s Guide to Political Scheduling.
Scheduling is one of the last things most campaigns think about. It’s not as glamorous as making TV ads or as exciting as grassroots campaigning. Yet, campaign scheduling is one of the most important processes in a modern political campaign. Time is scarce, no matter what the campaign. Scheduling is the process whereby the candidate’s (and sometimes key campaign staff’s) time is allocated to various events, fundraising activities, and other demands. Because there are so many demands placed on the candidate’s time, scheduling can make or break a campaign.
Why You Need a Scheduler Every campaign needs one person to be in charge of scheduling. When more then one person plays the role of scheduler, things get confused, and the candidate gets double-booked or under-booked. Set Goals and Schedule to Them Campaigns set goals. You Can Never Know Too Much The person that you choose to be your campaign scheduler should be details oriented and very well organized. Pro-Active Scheduling Process is King. How to Campaign Like a Political Pro. Lots of politicians make it look easy… go out, shake some hands, give some speeches, and coast to re-election. If you want to know how to campaign like a political pro, the first thing you need to understand is that it is never as easy, or as simple, as charismatic old hands like Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan made it seem. Pros make it look easy because they have spent time studying what works, and have worked hard to practice these winning techniques until they become second nature.
When everything seems to “click” for a politician, when all of her speeches seem remarkable or all of his media moments seem perfect, yet unscripted, you can be sure he has put hundreds of hours into perfecting his craft. Here are some tips that you, too can use to ratchet up your campaign efforts and build momentum… here’s how to campaign like a pro: Practice, then Relax Gifted politicians know that very few things in politics happen by accident. Remember Names and Information Keep Learning How to Campaign. How to Find Volunteers for Your Political Campaign. The backbone of any local campaign is its volunteers. After recruiting a volunteer coordinator, the campaign should set its sights on recruiting capable volunteers — people who are loyal, interested, willing to work hard, and able to successfully perform the tasks they are assigned. Listed below (in no particular order) are the top 8 sources for volunteers to staff your local campaign.
Some you may have heard of, others not, but all should be mined for members of your volunteer army. 1. No one knows the candidate better than his or her family and friends, and they should be the first source of local campaign volunteers. 2. One of the best and often overlooked sources for campaign volunteers is at your local college or university. 3. Is the candidate an active member of any civic, community, church, or other group? 4. Your local political party may be able to provide you with names of people who have volunteered in the past, or who have asked to volunteer for this election. 5. 6. 7. 8.
How to Beat Negative Political Press Coverage. Written exclusively for Local Victory by Guest Columnist Mark Macias, author of Beat the Press: Your Guide to Managing the Media There’s only one real way to beat bad news that comes out about your candidate: get out in front of it. In the press game, you’ve got to respond to bad press, quickly and loudly. Think back to high school. Whenever you heard a bad rumor about someone, you almost always assumed it was true unless the person came out and denied it in a credible way. The laws of human behavior haven’t changed much since then. If the source is credible, most people are going to believe the story has merit unless there is some form of denial involved by the accused. In the fall of 2007, an anchor for a local cable news channel in New York was fired for calling into a newscast under a fake name.
Salacious stories like these quickly circulate around newsrooms. If your candidate is accused of doing something that he or she didn’t do, make sure your denial is clear and crisp. 21-rules-for-winning-a-campaign.