Have you ever woken up and thought “I’m going to launch my campaign for office today?” If you have, give us a call, but unfortunately, it’s just not that simple.
Planning a campaign launch requires a lot of moving pieces and A LOT of coordinated strategy between the different arms of your campaign. First, you want to make sure that your documentation is in order, which means meeting with the lawyers and the rest of the folks signing on to support your campaign – chairs, treasurers, etc. Next, your fundraising strategy is critical. There are few times that you can raise money as quickly (and as easily) as directly after your launch.
But, one of the most important parts of your campaign (in our opinion), is your media and digital strategy. Starting with a launch video, because it’s the 21st century after all, the media pitching will revolve around that, any polling in hand, and how effectively you can convince the media that this race is THE race to watch this cycle. Whether you have pre-planted a story with an embargoed interview ahead of your launch, or are planning a surprise launch, every campaign approaches this challenge differently and a successful earned media campaign can make or break a campaign from the jump. A series of disastrous interviews paired with an underwhelming announcement could signal that your candidate is a dud from the start. On the other hand, an upstart candidate with a flashy launch video, strong media presence, powerful endorsements, and a surge of fundraising can totally change the dynamics of a race.
Lastly, the biggest question of all: WHEN do we launch this campaign? It could be a few days before a filing deadline to surprise an opponent. It could be on the first day of filing to send a message that you’re the candidate to beat. It could be just months after a previous campaign to give you maximum time to frame the race in your own way. The When is just as important as all the other factors that go into planning a successful launch.
So if you are thinking about launching your next campaign, give us a ring. We’ll help you game it out.
-Brittany Yanick, Senior Communications Director