It’s usually at this stage in the campaign when candidates realize they need messaging to provide the content needed for mailings, advertising, and voter contact scripts.
Our strategy and messaging experts decided to provide our network guidance on how to use messaging effectively to win. Each week this month, we’ll share a new angle on how to develop and use your messaging effectively to win.
Watch this week’s video here, or continue reading for a helpful overview.
We can’t do anything without a theme—a six second action statement that says who you are and what you will do to make people’s lives better. Every ad, mailing, speech, and voter contact should reinforce your theme.
What does a theme look like?
- Successful businessman and outsider who will make America great again. (Look familiar?)
- Local businessperson and leader who will make our city more affordable.
- Mom who will fight to put parents back in charge of your children’s education.
You can’t develop effective messaging without a theme because you will have no consistency and nothing for voters to remember. Everything from your imagery to branding to issues should be based on your theme.
The key component to your theme is the part “who will.” As you develop and utilize your messaging, it’s important to remember that the voters are the hero to their story, not you. They want to know what you’re going to do to make their lives better.
Then you add your issues to show how you will accomplish your theme. Our brains work in 3, so you should focus on 3 main issues—no more, no fewer.
In these local elections, most races come down to name recognition and likeability. Don’t get lost in the weeds and over-complicate your messaging. It’s about the voter, not you, and they aren’t paying attention enough to digest paragraphs of information.
Watch our team share more insight on how to convey your message effectively to voters below:
- 00:00: Introduction
- 00:47: Developing Your Theme
- 02:23: Voters Are the Hero of Their Story
- 03:21: What Goes into Effective Messaging
Reach out to our team by responding to this email if you need help with your messaging. We’ll be back in your inbox next week with guidance on how to incorporate your messaging in mailings, texting, digital ads, and other forms of paid voter outreach.