I am not a high-priced political consultant, but have had extensive media training and I am a writer who has had to write outreach copy for myself, and for many nonprofits. Once upon a time, I had a brief experience doing this as a candidate: I put myself forward for NC State Senate back in August 2013, a strange 20-day appointment process to fill the seat that opened up when our State Senator Ellie Kinnaird resigned mid-term. I came in second out of 7 candidates, and then started my career as a documentary-film producer when the political path felt closed to me.
That experience taught me that it is easier to write copy for other people than it is for myself! And, I am very concerned about the state of messaging among Democratic leaders and candidates. It has been widely acknowledged that Republicans have one so-called “advantage” in their use of authoritarian, lock-step propaganda, which is that they all take on one message with Borg-like discipline and hammer it repeatedly. Democrats are, thankfully, are a diverse coalition of independent thinkers! But that does mean that we have to work harder to come up with our own expert messaging.
Here is my core advice to Democratic candidates:
Invest in good messaging training and an excellent communications director if you can find one and afford one. If you are running for high-profile office such as Congress or Governor, I would consider this essential. Do not settle for a mediocre person in this position—make a change if necessary.
Read Dan and Chip Heath’s book Made to Stick and start following their advice about how to craft memorable messages.
Always remember the marketing axiom “WIIFMe” (wiff-me). “What’s in it for me?” where “me” is the voters, not you. Use this concept to frame your messages to voters. “I am Dr. Amy Tiemann [very brief message] and I am running to represent you in Congress so that I can make North Carolinians’ lives better by: 1. Protecting Democracy (should be #1 for every candidate now; be prepared to say how you will do it, specifically); 2. _________ and 3.________.
I get calls and unsolicited emails from candidates from all over the country. (Please stop signing me up, NGP VAN! That is a rant for another day.) DO tell me where you are from. I get vague emails where it is hard to tell what location they are even talking about. Tell me if you are in a swing state, it makes a difference to me! DON’T make your communication all about you, especially sharing way too many irrelevant (to me!) biographical details. I do care if you are an educator or a doctor, but don’t spend several minutes telling me about your football career—I literally do not care about that. Your biographical details should be short and relevant to the issues at hand. (If you know you are talking to a football fan, then by all means, talk about football. If you are calling a feminist advocate for reproductive rights, adjust! If you don’t know the difference, please don’t call me on my cell phone.)
Get trained on how to talk in effective soundbites. I know this might sound shallow, but it is not—it is essential. Soundbites are memorable 30-45 second answers. Even if you are invited to give a 30-minute talk, can you start with a soundbite or vivid short story that could get picked up by the news, or go viral? Susan Harrow offers excellent training in this area. I have taken her “Your Signature Soundbites” course and it is the kind of thing you could listen to while traveling in the car between events. Democrats really need to work on this: “Build Back Better” is vague and unmemorable. It is a great program, but what picture do those words paint in the mind to the average person? Not much, I would say. Early this morning I was listening to the Narativ Live podcast while I was half-asleep. Zev Shalev, Cheri Jacobus and Cliff Schecter were talking about the challenge of “Build Back Better” messaging, and Cliff said it would be more effective to say that the Republicans are about “Covid, corruption, and coups” and that we need to stop them. This message was so memorable that I literally learned it in my sleep.
Remember that you can be video-recorded at almost any event, public or private, by your staff and supporters, or by oppo researchers or a citizen trying to get a rise out of you. You can go viral for good or for ill, so make sure it is for good. Be especially careful about your use of humor or sarcasm, which can go off the rails very easily, especially when taken out of context. Stay disciplined and on-message with what you say.
Use Zoom events as an opportunity to work on your Q&A answers, to develop your favorite talking points. Collect voter questions ahead of time and follow these steps: Candidates, write out or record your answers, at first saying whatever you want to say. Then work with your team to hone your messaging. This often means shortening your answer, or changing the order. Put the “headlines” up front. Compare a hypothetical introduction of myself where I talk in a disorganized way about how I have taught high school for 20 years, to a tighter statement where I link my bio to the issues: “I have been a high school teacher for 20 years, which means that I have first-hand experience with the issues facing North Carolina families today. I have seen my colleagues reach into their own wallets to pay for classroom supplies and pencils for their students. I worked with our local food bank to help relieve the struggles of families to feed their kids during pandemic remote learning, when they could no longer count on school breakfast and lunch. And I have heard from school board members about being confronted by violent extremists who are showing up to disrupt public meetings that use to be civic and productive. I will take these experiences to Washington DC to lead on the issues that matter to you.” Work on your sound bites, write them up in finalized form, and practice speaking them until they feel like a part of you. You can use the written answers on your website and in your prepared remarks. Then put the paper away, and speak from your heart during the Zoom meeting. You don’t want to sound like a programmed robot, and at the same time you want to work on effective, memorable messaging. Over time, think about which points are so valuable that you want to include them in every event. Keep developing a list of FAQ from constituents and keep track of how often they are asked. This is golden information! (Please notice how all of point #7 does not cost any money to implement. And I argue it is time well-spent!)
Always remember why you are running, what values and community needs caused you take the monumental step of becoming a candidate, and who you are serving! That should be the heart of your campaign.
Which of these suggestions do you find most helpful? Do you see other Democratic messages that need help? Maybe we can work on that together. I’d love links to effective Democratic messaging. Please share your thoughts in the comment. And I will share one weird tip to improve your Zoom meetings.
"One weird trick" to improve your Zoom events...okay, it's not weird but it is real! Pay attention to transitions in your event. Have something going on when people are coming in. Maybe ask participants questions and have them answer in the chat box, or play music, or play a video, something engaging but non-essential. Have an "appetizer" ready. It really bothers me when a meeting starts and organizers are just like, "oh we have to wait 5 more minutes to make sure that everyone is here." That feels really disrespectful to the people who are there (unintentionally, but still annoying). And if you have a guest speaker, prepare a graceful introduction and transition to what happens next. I like to have 2-3 prepared questions, rather than jumping to "does anyone have questions.....Bueller?" I saw this happen after a very heartfelt, powerful talk. Participants were kind of stunned into silence for understandable reasons. But it was painfully awkward. The event hosts would have benefited greatly by planning to take the mic back after the speaker was done, with a planned transition, heartfelt thanks, and 2 prepared questions. Then I think the general audience would have been ready to ask questions, in the chat box or by speaking.
I know that my messaging advice is the entry-level 101, but I am doing that on purpose for 2 reasons; 1. I like to encourage and help new candidates, or people running for office where they have a smaller budget, and I can provide things they can do for low-cost, or free, if they are willing to work on it. 2. I have recently and continually seen examples of this advice not being followed by many campaigns, at all levels!