Crafting your political campaign messaging is probably the most important thing you can do to increase engagement with voters. Voters want to understand what you’re about and, more importantly, how you’re going to solve their issues and pain points. In this article, we’ll be digging into the topic of political messaging in detail, providing steps for crafting your own campaign message, and giving you access to a free workbook you can use to follow along with the tips provided here.
Let’s dig in!
The Three Types of Political Campaign Messaging
Almost all political messaging falls into three categories:
- Your main issues – these are the prioritized issues and voter pain points that you will talk about proactively.
- Your secondary issues – these are the next level of issues that are still important, but prioritized lower than the main issues.
- Opposition messaging – these are the messages you’ll use to respond to your opponent’s messaging and any messaging that might be counter to your main and secondary issues.
No matter which type of messaging you create, it will all be framed and wrapped in your “Why” — the reason(s) you are running. If you haven’t yet read my article on finding your why, check it out now before you continue with crafting your message. It’s integral to this process. Then come back and finish this article.
Also, now is a good time to download the Campaign Planner Political Messaging Workbook, which guides you through the 3 message types step by step. You can print it out or complete it digitally. It’s a great tool to help keep your thoughts organized as you plan your messaging.
Identify Main Issues
Your campaign should focus on three or four main issues, no more. These are the issues most important to you and most important to the voters of your district. You might be saying, “but Craig, there are so many important issues, I can’t possibly focus on just three.” I don’t disagree, there are many important issues, but you MUST start your campaign by focusing ONLY on the top 3 priorities for you.
Allow me a short moment to prove my point on why you should stick to only 3 main issues. Picture this:
Someone calls your house (hopefully not at dinner time). You pick up the phone and immediately they say:
“Hi, my name is Craig and I’m running for school board. Can I take 15 minutes of your time to talk about 10 really important issues?”
Now, tell the truth: how fast are you going to hang up on them?
The fact is, you’ve got about a minute — MAX — to capture someone’s attention. It doesn’t matter whether they get you on the phone, on your front porch, or in a letter. If you come at them with a laundry list of things you want them to know you’re going to lose them before you get started.
Focusing on just a short, succinct statement for each issue gets your point across without overwhelming people. And if someone latches onto a specific issue or asks a question they’ll give you another few moments to expand your thoughts. But they won’t give you long. In my experience, voters tune out after you’ve hit 3 topics or sentences. That’s why we stick to 3 main issues to start. Also, it’s easier for the brain to focus on just a few main topics.
Now, armed with your top 3 reasons for running, try to boil each one down to just a few words or a short sentence:
- Easing traffic on Route 1
- More parking for businesses on main street
- Tuition-free college
- More police on foot patrol
- A new recreation center
Write a few of these down, keep the list small, and move onto the next step.
Expand on Main Issues
Now it’s time to flesh out each of your main issues with more detail. The goal here is to expand from your short sentence to a fully formed thought, or more, if possible. The minimum length here should be no less than a paragraph – something you’d say in response to a question about what you think on a topic. If possible, write more. Identifying multiple points of evidence for your position on an issue is good. A personal story is even better, and can help you expand to between 300-500 words (approximately 1 page).
Supporting documentation or graphics is a good idea to have here too. Sometimes a simple graphic that is contextually relevant can convey much more than words. You might also have a friend or coworker who is an expert on a specific issue who can help identify messaging or strategies to resolve the issue. Having a well-respected voice on a specific issue you’ve adopted as your own can help lend credibility to your campaign.
Start with a simple outline of points or write full sentences on your position. Includes links to sources or citations that support your position
Here’s an example of what you might write if easing traffic on Route 1 were one of your main issues:
Traffic on Route 1 has become a major issue in our community. Each day, our residents lose 2 hours of productivity sitting in traffic commuting to and from the city. That’s hours of time we can’t spend with family, an estimated loss of more than $450,000 in economic activity for our town, and the driving force behind more than 250 accidents each year.
My number one priority as commissioner is to reduce traffic on Route 1, and we can achieve that by doing the following three things:
- Widen the road to create a second lane.
- Add a dedicated lane in the shoulders for bikes and e-scooters and pedestrians.
