strategic communications with constituents · elements of the strategic communications process 1....
TRANSCRIPT
June 29 2016 Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers
Kevin Winchell, Trainer
Strategic Communications
with Constituents
Before we begin…
View, download, and share this presentation online at:
https://goo.gl/yXYRTK(case sensitive)
Acknowledgements
• Gwen Marshall – Leon County• Content generated from political
campaigning best-practices:• Wellstone Action• Democracy for America• Campaigns & Elections magazine• Green & Gerber’s Get Out The Vote!• Stetson University’s “Politics 101”
Conference
Founder & Executive Director, Democracy Strategies
Founder & Director, Stetson Politics 101 Conference
Training Director, Volusia County Democratic Party
Associate Director of Community Engagement,Stetson University
Kevin WinchellAbout the facilitator
Learning Outcomes
1. Develop core message 2. Use data to segment constituents 3. Create communications plan to
microtarget each constituent segment
Will be useful for political campaigns and government communications
Raise awareness of your services/resources
• Helping victims of domestic violence• Helping victims/prevention of identity
theft • Small claims court resources• Marriage applications• Reducing court case loads and helping
clear citizens’ legal issues (fees/etc.)• Legal records research• Inter-agency data sharing
Elements of the strategic communications process
1. Identify the resource/service you want to highlight (e.g., identity theft)
2. Identify the constituent groups you want to target with that information (e.g., constituents ages 62+)
3. Identify the best way to get your message to that group (e.g., direct mail, club meeting, utility bill addendum, etc.)
4. Calibrate your tone and content to maximize effectiveness
Content
Target
Medium
Calibrate
1. Focusing your message
• Empathy Map• 3-9-27 Rule• Calibration
• Constituents’ decision-making is influenced more by emotion than by reason
• Tools such as an “Empathy Map” can help us better understand constituent attitudes, and therefore find resonant language that better communicates our message
Step 1: Empathy Map
Message Development
Use Empathy Map
Understand attitudes
Find best message
What do the people
THINK & FEEL? • What’s most important to them? • What are their hopes and dreams?• What are their fears?
What do the people
HEAR? • What do friends and family say?• What do coworkers say?• What do their influencers say?
What do the people
SEE? • What’s in their day-to-day
environment?• What ads are pushed to them?
What do the people
SAY & DO? • What are their attitudes in public?• What groups do they join?• What is their appearance?
What are the people’s
PAINS? • What obstacles or challenges do they
experience?• What keeps them from meeting their goals?
What are the people’s
GAINS? • What are their goals?• How do they measure success?
Your message could be to promote:
• your office’s general services
• your office’s specific services
• your campaign
Your message should be no more than:
• 3 points (avg. memory = 3)
• 9 seconds (avg. television quote = 10)
• 27 words (avg. newspaper quote = 30)
Step 2: 3-9-27 Rule
Message Development
Message Development
Step 3: Calibrate for AudienceAudience What content is
most relevant?What medium is most
effective?What are their attitudes,
hopes, fears?
Retirees 62+
Youth 18-35
Latino/as
LGBT
Business Owners
Property Owners
2. Reaching your constituents• Base Building Guide• Segmentation grid• Your voter “universe”• Voter outreach tactics• Making your call and canvass scripts• Get-Out-The-Vote operations• Media tips
Base Building GuideLegal Environment Business Education Public
SafetyHealth Care
What are the groups?
What are their goals?
When/where do they meet?
What social media/web?
Who is on leadership?
What support do they give?
Building Your Base and Network
Segmentation Grid
• Utilize data from Elections offices to look at party identification and turnout for every voter in your district
• Party ID = Democrat, Republican, I/NPA
• Turnout = Primary and General elections over past four cycles (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014)
• Utilize data from other databases to further segment voter groups by demographic groups
• Age, race, ethnicity, legal status, education, etc.
Segmentation Grid
EACH of your district’s voters will fall in to ONE of these categories.
Your outreach tactics and message will be determined by which type of voter you are speaking with.
Strongly Supports(1s)
Undecideds(2s, 3s, and 4s)
Strongly Opposes(5s)
Always Votes
A – volunteers & donors
C – persuadables (need face-to-face or phone)
Don’t even think about it
Sometimes Votes
B – low-hanging fruit (need reminders/rides)
D – resource intensiveDon’t even think about
it
Never Votes
E – only if resources permit
F – only if resources permit
Don’t even think about it
Segmentation Grid
There are essentially only two types of conversations you need to
have with voters when doing outreach: Persuasion and GOTV
Strongly Supports(1s)
Undecideds(2s, 3s, and 4s)
Strongly Opposes(5s)
Always Votes
A – volunteers & donors
C – persuadables (need face-to-face or phone)
Don’t even think about it
Sometimes Votes
B – low-hanging fruit (need reminders/rides)
D – resource intensive (need persuasion & GOTV)
Don’t even think about it
Never Votes
E – only if resources permit
F – only if resources permit
Don’t even think about it
TARGETED UNIVERSE
SUPPORTER1s
OPPOSES 5s
GOTV UNIVERSE
PERSUASION
UNDECIDEDS2s 3s 4s
Your Voter “Universe”Time
As you reach out to voters, you can identify any shifts in their support for you. If they become 1s, then you’ll follow-up with them later during GOTV. If they become 5s, you’ll never contact them again.
