You have a winning message that’s about the voters, centers on issues that extremely frustrate them, and have a realistic plan to make things better for your community. But you’re still not connecting with the voters. How is this possible?
If you called me in and asked me to examine your campaign to figure out the problem, here’s what I’d do.
First we’d discuss your message. If everything is as is stated above, I’d ask to look at all of your mailers, handouts, Facebook posts, videos, and telephone scripts.
While your message may be right, are your delivering it consistently through each one of those voter contact tools? You better be.
What you put in your mail, your handouts, up on Facebook, on TV, and say on the phone must always always always line up with each other and your winning message.
Yes, you can do targeted messaging to specific demographic blocks in your district, but it better fit perfectly in with your overall message.
Too often candidates put one thing in their mailers, post something else on Facebook, produce videos that look good but say nothing, and have volunteers making phone calls without specific scripts.
When you do this you’re muddling your message and you’re not connecting with the voters.
“I know,” you might protest, “But I keep saying the same thing over and over again to the voters.”
My answer to this is GOOD!
Repetition is the key to success in all advertising and marketing. A political campaign is a major marketing endeavor featuring you the candidate as the product.
Actually, it’s your plan to fix the problems most irritating the community that is the real product. You are simply the vehicle for implementing the plan you’ve proposed.
Even if you send out 12 mailers, make weekly phone calls, and post daily on Facebook you can’t believe that the voters see all of them. Assume they see one of everything you do — if that.
Then assume that your message didn’t stick with them. They were busy and only half paying attention. Tomorrow they’ll see something from your opponent and lean towards voting for him.
That’s why you need to keep reaching out to your targeted voters with your winning message over and over and over again.
The only time you are allowed to stop is when the voting is over. You must be relentless in getting your message out to the voters.
But you must also be relentless when it comes to staying on message. That’s the only way you’re going to break through all of the noise that clutters our society and our conversations today.
If you feel that you keep saying the same thing over and over and over again in all your material, give yourself a pat on the back.
You’re doing the right thing. You’re staying on message. And you’re probably on you way to winning your election.