- Increase our road maintenance budget to remove potholes, fix curbs, and install additional signals for vehicle and pedestrian safety.
If we do those three things, we can reduce commute time by 90%, reduce accidents by 75%, and increase economic activity of our main street businesses.
That short issue narrative above is a great into message for a specific issue. It defines the problem, describes it in real world terms people can understand, and then proposes a solution with real world ramifications that people can understand. You can expand on a statement like that by showing research proving the numbers mentioned, provide links to statements made by other elected officials or agencies, include charts and graphics, etc. During speaking engagements, you can go with just what’s above, or something similar.
Secondary Issues
Once you’ve completed your main issues, you can move onto a few secondary issues which are still important, but not as important to cover as your primary issues. Sometimes, secondary issues can also be ones that you might not yet have a fully formed message or plan to address. Completing a few secondary issue narratives will help round out your overall political campaign messaging.
Follow the same structure as your main issues, starting with simple words and phrases and then expanding each. Use the workbook to help you plan your writing.
Remember, your time and resources are limited. Marking an issue as secondary doesn’t necessarily mean it is any less important to specific groups of people. Trying to focus on everything means your message will get diluted, and people will have a more difficult time understanding your campaign.
As you progress through your campaign, you may find a primary issue gets moved down to a secondary level, and a secondary issue moves into a primary spot. This would rarely happen multiple times in any given campaign, so you should refrain from changing your messaging too often. Instead, as you meet with constituents and voters, you can revisit your message, refine it, or adjust it as necessary.
Also, don’t feel like you need to change your message every time you speak to a single constituent. And just because a single constituent mentions something you should do doesn’t mean you need to adopt that as an issue. There’s no right or wrong number, you’ll have to gain experience and determine that for yourself.
Opposition Messaging
Political campaign messaging is not complete without reviewing the key messages from the opposition. Take time to review and analyze your opponent’s message or the messages and frames positioned against you or your issues. As you discuss your issues and try to win support for them, it helps to understand the arguments your opponents will make, and their point of view helps you shore up your own discussion and respond to questions quickly and coherently.
Researching your opposition and where they stand on the issues help you better compare your campaign with theirs. It also allows you to gain the upper hand through your communications by highlighting those distinctions and explaining why you’re the best candidate or your stance on the issue is the correct way to view things.
It’s possible the opposition’s main issues are the same as yours; however, they may approach these issues from a completely different angle or frame. Again, remember to boil the issues down to just one or two words.
There are a few places you can find your opponent’s messaging, including your opponent’s:
- website
- social media networks
- email subscription list
- local community meetings
- local political party committee meetings
- information from friends and neighbors
- Press mentions, search engine searches, ChatGPT or other AI searches
Details in the Opposition Framework
Once you’ve determined the main issues of the opposition, take a deeper look at the details or evidence they use to prove their points on those issues. If they’re smart, they use evidence to support their claims. If not, it will be easier to refute their details.
Use the workbook to outline those points and call attention to the source of those arguments. Finally, call out inconsistencies, irrationalities, or other areas that might be misleading or plain false.
If your opposition currently holds elected office, call attention to any votes they’ve made or bills they’ve introduced that contrast with your stance or which you believe should be highlighted to prove a point.
There is space for your opposition’s top 4 issues, but you can repeat this exercise for as many issues as the opposition frames, or you have time and resources to research
How to Use Your Campaign Messaging
Now you’ve got a few main issues, a few secondary issues, and information to refute your opponent’s messaging too. It’s time to put that information into practice. You can do that by including your information in the following areas of your campaign:
- website
- blogs
- press articles
- social network posts
- at community events and local political party meetings
- over email
- with your friends and neighbors
The messaging workbook discuss some of these methods of communication and how frequently you should do each one. All of that information goes into a communication plan which gets included in your budget and overall campaign plan. You can learn more about those items in our workshop, How to Launch a Winning Political Campaign.
In a future article, we’ll dive deeper into digital and print messaging and how to pivot if your message falls flat.
Until then, practice delivering your message as often as you can. Test it with friends and family and tweak it a bit to make it better.
If you need more help, reach out to us on social or send us a note at info@campaignplanner.org.
