Welcome back to the Nuts & Bolts guide to campaigns. Every week, with the help of members of campaigns around the country and people who’ve worked in field in management, communications, and finance, we cover topics about what can be taken from campaign experience big and small and injected into any campaign at any level. Most campaigns do not have professional staff and can’t afford them, which is especially true in red states where staff can be difficult to attract, leading most campaigns to use whoever is willing to step up to the plate and do the best they can in helping a Democratic campaign succeed.
This week, I want to talk about the “too good to be true” problem. Small campaigns can find themselves bombarded with offers and advertisements of services aimed at solving every issue your campaign could possibly face. So many of these services seem like a dream come true. Many come with catches, though: Service commitments. Fees. Purchase requirements. Percentages. Before you take the plunge, it might take a bit of legwork. Ask yourself: Does this seem too good to be true? What’s the catch?
We don’t always need to reinvent the wheel
A candidate in a significant race informed me they had found a whole new way to run a race and it would require them to walk away from the platform that other Democratic candidates were using. The decision to not use VoteBuilder, they contended, would benefit them significantly because a custom application being developed using the Google engine would give them an inside track that no one else had, and it could set them apart.
How far along was application development? No one was quite sure. How much would the cost end up being? Again, no one was quite sure. How much of an improvement would it make over Vote Builder, and would it potentially cause overlap problems with the work being done by county and state party organizations in their coordinated field campaign? Again, unsure.
The problem is for most campaigns, going out on your own, even if it seems incredibly attractive—and here I’m not sure it really is—leads to a lot of question marks that are impossible to answer because you are venturing into unknown territory. This isn’t to say that there isn’t some benefit to being on the bleeding edge; for all we know, it could work. Odds are, however, that such efforts are more likely to fail and frustrate those around you because none of the organizations around you have any access to the data you are creating. It requires a retraining of every person who canvasses for you to look at something different from what they expect. Many of the best campaign canvassers have done so cycle after cycle. Change, as a result, is not always welcome.
‘We can raise so much money for you …’
Ah, every cycle you are going to see this happen: Someone will approach a candidate proclaiming that they have a “magic list” or a way to “generate significant donations” or any other plan that will put a lot of money in the campaign. This sounds great, right? Certainly, there are numerous organizations that do just that with nothing really at stake. Any candidate can come to Daily Kos, post, and work to raise funds on the behalf of the campaign and that’s it.
Too often, though, the offer of financial help comes with some significant catches: Hefty fees or percentages of all funds raised, whether or not it came from the original source offering the help. You might find that your personnel list can be repurposed and your campaign isn’t aware of that fact.
Fundraising is important for your campaign. Before you sign on, make sure you know what you are getting.
Never, ever, ever, ever be the side hustle
How often does a vendor approach a small campaign and say: “You know, since I’m doing work for this much larger campaign, I’m willing to do work for you on the side.” Nope. Absolutely nope.
Side hustles can appear in mail programs, in digital design programs, and in other advertisements. They may have graphics pre-cut for one candidate that weren’t used and, well, if you want the scraps for mail or your digital campaign, you can have them for your own use. In other words, you are paying slightly less than full price for something that was rejected by another candidate but likely looks very, very similar.
This is not a good idea. This creates candidate confusion. If what you are sending or promoting looks so similar to the work of another candidate, then you disappear into the trash can. And not only did no one pay attention, they are likely to think your expense was on behalf of the original campaign that had the resources to begin with, before you picked up the leftovers.
You can avoid being a side hustle. Find something original or a way to convey something original about your own campaign.
Direct your campaign to make sure it represents your candidate, not someone else.
Make sure free is free
Just because someone says something is free doesn’t actually mean that it is free. Confusing, right? You might find that a product you are offered early in the campaign is exciting and really works for you. It is a great tool. And hey, it’s free! Well, a few weeks later when you discover all the add-ons and the growth for extra people as they join your campaign, every expansion has a cost that goes along with the original “free” offer. Free might be for limited use, and the moment you exceed that use, be prepared to pay.
Keep track for yourself how much something that starts free is expected to cost by the end of a campaign. If you commit to too many “free” products that will later bill you, you will start wondering what all of these charges that are hitting your campaign monthly mean. Sure, a major campaign for the Senate could handle it. But if you are running for city council, school board, or even state House, an extra hundred or two in unexpected billing can sting.
Have you seen something in a campaign that was “too good to be true?” Tell me all about it!