Campaign
plans are an important part of a campaign. They are used to attract
high quality staff, high-end donors, and provide information to
organizations that want to help the candidate. Your goal, by the end of
the class, is to put together a campaign plan for a candidate. We will work
on it all term. The posts and the homework assignments will help you
work on your campaign plan, so that you’re slowly doing bits and pieces
as you go. I’ve put the assignment front and center because I want you
to see it and know what you’re working towards.
Something
to remember: Few people have read or written campaign plans before
hopping into a class like this. This is a different genre of writing, so
try not to be too frustrated. I’m providing an outline below, to help
guide the writing. While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all model, there
are sections that many plans include based on what a campaign needs to
accomplish. Your plan will hit each of the skills that we’d expect to
see, so that you practice the skills and apply them. In the real world,
you might work for a campaign and only work on getting out the vote or
targeting voters, but it is still good to have an understanding about
fundraising, budgets, and direct marketing in case you need to work with
others or plan your strategy in accordingly.
The
outline below is divided into sections. The best way to approach this
plan is to do it in sections over the term, with headers or chapters.
These plans are generally written in Associated Press style, which is
used by newspapers, media outlets, marketing, public relations, etc. The
style is known for its clarity and conciseness, and that it informs the
reader even if the reader has no prior knowledge. The style assumes
that the plan is read by a wide audience and assumes the readers have no
advanced training in a topic, so be cautious using jargon. There are no
footnotes, so you identify the source of your information within the
sentence – for example, if you tell us 35% of Dentonites voted
Republican, you’d write, “35% of Dentonites voted Republican in the 202
election, according to Denton County election results.” If you need help
with AP, please let me know. I realize that it is a format few have
used, but the OWL has a guide: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/journalism_and_journalistic_writing/ap_style.html
Links to an external site.
Second,
remember that you are writing to convince a stranger that you can run a
campaign or that they should invest in your campaign, so write this as
if you are addressing a potential employer or contributor. It should be
professional, carefully examined for typos, and assume the reader has no
prior knowledge of your candidate, you, or your skills. The document
should be a taste of why your candidate can win, what you will do as a
campaign manager, and why you should get your foot in the door for an
interview or pitch.
In short:
If I were to drop this in front of a campaign manager and suggest they
read your plan, would they understand your campaign plan and want to
meet you or your candidate?
Formatting the Proposal
Use
the outline below to organize the body of the proposal. You are welcome
to recycle anything you’re done in the class to date, so take what
you’ve written, consider the feedback from your peers, and polish
material or rewrite as you see fit. A few of you might have been granted
permission to do an advocacy campaign, so I’ve given instructions for
candidate-centered and advocacy-centered proposals. Both proposals have
the same sections, but I have given slightly different guidance based
upon the type of campaign you are designing.
The
best way to do this is to have each section start on a new page. You
can either have the section as a bolded header or you can have the
section title be its own page and then the material starts on the next
page. The simplest, however, is to have the section name as a header and
hit enter twice and then begin with the material.
Here’s a sample attached: elect eleanor roosevelt for president
Now, here are the standard sections that you’d expect to see in a proposal.
Section
Topic – Candidate Centered
Cover page
Begin with an explanation (short, like a title) that states the purpose of the plan.
“Elect Eleanor Roosevelt for President”
Then, a few spaces down, list your
name, title, contact information, and treasurer. List yourself as the
campaign manager and include the contact information for the treasurer
if this is someone other than you.
1. Executive su mmary In two paragraphs, summarize: your candidate, your goals, your message, and how much money you need to accomplish those goals.
2. Table of contents
This is where you’ll list each section and the page number where the section starts.
Start each section on a new page with a
hard page break. (This means you hit CTRL and ENTER at the same time,
to assure there is always a page break. This will keep the document from
moving on you.) Each section, including the executive summary on page
2, should be included in the table.
3. Goal
Who is your candidate and what is s/he running for? Make this personal … add a picture.
What is your goal and what do you hope to achieve by electing this candidate?
4. Message
What is your candidate’s message?
what is the campaign message?
what are the secondary messages that fit within the main message?
5. Who are you targeting and how will you influence?
What does your precinct analysis tell you?
complete a precinct or state analysis
using election return data from a race similar to yours. Describe your
data with the county (or counties) and election year referenced.
identify the top 5 precincts you need to hit and the 5 precincts you will ignore. Explain why and give specific numbers.
What is your campaign plan?
how will you reach voters?
include two samples: one campaign
material that you will mail and one that you will use in public, like a
yard sign or a Facebook ad. You may do extra if you choose.
What is your GOTV plan? Use your precinct analysis to describe
how will you organize your volunteers
where your volunteers will go
who the volunteers need to encourage
6. How will you fund the campaign?
What is your fundraising plan?
what needs to be in your budget?
who will you solicit and how will you find out who to solicit?
how will you solicit them?
Include a copy of the text that would be in your fundraising note or mailer
what events will you hold?
what is your fundraising pitch
Please see the attachments mostlt has all the information or assignment i have already done for the campaign to help with the final plan. Remeber you are running as a republican.
