Elections occur at every level of society from presidential elections to high school student body elections. One of the most important things to do when you are campaigning for a position in an election is to assemble a campaign staff. Usually a campaign staff will be needed if the general public or general body of students in your high school or college will be voting in the election.
If the election is just for an executive board position in an organization with fifty or fewer members, then a campaign team is really unnecessary. Here are the tips and tools you need to assemble a successful campaign to get you elected.
1. Picking an experienced and loyal campaign manager. The campaign manager is by far the most important person on your campaign staff besides of course, yourself. The campaign manager will be responsible for helping you assemble a campaign staff and all of the campaign staff members will be reporting to the campaign manager. You can also think of the campaign manager as the chief of staff which very often will turn into the same person. The campaign manager usually stays with the candidate and becomes their chief of staff once the candidate takes office if they are elected.
The campaign manager needs to be loyal to you. I would suggest picking someone who you are on very good terms with or are friends. You want to make sure that the campaign manager is loyal to you and holds your interests above anything else. If a scandal arises, the campaign manager may need to resign to protect the candidate; therefore you will need a loyal person who will protect your interests in the election. You also will need a campaign manager who is friendly and outgoing and communicates well with others.
2. Assembling Deputies. You can think of the campaign staff as a hierarchal structure in which you are at the top and are following by the campaign manager. Directly underneath the campaign manager are your deputies. The deputies are the next most important and powerful people in the campaign. I suggest having between three to give campaign deputies. The deputies should be in charge of certain geographic regions. Hold deputies responsible for producing certain results and spreading the campaign message for the candidate in a certain area or to a certain group of people whom he can appeal to about the candidate. The deputies will report to the campaign manager and should have some experience in campaigning.
They too need to be outgoing and have great organizing skills. They will be in charge of assembling committees to campaign in certain areas. In these committees you will have volunteers, most of who have never worked on a campaign before but want to help. It is an important function for the deputies to organize the volunteers and get them to maximize their abilities to help the campaign. If a volunteer has a strong background in computer skills, have them help set up a website for the candidate. Figure out which volunteers have cars and put them together with volunteers who don’t have cars.
3. Volunteers: Volunteers are a crucial part of the campaign because they contribute to the manpower aspects of the campaign. The more people that work for the campaign the better. People who volunteer their time show that they support the candidate and want to help out. Volunteers can also help spread the messages of the campaign to their friends and family. The best method that is absolutely free for volunteers to use is word of mouth. Simply by telling their friends and strangers about your candidacy and campaign can help get you votes. Volunteers can also help publicize the event by putting up fliers, posters, campaign signs, yard signs, give out handouts to strangers, and can help organize events which publicize the candidate.
4. The candidate: The candidate is an important part of the equation and his job is to come up with important ideas that the campaign staff can spread that appeal to his voter base. The candidate must work to get endorsements of big and powerful organizations with which many of the voters are members. Ideal targets are labor unions and big corporations. The candidate needs to be in constant contact with their campaign manager and needs to make sure to shake hands and kiss as many babies as possible.
By utilizing and organizing an effective campaign staff, you can maximize the chances of getting elected.
