Many of you have probably used the restrooms at Red Rocks, Denver International Airport, or Coors Field and watched as the person next to you at the sink dipped their hands in the water for just a second, without soap or scrubbing, and then quickly walked out the door. They “washed their hands,” but they didn’t accomplish the purpose of washing their hands.
I don’t mean to preach about personal hygiene, but I am asking why so many candidates simply check boxes on so many aspects of their campaigns. PR teams put out press releases but do nothing to actually get coverage on the issues. Campaigns use social media but the content is all random blurbs rather than a cohesive message. Candidates who attend key events but fail to really engage with the donors, voters and grassroots leaders in attendance. Checking boxes just doesn’t accomplish the task.
If you lose sight of your overall goal and focus on achieving metrics that were intended as tools, you are simply wasting resources. A campaign has a clear end goal: winning an election. Obtaining earned media, reaching thousands of voters, and asking potential donors to fund your campaign are only some of the tools to achieve that end goal.
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Not everything requires the same level of dedication and energy. If you just chopped up a bunch of jalapeños, you’ll probably wash your hands for a little longer than usual. Plus, if you’re a surgeon and you’re about to go into the operating room, you’ll have very strict hand-washing protocols. Some situations might require more effort.
This is true of most, if not all, things in life. But I’m not a life coach. I run political campaigns. I’ve worked with many candidates who love a particular area of their campaign and put extra effort into it. That’s great, but it often comes at the expense of other aspects. As I said before, campaigns are multifaceted and candidates need to work hard on all aspects of their campaign. If a candidate should be spending the afternoon making fundraising calls, but is instead practicing their speech, they’re checking off a box that doesn’t need to be filled out at that time.
We often set goals in a granular way. When managing our social media accounts, we are often asked about impressions and other statistics. It is important not to lose sight of what we are trying to achieve. On social media, it may seem like the goal of every post is to achieve the maximum number of impressions, but if your post is meant to persuade independent voters, but only people who already support you see it, the number doesn’t matter and you’ve missed your goal. If you set an impression goal and reach that number, you’ve just checked a box on a granular goal and completely missed your goal of supporting your campaign.
We’re in the middle of election season, so as you decide what to prioritize and make promises and goals, remember the lesson of washing your hands: Is what you’re doing helping us win, or are you just checking a box?
Alec Hanna is a Colorado-based Republican campaign strategist and founder of Dark Horse Campaigns.