For all the billions of dollars that were spent on the American election this year, in the end, it all came down to the ground game. Without his team’s skill at the ground game, Barack Obama would have lost. It remains the key to political victory at all levels of campaigning. You always have to identify your voters and then make sure they cast their vote for you. You can never leave it to chance.
The thought came up last night when Kathleen Wynne called. Wynne is the MPP for Don Valley West in Toronto. She is running for Dalton McGuinty’s job as Premier of Ontario. Her team seems to be using robocalls to Liberals in Ontario attempting to identify supporters and potential supporters. This was our first contact with her and it was her recorded voice saying she is running for the leadership and you could press one if you supported her or two if you wanted more information. There should have been a third option saying “don’t call me, I’ll call you.”
You have to admit that robocalls are cheap and she needed something to tell potential delegates that she is in the running but this is not a technique that we would ever recommend. It is presumptive, intrusive and tells us that she has no depth of support outside of Toronto. And if the Liberal Party is releasing the membership database to all candidates, we might have to eventually change our phone number.
It is not that we are opposed to all robocalls. Most people dislike them but they can be useful in a support role to build on your campaign’s basic proposition. Too many campaign managers try to hang their entire campaign on them and then wonder why the campaign failed.
An effective political campaign is a two-way communication. Whether you are into a dialogue on Facebook or talking to a voter at their door, you have to listen more than talk. You are making your proposition, you are listening to the reaction and looking for new ways to make your case. If you cannot listen, you cannot communicate.
In a political leadership campaign, you have to network across the voting base. You need to build your organization across the province (or country) and in workable areas. You need to have people the voter knows (or can identify with) do that first contact. You need a proposition that says why this person should be the new leader. You need to show direction. In fact, you have to demonstrate leadership.
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Copyright 2012 © Peter Lowry
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