Media plan:

Rick Davis of Davis/Dixon Media. He makes TV and radio
political ads.
These are all from those C-span seminars that I taped over
New Year's Day.
How to manage the press, in addition to paid media (ads)?
Politics rewards the energetic. Often work 16 hour days.
No day is the same. Make a difference, even on a bad day.
Many women of campaign staffs today, and they have
influence.
Earned Media's role in your campaign.
How the Press Covers Campaigns.
Process coverage vs. message delivery
Campaigns generate impressions with voters.
Elements of a press plan.
Communication tips with the press. (develop mutual respect)
Courtroom analogy.
The campaign staff is the trial lawyer.
The incumbent is the defendant.
The plaintiff is the challenger.
The voters are the jury.
The campaign teams are the lawyers.
The media is the judge.
Media as Judge. What evidence will be seen?
Sustains/dismisses objections. They issue instructions to
the jury through editorials and endorsements.
What do campaigns want from the press?
To deliver YOUR message.
To show fundraising and momentum.
To give you their endorsement.
Also positive coverage, name recognition, to raise
visibility, to set the context for the election.
Papers have news and editorial depts. You need a strategy
for both. The press corps is out of your control, but you
try every day to spin them. Campaigns are like herding
cats. Campaigns are organized chaos.
Today's press is obsessed with the process of running for
office. The horse race itself, polling, fundraising
reports, strategy, mistakes, character flaws, attack and
counterattack dialogue. Not much coverage of the issues,
though. Most headlines aren't about the issues. Candidate
profiles are superficial. Press covers the campaign like a
sporting event.
Campaigns vs. the press. How do you penetrate this process
coverage with something resembling your message?
Persuadable voters aren't following the campaign news very
closely. They are guided by vague impressions.
In focus groups, everyone knows that Ben and J-Lo split up,
but no one knows who is running for senate. You can't
change the voter's priorities. The persuadable voters are
busy people with little time for politics. Don't treat them
like they are stupid, treat them like they are busy. All
marketers and celebrities try to get a little piece of your
brain every day.
Voters care about things like schools, jobs, taxes, clean
water. Tangible things. Keep your expectations in check.
Press covers politics like sports.
James Carville's Neil ARmstrong theory of press coverage.
Candidate A says moon is a rock. Candidate B says moon is
green cheese. Daily headline says "candidates trade charges
about the moon."
Then Candidate A gets Neil Armstrong to issue a press
release saying that he has been to the moon and it is
actually a rock. Candidate B gets a Harvard professor to
say that much evidence shows that the moon could be made of
green cheese. Next day's headline says, "Candidate's
experts trade charges about the moon."
You usually can't get the press that you want. But you have
to try.
Advice- spend a lot of time planning your announcement to
run. Swing voters won't care, but the media will give your
announcement to run a clear shot. You get to say who you
are, why you are running, and what you will do when elected.
Announcement tours are a good idea. Use these to set the
context for your campaign. Develop a good announcement plan
and time line. Do it in different towns. You will get to
say more. Develop a clip file to give to the press.
Which sounds better? John Kerry, decorated war hero, did
something today.
Or John Kerry, who is having his worst fundraising quarter
yet, did something today.
Define what they say 'between the commas'. Usually one
issue or characteristic gets attached to your candidacy. If
something appears three times in the press, then it might as
well be true.
Between the commas, Nixon will always be 'forced to resign'.
Reporters will check your web site. Make it look good, but d
on't make it a one stop shopping place for opposition
research. Put your position papers on the web site.
Also do a Pre-Announcement story.
Candidate encouraged by polls.
Candidate picks campaign team.
Candidate raises lots of funds early.
Candidate mulls bid.
Party urges X to run.
But don't overshadow your actual announcement.
Have an announcement timeline which may not end on
announcement day. Make announcement in every major town.
Hillary did a "listening tour' in upstate NY. She countered
the notion that she would come in and impose her will upon
New Yorkers. The tour showed that she was running for the
right reasons. Showed she was earnestly learning about the
state. Showed that she actively sought input from New
Yorkers. Then she announced at Daniel Moynahan's farm.
Send press releases to media. Also put them on your web
site. Sometimes smaller papers and radio stations will use
them almost verbatim. It's hard to get a headline in a
major paper with just a press release.
Momentum press releases.
Fundraising is up.
Full slate of candidates.
Hired a new campaign manager.
Got an endorsement.
Opened campaign headquarters.
