As some of you may have heard I will be starting my new job on Monday as a Campaign Manager for the Conservative Party. With this in mind I thought it might be a good idea to talk briefly about best practice for campaign days in the run up to the elections in May. I don't think everyone needs to know these things (or even that they are particularly advanced techniques) but it's always helpful to have a run down on the basics:
1. Joined up Campaigning. Nothing irritates me more than seeing resources being wasted and by failing to connect campaign days with one another that is precisely what we do. Everything should connect. If you leaflet an area one week, you should canvass it the next. While you're out and about you should take photos and put them up on facebook and twitter so the public can see you engaging with them. Little things like this make a huge difference.
2. Good use of elected officials. MPs, Assembly Members and Councillors are some of the best resources we have for elections. They are well known and well liked with a support base of their own to draw upon. If they aren't actively involved in campaigning for candidates i'm sad to say we are missing a trick. Do your association's councillors put out regular ward newsletters where they can sneak in a picture of a candidate shaking their hand? do they engage with local clubs and organisations regularly and can they introduce you to the right people at them? heck are they regulars at their local pub and well liked by the other patrons? by showing their faces and being willing to show their support, our candidates gain powerful local advocates at zero cost and potentially get extra chances to interact with potential voters outside of the doorstep and telephone.
3. Speaking of the Phone... we all dread that call at 8pm in the evening. Something good is just coming on telly, we've got a nice cuppa in our hands and then RING RING RING RING. The person on the other end might be wonderful and they might have something to say that a voter wants to hear but at that time of the night they aren't listening anymore. Telecanvassing is a wonderful tool if used properly but try to avoid getting stuck into the many mistakes which can be made. Keep calling to pre 7:30pm and always try to leave the person you've spoken to feeling like their time was precious to you and you are grateful they gave you a few minutes of it (I know its hard but well worth it in the end).
4. Multi-purpose. It's a sad fact that in campaigning money talks, but what if you don't have much of it? well that means you need to get clever. If you are going to put out a A4 leaflet make it single sided with a poster on the back and a tag line saying 'if you believe in X please put our poster in your window' that way you get maximum value for your money. The same goes with calling cards. You've rocked up on a door and there's no answer? great leave a dual-purpose calling card which has some basic information on side and on the other you write a time and date for when you'll be back in the area and ask them to leave it in their window if they would like to talk to someone from the campaign. Simple and effective.
5. Social Media. I've already touched on this at the beginning but these days facebook and twitter are a must. They are not however the only forms of social media available to candidates nor are they the most effective. Youtube offers a wonderful opportunity for targeted video advertisement and in the same way that radio and television were once thought to be the best means of reaching the public (fireside chats etc) this new social media connects to growing demographics of the computer literate. This includes a growing proportion of the over 50s and, as you can imagine, almost all young people. There are plenty of avenues open if candidates and agents are willing to look, including blogs (which Guy Opperman MP is well known for using to convey his thoughts to the public)
And finally.
6. Have Fun. Campaigning is hard. It is a brutal slogging match between party machines all going after the same prizes. Most of our warriors are volunteers and we need to ensure that they are not only motivated in one session but are motivated to come back again and again. In the past I always tried to end campaign days in a pub or a coffee shop. Somewhere where we could sit and unwind, have a laugh and a joke (maybe some hot food) and enjoy the company of our fellow activists. This step matters and if you take nothing away from this list but this than you'll at least be doing ok.
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