5W-H: How?

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

Welcome to the sixth in our 6.5-part series on the 5Ws & an H of running for office. We’ve jumbled up the typical “Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How” into the chronology of how those questions should play out in politics: Why, Where, What, Who, When, and How. Welcome to our How…

There are SO many “Hows” and each one could be broken down into multiple series of blogs. Most of which are succinctly covered by dozens of consultants and content providers. Here are a couple of short-and-sweet tidbits from us:

1.     How often does the job run for re-election?

1. 4-year term positions have a harder time focusing on candidate communication because there’s such an emphasis on that during the campaign that incumbents tend to get lazy (yes, I said it).
   • EVERY interaction is a campaign interaction. Remembering their name at the grocery store, asking about their dog at the park. THOSE things will be remembered far more than the ordinance they supported.
   • These are THE BEST seats when it comes to making the most of a tool like VoteSharp. You’ll have FOUR YEARS of interactions with voters, all in the palm of your hand when you’re on their doorstep. Making tracking all this easy for you is VoteSharp’s spotlight – so you shine in front of the voter.
2. 2-year term seats are in a constant state of fundraising and legislating, so they tend to be more aware of the need to remember voters’ names and priorities. Especially if they want those voters to turn into supporters and donors.

2.     How do you run? Like you’re 20 votes behind.

1. That’s it. That’s the tip.

3.     How do you file?

1. I’ve filed for office more than a dozen times. From precinct committee to countywide office in a metro area. Most precinct races won’t require this amount of strategy, but after years of doing this myself and walking candidates through the process, we developed a playbook for the few days leading up to your filing for office.
2. Hat Tip: Our friends at The Online Candidate have a longer-term timeline on their website: Creating a Political Timeline. Our focus today though, is to take some of the intensity and stress out of the handful of days before you file.

Download our playbook for free (click on FREE).

Now get out there and #GoWalkDoors! Let VoteSharp save you from mountains of walk sheets. You’re taking your phone and lit with you walking anyway, let’s put them to good use. Comment below or direct message above and we’ll walk you through a personalized demo of the tool.