Run an Election Campaign - Project Management Style

Run an Election Campaign - Project Management Style outlines the elements necessary to “Run for Election” that will give candidates a roadmap to follow in order to get elected to parliament. It serves as a reference for Election Teams. Canvassers can read through the entire plan so that they have some understanding of the whole process and the success framework in detail. The campaign plan is the foundation to build the campaign upon. A campaign plan created with the help of advisors, and past candidates gives you the roadmap for the run up until the day of the election and the following week. Some things to taken into account here include:

Political environment – What are the priority issues your voters have? What are your opponents’ issues and policies?

Campaign message and issues – Outline the core message of your campaign. How does it relate to the issues you focus on?

Communication plan – The campaign message distribution methods. How do you plan to get press coverage?

Area outreach plan – How do you plan your door to door pamphlet distribution using volunteers?

Campaign budget – What would be the budget and estimated cost for every task?

Funding plan – What methods will you use to fund the campaign?

Campaign timeline – How will you meet the deadlines for each milestone and activity?

Staffing – Who do you have to fill the key roles like Campaign Manager and Office Manager?

Why Political Campaigns Fail

A political campaign can be an exciting experience. A great deal will happen between the beginning of a campaign and a week after Election Day and with a little forethought and planning, you can be prepared for all the twists and turns and, in many cases, control the situation. This book is designed to help you anticipate what will happen and be better prepared. While the given political landscape is an important factor in any campaign, in many cases the most important factor - the difference between winning and losing - is what goes on inside the campaign.

Are you ready to run for election? It’s critical to make sure that you’ve thought everything through before announcing that you’re running for political office. Here are some considerations:
• understand the time commitment
• fulfill the eligibility criteria to run for election in your jurisdiction
• be confident that you can balance family life, work life with running an election campaign
• have funds for your campaign

There are four types of election campaigns that have little or no chance to achieve victory:

1.    The first is the campaign that has no persuasive or unique message to deliver to voters.

2.    The second is the campaign does not have a clear idea of which voters it wants to persuade.
 
3.    The third is the campaign that has a unique, persuasive message and a clear idea of which voters it wants to persuade but has no practical plan of what to do between the beginning of the campaign and the day of the election, to persuade these voters.

4.    Lastly, the fourth type of campaign is one that has a clear message, a clear idea of its voters and a plan to get to Election Day but it fails to follow through on or execute the plan.

The Key to Successful ElectionCampaigns

Considering the reasons for failed campaigns the political campaign as outlined in the book Run an Election Campaign - Project Management Style is one that takes the time to target voters, develops a persuasive message and follows through on a reasonable and practical plan to engage with and persuade those voters.
This written campaign plan, defines the overall political landscape, the strategy and resources required to get to the day of the election. While it is true that every campaign is unique, there are some basic principles that can be applied to any election campaign. Run an Election Campaign - Project Management Style is designed to help you apply these basic principles to your unique campaign. This campaign will communicate a persuasive message to people who will vote. The actual planning process is designed to take the campaign through a step-by-step process to develop a written campaign plan.This book cannot give you all the answers to all of the problems your campaign will face. It cannot tell you what your campaign message should be. It cannot tell you who your most likely supporters are. It cannot tell you what are the most effective methods of contacting voters in your region. What it can do is provide the questions that will help you think through the planning process in a thorough and methodical way. BPPM’s methodology can help you customise your individual campaign.Too often, politicians “in situ” believe that they hold the winning strategy "in their heads." In reality they have no strategy at all and are wandering aimlessly. Too often the candidate and the campaign manager believe that they are following a single strategy, only to find out later that their opinions about the strategy are completely at odds. A written campaign plan, agreed upon by the candidate, the campaign manager and all the key advisors, would help avoid such problems. The rule is simple - if a plan is not written down, the plan does not exist. Run an Election Campaign - Project Management Style is available from Amazon.