Tag Archives: CityCampaigner

A Great Campaign Launch – Joe Persechini

This media story is a good example of a successful campaign launch. 

http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/4611943-persechini-enters-east-gwillimbury-municipal-election-race/ 

Joe Persechini is running for Town Council in East Gwillimbury this fall.  As a long time community activist the media attention is well deserved.   Persechini even has a street named after him recognizing all his great charity work. Campaign launches like this remind us that a council election does not start when nominations open. A good Councillor candidate is already working hard for their community without the official title.

Unless Google search is failing me, it looks like Joe needs to get moving on an election website. It would be nice to leverage a good news day into some web traffic and online voter ID.

In East Gwillimbury voters elect 4 Councillors at large so it’s a tough race. Best of luck to Joe Persechini and his campaign team.

 

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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Email Marketing For Municipal Elections

It does not matter if your election is downtown Toronto or in rural Essa Township, all Candidates need to use an email marketing service.

Election Email Marketing

There are a few common service providers such as AWeber, Constant Contact and Mail Chimp.  I have worked with all three and found that AWeber is the most cost effective and has one of the best delivery rates – meaning less of your emails end up in your voters’ spam mail.

Collecting email addresses is not always easy, however it is slowly becoming vital to your campaign for many reasons. Let’s take a quick look at a few:

  • The decline of the home phone. In the “good old days” matching your voters list to a landline was a simple task, but in 2014 everyone is cutting the cord on home phone services. Collecting personal email addresses gets you straight to a voter’s mobile phone.
  • The introduction of online voting. This will be widespread in municipal elections in the near future with many small townships already offering online voting in 2014. In Leamington, Ontario this fall it’s the only choice. How nice would it be if your email asking for support entered a voter’s inbox shortly after their online voting instructions?  GOTV is going to get much easier (and cheaper).
  • Email marketing is fast and cheap. If you have a robust email list of voters you can get information out quickly when responding to a current issue or promoting a last minute event. This is much more efficient than trying to get the word out by phone or on your feet.  A subscription to an email marketing service comes at a low cost. The monthly cost of AWeber is less than $20 per month.  Compare that to over a thousand dollars for a mail out or hundreds of dollars for a voice-broadcast and it’s a great deal!

If you are thinking you can manage your email list with a spreadsheet and your current email provider, think again.  An email marketing service comes with many perks including email marketing education, sign-up confirmation pages, delivery and viewing statistics, and professional looking templates.   To learn more about all the features of an email marketing service I encourage you to visit a few of their websites.

For more info on email marketing subscription costs and features visit AWeber’s website.

City Campaigner Members can log onto the members-only portal for my latest video on email marketing. This includes easy tactics to collect voters’ email addresses and how to use automated email drip campaigns to keep voters engaged.

Keep Knocking,

KEITH

Google
 

Know Your Audience in Municipal Elections

Know who you are talking to before you speak.

audience

Many municipal candidates think that to win they must craft and deliver a message for all the voters in their ward. This approach is only going to waste your time and money.  A candidate needs to discover their base and target voters before hitting the campaign trail.

Identifying base support or target voting is a bit easier in Provincial and Federal politics as you can group people by demographics, special interests, income levels, etc.. In a municipal election where party politics play little to no role at the Councillor level, you are starting from scratch.

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Ontario Municipal Campaign – Should I Run?

 

To Run… Or Not To Run… 

Decision-Making

You’ve thought about it for a while but you’re still on the fence – “Should I run for Municipal Politics?”

Let’s take a look at what you should keep in mind when considering launching a campaign.

Why?

Every friend, family member, co-worker and  voter are going ask you the same question: “Why do you want to be a Councillor?”.  You need to first answer this question for yourself.  There are two categories this answer can fall into, you either want to be somebody, or do something. If your answer falls into the latter you’re well on your way. If you are entering into politics to be somebody, you’re in it for the wrong reasons and my style of campaigning can’t help you.   Know your “why” before you start and we’ll work on some effective ways to communicate that another day.

Family

You need to make the decision to run with your spouse and considering your entire family. Continue reading →

WELCOME

Thanks for visiting the City Campaigner Blog!

I’ll be using this space to update readers on the City Campaigner membership team and to provide a few tips on what municipal campaign candidates must do to win.

City Campaigner is a Municipal Election Campaign Community that benefits members with online election training, templates, expert interviews, election services/products, and group buying discounts. Details on how to become a member of this community will be coming in the next couple of weeks.  If you are a candidate in the 2014 Municipal Election and would like to be a member of  the City Campaigner Team, email me atstrachan.keith@gmail.com. Since I want everyone on the team to be successful I will only be accepting one candidate per Ward in each municipality.

Keep Knocking!

KEITH

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