It is time for candidates all over to begin to take the necessary steps to run for office. Though the "office" can vary significantly, there is one key aspect to a successful campaign that will not - funding it! Normally, candidates work on putting a staff together, creating elaborate position statements, planning strategy, etc, however, the most critical aspect to their success (except for their platform) is hardly given a passing thought, and that of course is the answer to this question: "How will all those initiatives be paid for?"
Whether you are running for city commissioner or president of the USA, your campaign has to be funded to be successful. Granted for local races, the amount of the funding is less important, and sometimes, name recognition will be supreme in importance, but other than that exception, funding is consistently a key to determining a winner. This is both a significant problem, and an amazing opportunity.
If a candidate is able to enter a race with a solid "campaign funding plan" and executes that plan successfully, he/she can often limit competition. As a result, there is less need to spend as much of the funds in the primary, increasing the potential for advancing through the primary with resources left to fight all the way through the general. So, what does a campaign funding plan look like?
There are many pieces to a funding plan for a campaign, and over the next month, I will break down components of a plan, and give specific action steps toward success...please share with others.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Funding Your Campaign
Greetings:
Hard to believe, but it is getting to be "that time" again. Already, the early contenders are beginning to work toward building momentum, and we all know the best way to do that...raise money. That's right, NOT spend money. However, usually the first thing a new candidate does, is work on a strategy, hire a consulting team (or staff) and then they typically begin to say... we can do this and that, but we need to raise money.
I will be the first to say, that it is possible to win a campaign without raising the most money - just look what happened in AL05 last cycle where Mo Brooks defeated a well-funded incumbent (though he did switch parties) in the primary, and then took out a better funded Steve Raby in the general - neither very close races. However, this is the exception to the rule - not the norm.
Raising funds for a campaign can be tricky. There are many schools of thought, from direct mail, phone call campaigns (dialing for dollars), outsourcing, PACs, meet and greets, events, to social media (not a complete list - but you get the picture), so I am often asked, "What works best?" The answer..they all do.
It is imperative that there is a solid strategy that fits both the candidate and constituency. For example, raising lots of money from outside a congressional district can be a positive and a negative. In some districts, this will be considered a major problem, while in others, it is hardly mentioned. In some districts, having a successful event strategy will raise most of the funds needed (especially in large cities) while in more rural settings, these strategies are not very helpful for raising money.
I will be doing a series on these strategies and some insights to how to make them work in a campaign setting over the next month, please share with anyone that you think it will help. Then, watch for announcements about one day trainings on campaign funding later this year.
Sincerely,
Steve
Hard to believe, but it is getting to be "that time" again. Already, the early contenders are beginning to work toward building momentum, and we all know the best way to do that...raise money. That's right, NOT spend money. However, usually the first thing a new candidate does, is work on a strategy, hire a consulting team (or staff) and then they typically begin to say... we can do this and that, but we need to raise money.
I will be the first to say, that it is possible to win a campaign without raising the most money - just look what happened in AL05 last cycle where Mo Brooks defeated a well-funded incumbent (though he did switch parties) in the primary, and then took out a better funded Steve Raby in the general - neither very close races. However, this is the exception to the rule - not the norm.
Raising funds for a campaign can be tricky. There are many schools of thought, from direct mail, phone call campaigns (dialing for dollars), outsourcing, PACs, meet and greets, events, to social media (not a complete list - but you get the picture), so I am often asked, "What works best?" The answer..they all do.
It is imperative that there is a solid strategy that fits both the candidate and constituency. For example, raising lots of money from outside a congressional district can be a positive and a negative. In some districts, this will be considered a major problem, while in others, it is hardly mentioned. In some districts, having a successful event strategy will raise most of the funds needed (especially in large cities) while in more rural settings, these strategies are not very helpful for raising money.
I will be doing a series on these strategies and some insights to how to make them work in a campaign setting over the next month, please share with anyone that you think it will help. Then, watch for announcements about one day trainings on campaign funding later this year.
Sincerely,
Steve
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