But you also need issues press releases. If you want to be
known as the 'jobs candidate', your press releases should be
about jobs.
Challengers want to mix it up with the incumbent early. The
challenger uses press releases to get the incumbent on the
defensive. Incumbents aren't looking to engage the
challenger early in the campaign.
If incumbent is making tons of fundraising calls, he isn't
available to the press for a while. So fix up the web
site, write some op-ed pieces. Polish up the speeches, make
use of downtime.
The % of time the candidate spends with the media increases
toward Election Day. Early on, much fundraising calls and
no time for the press. Later on, candidate is with the
press all the time.
State Education Secretary runs for Senate. Has some name
recognition. Use press plan to broaden her profile so that
voters will send her to Washington DC. Get a story out
about how whe cut costs in the education dept by 19% when
she was Secretary. This makes her seem fiscally responsible
enough to be sent to DC. She reduced operating budget by
19%.
They told this over and over throughout the campaign to
reassure voters that she was a fiscally-responsible
Democrat. The 19% reduction was the fact that they wanted
everyone in the state to know. Her opponent increased his
budget by 10% so there was a useful contrast. They rode
this all the way to election day.
Control the early definition of your candidate by the press.
Victory can depend upon this. Governors, Mayors and
Presidents are executive officers. They get more press
coverage than Senate, House does. Issues matter as a
demonstration of your character and personality. Generate
as many positive impressions as you can with the target
voters.
Construct a message box:
What you say about yourself.
What you say about your opponent.
What your opponent says about you.
What your opponent says about him/herself.
Have a response for each part of the box.
Some impressions are simple, but they add up. Seeing a yard
sign. Conversation with friends. Eight seconds on the
news. Impressions generated by the press should ideally
reinforce your paid media (ads). If they don't the voters
may get a cross-impression and not vote for you. So be
proactive.
You can't run as a fiscally responsible candidate while
raising taxes. This causes cross impressions with voters.
Make sure the impressions dovetail and reinforce each other.
Plot the moments in your campaign that will get press
coverage on a time line. Debates on TV. Financial reports
to FEC. Announcement to run. Your opponent's announcement
(you could rebut his message).
Then break this calendar into manageable units of time (one
month). Time is a scarce resource. Make every day count.
The challenger needs to raise money and to mix it up early
with the incumbent. Challenger isn't well known. He
attacks the incumbent. The incumbent gets a spokesperson to
refute the claims. This way, the challenger isn't elevated
to the level of the incumbent.
Undecideds get info from TV ads a lot in senate races. The
press will analyze your ads because this makes for good TV.
When you write a speech, talking points or press release:
Write it. Let it sit overnight. Get input from others.
Then rewrite it. Also read out loud what you have written.
Campaigns deal with the spoken word. Some language sounds
'klunky' when spoken so change it.
Last three weeks of campaign. Debates, ad wars, a profile
piece on TV. Much media in late October.
Plan your announcement. What is the setting? What is the
message? The Backdrop should reinforce the message.
Understand what the press wants and needs in a story, and
supply it. If they want conflict, criticize the opponent's
tax plan.
Tip- go to a newsroom and to a TV station and see how they
operate. Get to know them. See the daily mania and split
second decisions.
Arnold dropped a wrecking ball on a car to show how he will
demolish the car tax.
Rules of the road.
1. invent in relationships with reporters.
2. Meet deadlines, ask when they are.
3. Return calls promptly
4. Get info from the reporter before you start talking.
Gather your thoughts and call them back.
5. Be firm if necessary, but polite.
6. Say 'I don't know'. Don't make stuff up on the spot.
Call them back.
7. Never lie to the press. You may spin, reframe, ignore a
question or change the subject, but don't lie.
the end.
It isn't a plan if it is not written down.
Look at the state's media markets. Ask them, "How does your
paper cover Senate campaigns?" Every state's press corps
has a different ethos. Your press plan must support your
voter targeting plan. You might want to visit a city with
lots of undecideds.
Find a similar race from a few years ago. See how it was
covered. How many process, issues stories?
Look into secondary and stealth media. Weekly papers. Pgh
city paper, homeowner's assoc newsletter, radio, Spanish
language newspaper. Weekly and specialty papers often sit
around the house for over a week, so better chance of being
read at some point by undecideds.
Go to homeowner's association. Make a speech. Ask for a
donation. Ask for a guest column in their newsletter.
Make impressions where you can.