Monthly Archives: June 2014

Community Event Attendance for Election Candidates

A common mistake made by Councillor candidates is that they act like current Councillors. It’s good to visually portray that you’re up for the job, but you don’t need to do the actual Councillor type work. The worst thing a candidate can do during an election is try to go to every event in the City.Community Calendar

As summer event season kicks off a candidate needs to evaluate where they are and when. A lot of candidates love the hand shaking and the media coverage of an event, it’s a personality trait that drew them to politics. The problem with events is that it’s super hard to ID voters at them. Events are time suckers and if the candidate or campaign is hosting the event it is a budget burner.

The hours a candidate takes attending events are often better spent door knocking. Remember, door knocking is how a candidate connects with voters while collecting decent data.

That being said, you need to keep up appearances and be an active community supporter – there are some events you should be attending. When choosing what events to attend or not to attend, some things to consider include:

  • Is it something you are passionate about? If you have always supported the local homeless shelter and attended their golf tournament every year, then stick with them and go again in election year.
  • Is it a prior commitment? Don’t bail on an event you already said you would attend or help out with. Ditching a community group/organization will not win you any votes.
  • What time is the event? There are prime door knocking times that you do not want to be stuck in banquet hall. If the event is early in the morning then go for the liquid scrambled eggs and door knock afterwards.
  • Is the event in your ward? If there is a ribbon cutting ceremony at the new hair salon at the other end of town – stay away. Stick to events where your voters are.

For sitting Councillors, unfortunately you don’t have much of a choice on some events, however you do need to say “no thanks” sometimes.

If you do not focus your time on your own election (ID’ing vote), your opponent may be getting all the event invites after E-Day.

Keep Knocking,
KEITH

For City Campaigner members I’ve uploaded a post in the portal on some event tips like:
– ID’ing votes at community events.
– Optimizing attendance with social media.
– Getting in and out of the event quickly.

Municipal Election Coverage – Jesse Helmer & Crowdsourcing

As the municipal election heats up I am going to spend some time analyzing current City Councillor elections. I would love to focus 100% on all the good stuff I am coming across, however as I stumble on a few candidates who need serious help I will use it as an example of what not to do.

I want to start my election coverage with pointing out a Councillor Candidate who is doing something that  all claim to do. This Candidate is Jesse Helmer Candidate who is running for Ward 4 in London Ontario. What he is doing is great is voter engagement.   Every candidate with the corny slogan “your voice at city hall” claim they want to hear from voters and then turn around and do their own thing.  Jesse Helmer has taken the voter engagement promise to the next level by incorporating crowdsourcing to his campaign.

Here is a brief video of what I am liking about Jesse’s web strategy:

 

Explore his campaign online at:

http://www.helmer.ca/

https://www.facebook.com/jessefhelmer

https://twitter.com/jesse_helmer

If you have any suggestions for City Councillor election coverage send them my way. Good luck in your campaign.

Keep Knocking,

KEITH

Websters defines crowdsourcing as the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.

Ohhh and here is the sign they landed on – https://twitter.com/jesse_helmer/status/479479215809904641/photo/1

Google

 

Election Door Knocking Heat Map

I tirelessly tell candidates they need to knock on doors. It is the most effective way to ID voters and to distribute your message. Canvassing is free and gives a personal touch to your election.

In the case of a City Councillor election I say you need to knock on every door at least once – the question is where to start.  The traditional way of starting on your own street and making your way outwards results in a number of missed opportunities.

When canvassing in the municipal election you need to start at doors where:

  1. People who actually vote
  2. Residents who have a current issue
  3. The lawns are prime location for signs
  4. You do not already have a lot of support

The last one always trips people up. They feel they should reach out to those who love them first. Sure, canvassing your existing fans is a great confidence booster; however you are just wasting precious campaign time. I believe the expression is “preaching to the choir”.

Numbers two and three are a bit easier to determine.  It’s number one that you really want to be the prime focus of your heat map. These streets are coloured red because they are hot and are ready to be knocked.  How you determine who votes can in a number of ways be based on demographics and history. Sorry I can’t give you the exact details on this one, it would be like Pepsi publishing their trade secrets online.

Below is an example of an election door knocking heat map. The streets are grouped by colours. You need to get to red streets ASAP (like yesterday), the orange are next on your hit list, followed by yellow and then blue. These maps in a political party HQ obviously use different colours based on the party flag.

Where to Canvass In Your Ward

Where to Canvass In Your Ward

Map Notes:

  • Sorry I’m a campaign manager not an artist. I usually draw these with a marker on paper.
  • This is just a visual the map comes with a MS Excel list of streets ranked one by one. The list also details why a street has been prioritized.
  • This is not an actual door knocking heat map. It’s my neighbourhood and I just made up the results.

If you are a member of the City Campaigner team you can log into the portal later this week for instructions on how to create your own election heat map. You also have discounted pricing on the service if you do not have the time or confidence to do it yourself.

For those who are not yet members but want to hit pavement with a plan in hand, we are now offering customized Election Heat Maps for a one-time cost of $250.00 (click Buy Now Button below) We will not create one for your competitor so that trade secret in your ward belongs to you.

Now if I only had a product that would light a fire under a candidate’s ass to get out there and door knock.

Good luck in your election.

Keep Knocking,

KEITH

ELECTION DOOR KNOCKING HEAT MAP – KNOW BEFORE YOU GO 

$250.00 + HST

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Back From Vacation

Hey Guys,

Spent the last week in the sunny south building a base tan for the summer  –  No one likes a sunburn after a round of golf.

While away I got an opportunity to read some read some awesome books with innovative customer engagement ideas. There were a number of tactics that could be customized to a municipal election and I plan on making some videos and posts about them this week.

Keep Knocking,

KEITH