An informal candidate guide

Campaign Structure

Basic Roles

A campaign can be as few people as you want, or as many. In my experience having two people you trust and can call on is a minimum, and those people should be your first asks. I recommend Finance, as reporting to the state is time-intensive and repetitive. The second person could cover social media, and should be someone you take with you to events to take photos and post them. Adding a third person, you can have someone to help keep your fundraising or volunteer efforts on track. Finally, messaging can be as simple as someone to proofread what you want to say, or as complicated as someone writing press releases for you.

This core group will probably fill many roles, and will also be the people you bounce ideas off of. You'll often see them referred to as the 'kitchen cabinet' - the people you might sit around the kitchen table with to figure out how the campaign is going to run.

You will often hear people talk about a campaign manager, especially in the context of hiring one. This is just a person who is going to fill some or all of these roles, and offer advice about how to run your campaign. They are often the people who help with messaging and might also take on other roles. If you are hiring one, knowing which roles they will cover can help you figure out what they should cost.

Advanced Roles

Campaign basics

You should plan to set up the following:

• Website - this doesn't have to be much - any free website provider is good enough to get started (e.g. Wix or Weebly). You don't need a lot - most people will not go beyond the landing page, so a picture, a couple key points, and a big donate button are enough.
• Social Media pages - you can set them up everywhere, but you'll probably want one on any platform you will advertise on. Do not use your personal social media for the campaign.
• Email address - just something different from your personal email. Gmail is fine, although an email that matches your website looks nice.
• bank account - any bank account will work, but a separate bank account is definitely a good idea. There are special rules banks have to follow, and often your local bank person won't know about them, so be prepared for shenanigans. I have twice been called to bring in additional paperwork after the account was already open and accepting donations.
• Donation processor - this is ActBlue or GoodChange or RaiseTheMoney - someone who will take a credit card and put the money in your bank account, and keep the records you are legally required to collect.

These are optional - some people like having them, but they aren't necessary:

• PO Box - you can just get mail at home, but some people are more comfortable not giving that out. Most of your mail will be checks people send you, hopefully!
• Phone - the actual number of phone calls you will receive as a candidate is surprisingly low, even if you give out your personal number. As with the PO Box, some people prefer to have a separate phone. Some tools you might look at include Google Voice, or a VoIP provider like Zoom (the video conferencing software company). Or just get a cheap contract for a separate mobile phone from someone like Mint Mobile.

Data for Your Campaign

Basic data you'll need

There are basically two databases candidates will need. To be clear, 'database' can just mean 'spreadsheet' or 'list'. One database or list will be everyone related to your campaign. I've called this the 'People' database. This usually starts with the candidate's so-called Rolodex, or list of people they know. NDTC has a Rolodex reference guide to help you figure out what information you might need, but usually something as simple as name and contact info will get you started. Once you have that list, you can mark them as donors, volunteers, or anything else.

The other database is the VAN, which is just a list kept by the state party that lists all the registered voters. It also has things like their voting history, and how likely they are to vote for one party or the other. In some cases it may tell you about particular issues they care about. Because it's a list of all voters, it's easier to keep this list separate from your people list. In theory you can manage your list inside the VAN, but you really need to know the VAN well to make this work.

Who uses your people data?

Some basics for who is using which data - Fundraising will use your people data to find people who might donate, and keep donation history, contact history, things of that nature. Finance will use the donor data to file necessary reports about your donations, as well as knowing how much money you have to spend on things. The volunteer coordinator will keep and build the list of volunteers, using it to contact volunteers regularly to let them know about opportunities. Messaging might use your list of VIPs to send out press releases or get particular feedback on topics (VIPs might be influential people in your district, but they might or might not be supporters of your campaign!)

Who uses the VAN?

Since the VAN is all registered voters, it will be used by the Volunteer Coordinator to build out walk lists or phone bank lists. Messaging might use it to tell how many people in your district support a topic. Fundraising might use it for finding supporters you don't personally know.

Communications and Outreach

It is often said that people have to see your name and hear your message three times to take it in. Since Arkansas doesn't have any sort of voter guide, and the news media is not particularly effective, it will basically be incumbent on the candidate to reach every voter.

There are a lot of ways to do this, however, some are more effective and cost-effective than others.

A non-exhaustive list of the ways to reach voters:

• At their door
• By phone (call)
• By text message
• Social Media
• Internet advertising
• By e-mail
• By mail
• On the radio, TV, or newspaper
• Billboards
• Events
• Word of Mouth

Reaching voters at their door is the gold standard - having a conversation with a voter is the best way to communicate your ideas to them. It's also free, but it takes a lot of time.

Reaching voters by phone is a close second - again, having a conversation with a voter is the best way to communicate your ideas to them. Also free, also takes a lot of time. The VAN can automate some of this, allowing you to make calls faster.

An example ad.

Candidate Tips

Any expense you incur because you are running a campaign, that you would not spend in your normal, everyday life is probably a legitimate expense the campaign can pay for / reimburse you for. Mileage and meals and child care (there was a special case about this one) and etc. Be smart, err on the side of caution, and when in doubt call the Ethics Commission.

If you put money into the campaign to get it started, list it as a loan to the campaign, or a donation to the campaign. Both can be paid back (timing differs). You should not spend your own money on your campaign if you can avoid it - you're giving your time and energy, don't backrupt yourself as well!

You don't have to get an EIN but it isn't hard to do and it makes it easier to file some paperwork, so you might as well. There's a webpage on IRS.gov that lets you get it, and 'political' is one of the options you can choose.

I used Google Sheets, but any spreadsheet will do for tracking expenses. I had four sheets - mileage, donations, expenses, and loans (see my note above about loans)

Events can be a great way to build support, and to demonstrate that you have support. If you aren't the type of person who likes to throw a party, reach out to friends who do like to throw parties, and ask them to throw you one.

Although in general merchandise isn't a great investment, some people will want t-shirts or coffee mugs or things like that. If possible, find a volunteer to manage this stuff, as managing and delivering merchandise can take a lot of time, without generating a lot of votes. This is especially true of signs - delivering signs to supporters could be a full time job if you allow it to be.

For printed materials, one consultant recommended 6x11 or 8-1/2x11 mailers that have big text and only one message - because people don't spend a lot of time reading these before they throw them out, you want your message to be large, clear, and concise.

For the most part, plan to spend your money at the end of the race. People have short memories, so getting your message out early won't work on most people. If you plan to make attacks, do those at the very end of the race when they can influence voters, and your opponent won't have time to use them against you.

Consider a layered approach to marketing, for example the 'Facebook/Instagram sandwich' - before sending a mailer, upload the people we're mailing to social media targeting, so they see the ad online, then in their mailbox, then online again.

If you make your push card a door hanger it's easier to leave when people aren't home. If you have the printer cut off the top they become standard push cards. You could also have 'Sorry I missed you' post-it notes printed which make it look like you left a personal message. You can further customize this by using the same color ink to write a note on the post-it as you leave it.

In general, it's important to track what is working and what isn't. Use a special donation link or tag for each type of ask you do, or a special landing page for each ad you run, to be sure you know who is responding to what, and where your money isn't going as far.