SIX

Connect with People

Just so we’re reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there oughta’ be a Man in Black.

JOHNNY CASH

Every communication must deliver your message to head and heart. Some people speak better to America’s head, and others to her heart. Only the best communicators speak to both, literally wearing the colors of the people and connecting with their dreams as Johnny Cash did.

Most Americans spend only a few minutes of their week thinking about politics and public policy, so you compete with the million other messages from TV, radio, Web sites, and mailboxes. To fit your message into a sliver of attention, you must cast it in their language, not yours, and repeat it.

People must see you in the job to determine whether you can do it. Give interviews, do town hall meetings, attend debates—do whatever you can to “interview” for the job.

If you are volunteering, appear on behalf of your cause or your candidate at community forums, house meetings, and debates. If you are running for office, create opportunities to address the media as a leader in your community so that people can see you as part of the official family.

PREPARE FOR EVERY PERFORMANCE

“Proper preparation prevents poor performance,” was my mom’s theory of school homework. The greatest sign of respect is your level of advance work before any public appearance.

Dress rehearsal. Every event is a job interview. Your dress must match your message. Dress professionally, but appropriately for the audience. Consider how your clothing might reinforce your message or your character. Ask your hosts whether you need to avoid certain colors, add a head covering such as a yarmulke or scarf, avoid poses like crossing your legs to reveal the soles of your shoes. Don’t wear your fancy suit to a low-income neighborhood. Don’t wear wingtips to a ballpark. Avoid distracting patterns and strong perfume or cologne. The late Ann Richards told women “no dangly earrings.” Avoid flip-flops (the footwear and the policy switches). Proper dress and grooming communicate respect for both your hosts and your cause.

Young people especially should dress for campaigning, not for clubbing. A young mother came up to me at a summer 2011 boot camp and said, “We need to have the talk with these young people. I make sure my sons are dressed for the occasion and it shocks us to sit next to young leaders in shorts.” So here’s the talk: wear something closer to a dress suit than a bathing suit when you represent your community at conferences and events. Young Democrats of America President Rod Snyder and Executive Vice President Colmon Eldridge told me that they made a joint decision to always attend YDA conferences in a coat and tie so as to always convey a sense of professionalism and leadership.

Some people add a signature touch that audiences come to expect: for New York senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan it was the bow tie that reinforced his intellectual side, for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton it is the two-piece suit that reinforces her feminist “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Suits.”

Examine your personal habits, and ask your kitchen cabinet to do the same. Do you forget basic manners, like saying please and thank you? Do you avoid eye contact when talking with people? Do you fidget, smoke, or bite your nails in public? Do you repeat certain words and phrases, such as “you know” or “to tell the truth”? Such habits may reveal a lack of confidence. Break them. Use a smartphone to record yourself practicing a speech. Watch it. Note your strengths and weaknesses. Watch your posture, keep your hands close to the table or podium, and breathe while answering a question.

Many candidates will be asked to sample local flavor—pork chop on a stick, batter-fried Twinkies, or homemade firehouse chili. Don’t drink more than a glass of alcohol and never drink and drive. I loved the deep fried Oreos in Wisconsin but have yet to see a candidate look dignified while eating a foot-long corn dog. Remember how your eating will look on camera—think Rick Perry swallowing a corn dog or John Kerry nibbling a cheesesteak—because your foes will make a meal out of yours. Even if you are not competing on the national stage serving up fodder for late night comics, remember that YouTube is global.

Deliver your message. When you speak for your cause, always start by making your pitch. Be clear, using language customized to the audience as Drs. Luntz and Lakoff teach. Be concise, using no more than seventy-five words to convey your message. Be consistent, repeating your values. Be convincing by linking an issue to a value with a personal story with morals that evoke your political principles. Be humble: ask people to vote for you or your cause and thank them for their consideration.

Give people a reason to join you. Articulate your call to service, invite people to be part of something bigger, and explain how you can win together. Convey your qualifications by connecting with your audience and leveraging endorsements by individuals, organizations, and networks from your Community Inventory.

Know the show. When I commended a man about his dad’s appearance on the Daily Show, he laughed and said, “The minute I found out he was scheduled, I said, ‘Dad have you seen the show? Do you know that he’s going to be making fun? You have to get ready.’ Everything went great because my father had prepared.”

Anytime you go on TV, research first. If this is Hardball, expect a tough pitch from Chris Matthews. If this is Keith Olbermann on Friday, you’re appearing before his reading of Thurber. If it is FOX, anticipate Greta van Susteren’s cross-examination skills. Every host has a style. Know it.

