The Key Elements to Community Campaigning

- Part One #21 – 12/19

Preparing for change. Having a strategy…

• Need to agree a common strategy, both nationally and locally • A strategy is all about helping a person, or organisation, think

through what they want to achieve and how they will achieve it

• Next step - detailed plan of putting strategy into practice

• Strict dates and deadlines

• Create a Grid

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Preparing for change. Having a strategy…

• How you enact it, is a tactical plan. Use your Grid to set targets

• Only set achievable targets but stretch yourselves

• Only then can you start to become the Change that is needed

• OK. But how?

• Sounds good but - “… it’s different here”

• It’s always different “here”. That’s often a feeble excuse

• Do you really want to win? Yes? Then, just get on with it

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Becoming the Change… • Cultures, traditions, laws, history all differ from country to country,

region to region, city to city, town to town and village to village

• Some things will work - others will not

• It is very easy to deny everything, though

• If you are serious you need to seriously reflect and try things out

• Your opponents will try few of these things

• What an advantage!

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Becoming the Change… • To gain influence, and eventually power, you must do things differently

• And time is short

• Elections are always very, very close

• Remember: ‘You cannot fatten the pig on market day’

• You need to be the Change - NOW!

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Organising locally…

• Building locally and uniquely

• Be different. Be the Change

• Construct from the ground up

• A strong, reliable volunteer led grassroots organisation is essential

• You must, eventually, be organised in every village, town and city

• You need clearly understood, and disciplined, internal party structures

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Organising locally…

• Good in-house communications are key

• If you can’t communicate internally - you can’t communicate with voters

• Decide who has responsibility for what?

• Who reports to whom? • Who decides?

• Who is accountable?

• Everyone needs to be crystal clear

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The advantages…

• Remember what elections are all about. People…

• Elections are about people

• You need massive inputting of raw data - phone numbers, issues, voting

intentions, elderly, members etc

• Start, perhaps, where you have local councillors

• Target Precincts/Polling Districts

• Strategically pick where to target next. Next door?

• Build up individual candidate profiles - whatever the electoral system

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Strategic thinking… • Target your financial and personnel resources

• Maximise chances where you can win

• Especially where turnout is low

• Name recognition and reputation breeds voter loyalty

• Plan your work and work your plan

• And remember that any disadvantage can, eventually, be beaten…

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Overcoming the UK Establishment in the 2016 EU Referendum - take heart…

The privileged liberal metropolitan elite kept being rolled out to warn the British people not to vote to Leave the EU. They usually tried to scare, intimidate and bully. Warning after warning of an emergency tax raising Budget, Government spending cuts, 820,000 job losses, a property price collapse, a recession. All of the following campaigned to Remain…

The UK Prime Minister; 25 of 30 of his Cabinet; majority of Conservative MPs; Labour Party Leader; majority of Labour MPs; Liberal Democrat Party, Green Party; Scottish

Nationalist Party; Plaid Cymru; Sinn Fein, SDLP, Alliance and Ulster Unionist Parties in Northern Ireland; Scottish Government; Welsh Government; Former UK Prime Ministers - John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown; Confederation of British Industry; Friends of the Earth; National Farmers Union; Universities UK; Institute for Fiscal Studies; Church of Scotland; Church in Wales; Trades Union Congress; European Central Bank; G7; G20

major economies; World Trade Organisation; World Bank; International Monetary Fund; NATO; OECD; Bank of England; President of the United States; every European Union Leader and Government; copious numbers of multinational companies; academics;

business leaders; Nobel Prize winners; Historians; Lawyers; Economists … the Establishment’s ‘Project Fear’ list went on and on and on

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Starting from nothing?

• Despite all the power of the “Establishment” against the Leave campaign

- the underdogs won

• Many reasons but a major factor was a stronger grassroots organisation

• “Leave” created volunteer grassroots teams from nothing

• Why did people volunteer? They were passionate about the cause and they believed in Change

• It wasn’t perfect but each constituency had delivery and canvassing co-ordinators, posters, street stalls and GOTV

• And they were all briefed and trained…

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Training and protecting and promoting ‘the brand’…

• Having built a people’s volunteer army, you must give them things to do

• Whatever it is, keep them fully occupied for the cause

• Train them to do all those things properly

• Train the trainers

• Build online training modules

• Creating a recognisable brand is fundamental

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Training and protecting and promoting ‘the brand’…

• Remember that YOU are your brand

• EVERYONE in the Party is part of the brand

• Your messaging, logo, website and literature are ALL part of the brand

• Getting things done is key to your brand…

• …as are constant communications

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Training and protecting and promoting ‘the brand’…

• Your brand is affected by the tone of your message

• Your brand is also affected by how you communicate your message

• Your tone must be: ‘More in sorrow, than in anger’

• Do not constantly criticise your opponents

• To do so is counter productive

• You are more likely to be listened to, and believed, if you adopt this style

Winning elections always has been, and always will be,

about effective communication, momentum … and trust

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The ultimate key to success?

Campaigning all year round - not just at election time!

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