Outreach Tactics
Some persuasion methods are more effective than others:
Canvassing: One additional supporter for every 14 people successfully contacted
Phone banks: One additional supporter for every 38 people successfully contacted
Literature drops: One additional supporter for every 189people successfully contacted
Direct mail: One additional supporter for every 200 people successfully contacted
Robo calls: No discernible increase in support
Outreach Tactics
Precinct Type Characteristics Tactical Consideration
High retiree population
More likely to be home, sleep earlier
Higher contact rate, cannot contact late evening, can contact all afternoon
High student population
Less likely to be home, sleep later, movesfrequently
Low contact rate, can call/canvass late and afternoons, must re-ID each year if moved
RuralHouses far apart, value face-to-face contact
Canvass is higher impact, but fewer canvass contacts per hour; supplement with phones
UrbanHouses close together, less likely to be home
Low contact rate, but many houses per hour; need multiple rounds of canvassing
Ethnically/racially homogeneous
More open to similar race/ethnicity
Recruit volunteers of similar race/ethnicity to canvass
Apartments/condos Difficult to access Find volunteer who lives inside condo/apts to canvass
Making Your Call & Canvass ScriptsResearch shows that we should:
• Emphasize HIGH turnout: “Your friends and neighbors are voting!”
• Make voting plans so they’ll know what to expect: “Will you be voting by mail, voting early, or waiting until election day to vote? What date/time? How are you getting there? Do you need a ride? Who are you bringing with you?”
• Appeal to their aspirational selves: “We’re calling voters like you to remind you about next week’s election.”
• Assume by default that they will vote: “Will you be voting?” “How will you be voting this year: by mail, early, or on election day?”
• Remind them that you’re local/human: “My name is Kevin. I’m a Daytona State College student calling to remind you about next week’s election.”
• Remind them that their records are public: “We see that you voted last year by absentee ballot. Thank you!”
• Get a hard commitment: “Can we count on your vote on Election Day?”
TARGETED UNIVERSE
SUPPORTER1s
OPPOSES 5s
GOTV UNIVERSE
PERSUASION
UNDECIDEDS2s 3s 4s
GOTV TacticsTime
Remember: By the time Early Voting is underway, you should be done with persuasion – focusing instead on GOTV operations for all your
identified supporters (1s) and likely supporters (2s).
GOTV Tactics
There is no such thing as “Election Day”
any longer.
We now have “Election Month”:
• Vote-by-Mail (Absentee)
• Early Voting
• Election Day Voting
The more voters you turn out early on, the fewer you need to call/canvass/mail later on.
Absentee
Early
E-Day
GOTV Tactics• Focus only on your GOTV Universe: You should know exactly
who you need to contact because of the data you’ve been collecting during the campaign… this efficiency is how Obama beat Romney in 2012!
• 30 days before Election Day = First GOTV = chase absentee ballots
• 12 days before Election Day = Second GOTV = push Early Voting – first, to all who have done EV before; then, to everyone who hasn’t already voted via EV or absentee
• 2, 1, 0 days before Election Day = Third GOTV = push Election Day voting to everyone who hasn’t already voted via EV or absentee
• Data Data Data: Department of Elections should update voter turnout records for every individual voter approximately every 3 hours… remove all completed voters from your GOTV Universe
• Parties and candidates should be handing out palm cards at precincts during EV and on Election Day
Absentee
Early
E-Day
GOTV TacticsElection Day
• 5am: precinct teams meet, put up signs at polling site
• 7am: Polls open. Coffee / doughnuts. HQ volunteers arrive.
• 9am: Outreach Round #1. Doors and phones.
• 12pm: Outreach Round #2. Review turnout data, make adjustments. Contact voters during their lunch breaks. Doors and phones.
• 1:30pm: Provide lunch to volunteers after lunch hour rush.
• 3pm: Outreach Round #3. Doors and phones.
• 6pm: Outreach Round #4. Doors and phones.
• 7pm: Polls close. Hand out water/snacks and high-fives to anyone still in long lines. Supervise ballot counting at base precincts. Clean up signs and campaign literature at polls.
• 9pm: Hugs. Tears. Drinks (unless you’ll be giving speech or in media).
GOTV TacticsWhy do some people NOT vote?