Watch your opponents’ appearances, too. Study their mannerisms and their dress code. Review your competitive intelligence on your opponents’ messages and your media hosts’ past coverage of your issues.

If you are going on radio, listen to the show in advance. “People who make references to our features got extra points in our book,” says comedian and commentator Will Durst, cohost of the Will and Willie Show in San Francisco. “We talk about guests before and after they are on the show, so it helps their cause to show us and the audience that they were listening before they came on.” Avoid telling jokes, even if you think you are funny. “Remember,” cautions Durst, “we are the comics—not you. Voters appreciate intentional humor from professional comedians, not unintentional humor from amateur politicians.”¹

Before getting into the meat of an interview, many hosts break the ice with their favorite topic, so you should know what it is. My frequent radio visits to the Jon Elliott show often begin with baseball, as my San Francisco Giants and his San Diego Padres are rivals. If you don’t know the host, practice with someone imitating him or her so you can be ready. You get one chance for your pitch before the host starts in on you so make it count.

For those about to blog, know that audience too. The Huffington Post has now merged with AOL, creating even more platforms for interconnectivity. The tone has changed as well: features on Third World America (the title of blog founder Arianna Huffington’s book) and efforts to help the middle class are cast “beyond left and right.” Know before you go that when you post, the audience is primed to see whether you understand the ethos of the site.

The microphone is always on. Someone’s camera is always rolling. No matter where you are, stay on message. Avoid microphone chatter, off-the-cuff comments, and insults. In 2006, former senator George Allen used the term macaca to describe a young man of Indian descent tracking Allen’s campaign movements with a video camera. The young man made a vlog (a video blog) of Allen’s slur, and Allen’s opponents sent that moment virally into the mainstream media spotlight. Allen never fully apologized and lost to Democrat Jim Webb.² Now that Allen is running again in 2012, his “macaca moment” is sure to be remembered.

You are always on. “Once you are on, you are on,” says Andrea Dew Steele, founder of Emerge America, a grassroots women’s training network. Steele tells aspiring women leaders, “You are the leader no matter where you are.”³ When you are picking up dry cleaning, shopping for food, or chasing your kids through a park, you are on. Driving with a bumper sticker makes you an ambassador for the candidate or cause. You don’t want to lose votes by cutting off other drivers or careening down the highway. People will constantly measure how you relate to the public, potential donors, reporters, and volunteers.

If you are running to be first among equals to represent your peers within your political party, people will look to see if you can be an effective ambassador for them at the national level. If for example, like thousands of others, you make your first run for office as a delegate to a national presidential nominating convention, you will be meeting with other supporters of the candidate and will want to present yourself as the best local ambassador of a national campaign. We saw this in action at an exciting March 2008 California Democratic Party convention boot camp where aspiring delegates got up to practice their pitches for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton before hundreds of us. While, as expected, they each said something positive about their candidate, the best ones talked about a positive agenda for America, not about how much they wanted to beat the other side. Careful preparation makes you ready for prime time at this basic starting block of political office.

KEEP AN OPEN FEEDBACK LOOP

An effective public servant listens to what people are saying for both the good news, such as community support for candidates and causes, and bad news, such as discontent and in some cases outright rebellion. An open feedback loop means that you put information out to people, people respond with feedback, you process their feedback, you lock in positives and adjust negatives, and then you send information back out. With the kitchen cabinet, you will get the bad news one way or another. The challenge is to mechanize how feedback comes to you and how your reinforcements or rebuttals go back out.

A campaign worker is responsible for making sure that the feedback you receive on the phones or in the neighborhoods is reported to the campaign leadership, and that you get information you can bring back to voters. Campaigns should have feedback sheets to use after events or any kind of outreach so there is a sense of how the message is being heard and what responses people are getting in the community.

When you call your members, poll your voters, or convene community meetings with your neighbors, you won’t always get what you expect to hear. Be prepared to listen. Use the message-box technique to help figure out where your message needs clarity and whether or not people are with you. Perhaps what people are saying about you is not what you anticipated before you called them. Perhaps your negatives are stronger than you thought.

Good listening works for candidates and causes. If, for instance, you are working with a nonprofit that decides to increase membership fees, your pledge drive might reveal angry people who do not want to pay the increase. In that case, you may have to step back, reflect on why the increase is needed, and do as much belt tightening as you can. Then go back to your members with a fuller explanation of how raising their fees was a last resort, taken after everyone involved with the nonprofit tightened their belts, and how raising their fees will ultimately result in a stronger nonprofit performing more effective public service.