• Group 1: Logistical reasons• Easiest to fix
• Examples: Need rides to the polls, work/school schedule prevents turnout
• Solution: Offer rides; focus heavily on convenient Early and By-Mail voting
• Group 2: Information reasons• Moderate difficulty to fix
• Examples: Don’t know when/where/how to vote, don’t know if registered, don’t know about candidates’ positions
• Solution: Early and consistent contact via phone/canvass with mail/lit drops
• Group 3: Habitual reasons• Hardest to fix
• Examples: Feel vote doesn’t matter, haven’t ever voted before, family didn’t inculcate civic habits of voting/discourse when younger
• Solution: Only personal relationships with volunteers will change their habits
Media Tips• Cultivate “Earned” media:
• Press releases
• Endorsements
• Interviews w/ papers/blogs
• In-house videos
• Community service by the campaign
• Connect with social media:• Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (if candidate)
• Make regular posts that align with your base and core message/issues
• Focus on “conversion rate” of viewers followers volunteers donors• If budget permits, pay for ads to microtarget potential voters using behavioral
targeting (e.g., “show my ad to people who “like” Sierra Club”)
• Stay on top of updates with Google Alerts
• Have templates for press releases + list of all local media contacts
Consider doing community service as a way to show your values in action – very attractive for supporters. Gain earned media.
Values-Based Campaigning
Earned Media… on a budget
6. Using data to support your message
• Using data to microtarget• Using a database
What data is most accessible?
Voting Contributions Demographic Survey Responses
Consumer Behavior
Online
Types of elections (primary? general?
Municipal?)
How much did they
donate? How frequently?
Gender
Age
Race
Ethnicity
Party
Address
Results from phone calls to
voter
Subscriptions (magazines, newspapers, services, etc.)
Subscriptions (email lists, newsletters,
website accounts)
Method(early?
absentee? E-day?)
What kind of races
(municipal?county? state?
federal? Issue-based?)
Results from canvassing
(door knocking)
voter
Purchases (books,
electronics, food, beer,
wine, games, computers,
etc.)
Social media (likes, friends,
groups, hashtags, what time
you get online)
Take all the data you collect…
Voting Contributions Demographic Survey Responses
Types of elections (primary? general?
Municipal?)
How much did they
donate? How frequently?
Gender
Age
Race
Ethnicity
Party
Address
Results from phone calls to
voter
Method(early?
absentee? E-day?)
What kind of races
(municipal?county? state?
federal? Issue-based?)
Results from canvassing
(door knocking)
voter
…and put it in to one
database
• Excel• Access• Other
How this helps your outreach1. Identify your message2. Identify voter’s preferences3. Find intersection4. Find best medium to communicate5. Execute the plan
Your Message
Their Preferences
Microtargeting
Where do campaigns get the data?Have you ever done a petition or survey,
like this one below?
How about
this one?
What skills do you need?
Spreadsheets (or, even better, databases)
Mail merges (for customized mailers/scripts)
Script writing (for calling and canvassing)
What can this look like in the end?
Essentially, • a database of every possible voter, • what they care about, • how likely they will vote for you, • how often they vote, • what method they use to vote, • how often they contribute, • to whom they contribute, • how much they contribute, • and how they should be contacted by you…• that allows you to create a custom message for each voter that
maximizes your probability of persuading them to vote for you or contribute to you.
Feedback loops that continually improve both data and outreach
7. Organizing strategies for messaging
• Developing an operations calendar
• Essential campaign-related laws
Developing an Operations Calendar
An Operations Calendar is comprised of the following:
• Messaging Calendar: Weekly/monthly coordination of paid/earned/social media across each major campaign theme
• Finance/Compliance Calendar: Important dates related to fundraising goals, events, and campaign filings/reporting
• Outreach Calendar: Important dates related to outreach goals and events
• Staffing Calendar: Schedule of staff and volunteer coverage of offices and events
• Community Calendar: Major community events that you should attend or have a presence at.
Developing a Campaign Operations CalendarAll of the calendars should be placed on master Operations Calendar to ensure that they do not conflict (overbooking the candidate, sending mixed messages)
Recommendation: Google Calendar:
• Color-coding sub-calendars
• Available on smart phones
• Can adjust permissions for viewing/editing
• Can update on all devices simultaneously via the cloud
Developing a Campaign Operations Calendar
Reference Wellstone’s “Sample Campaign Timeline” for more in-depth look at month-by-month to-do list for sample county-wide or House race:
www.wellstone.org/resources/campaign-timeline
8. Additional Resources & Reflection
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Learn more at your own pace and get the best examples of strategies and tactics from the best political management groups and researchers in the country.
Democracy for America: www.democracyforamerica.com/trainings
Wellstone: www.wellstone.org/resources
CIRCLE: www.civicyouth.org (lots of data on voter behavior/turnout)
Additional Resources
Open Discussion & Questions
Kevin Winchell
THANK YOU!Together, we’ll make our democracy stronger, one
voter at a time!