The general rule is to reinforce or readjust as necessary and to make sure people know that you listened, you heard, and you responded respectfully.

DEVELOP YOUR MEDIA PLAN

Every campaign for a cause or a candidate needs a communications strategy that guides the nuts-and-bolts media plan for connecting with people and persuading them to support you.

A good media plan is a portfolio of free and paid-for media that attempts to schedule your paid media (mailers, radio spots, and television commercials) around your free media (press conferences and news coverage) so that people get double the exposure to your message through different media. For example, they receive your mailer on the same day that they see TV coverage of your press conference, or they pass your billboard at the same time that they hear you on a local radio drive-time talk show. Group free press activities into message weeks, or issue weeks, during which you communicate a particular piece of information to people.

A media plan requires a clear statement of your objectives: communicate the message to the people likely to support you, as many times as needed to reach a tipping point of support.

Arc of the narrative. Your campaign kickoff event introduces your message to people, and you emphasize different parts of this message to different people during the following weeks through free press events and message weeks. Paid-media advertising reminds people of your argument for progress. Then, in the final days of the campaign, your free and paid media should come together and make it clear to people that you have proved your argument. At the start, say what you are going to do (hold 100 house meetings, conduct a listening tour, visit every community, collect ten thousand signed petitions for your initiative). Then do it.

Strengths of the media. People must hear your message many times before they can absorb it. Your media plan will be more successful with five mail pieces than with a radio spot that airs only five times, yet the costs of each might be about the same. Moreover, few media institutions reach across the entire political bandwidth, and so you must communicate your message in different venues to reach everyone. Ethnic media are also crucial: for example, about half of Latino voters are under the age of forty, so if you want to attract these young voters and keep them engaged, your outreach must include Spanish-language messaging lest you miss a generation not only now, but for life.⁴ Your Community Inventory should have revealed the dominant languages that your constituents speak, and that information should guide your non-English-language media planning.

Vary your communications tools to leverage the strengths of each medium and integrate all forms of media: broadcast television, cable television, videos in mobile format, radio, blogs, Web ads, newspapers, community weeklies, direct mail, billboards, and telephones. Keep in mind that the traditional outlets all have Internet presence.

Broadcast television. Broadcast television reaches millions of voters with a unified message, and reaching these numbers is critical in most large campaigns. If you have the money to dominate television, do it. Buying a few commercials is a waste of media money unless you make a small buy and combine it with a video to create buzz.

Cable television. Cable television provides benefits similar to broadcasting at less cost, and you can target your spending on stations that serve only viewers in your community. In fact, you can target specific neighborhoods according to their cable service. More and more campaigns purchase small cable ads, couple them with viral videos, and create stories about the reactions to the ads. Web sites like spotcable.com will tell you exactly what cable channels run in each community—much like a TV channel menu in a hotel room—and sell you ads to reach your voters on the shows they watch so you can pinpoint buys accordingly.

A note about television programming: many young people watch television online, so to reach them you will need to purchase Web ads streaming on sites like Hulu.

Video. Post videos of your presentations on your Web site as a video résumé. If you are working with a cause, include your members giving testimonials (e.g., “Why I joined the union,” “Why I am fighting for universal health care,” “My personal commitment to fight global warming,” or “Why my family will benefit from stem cell research”). If you are working with a campaign, your video should spotlight volunteers and supporters of an issue or candidate (e.g., “Why my family supports this school bond” or “Why as a veteran I am endorsing this candidate for office”).

Keep it real—the more personal the better. Include personal appeals on your donations page from a nonprofit board member, pledge drive chair, or candidate. Cross-post in as many venues as possible (YouTube, etc.), and keep a full video inventory of your public service.

Mobile format. Make sure your video plays on mobile devices like cell phones and iPads since that’s where most people would watch them. The Anna Eshoo “Challenge the Sacred Cows” video on VHS format from 1988 was innovative for its time. Now campaigns create a Web platform capable of sending messages viral and connecting to the beehive of interdependent thinkers and innovators. I am far more likely to forward a text message with your video than I am to watch it on a laptop sometime in the future. The instant buzz around mobile devices is far more nimble and effective.

As you embrace technology, also accept that technology is capturing you: the simplest cell-phone camera can record everything you say or do. Live accordingly. Accept that someone will record your movements for posterity and be polite to your trackers (videographers sent by the opposition) to avoid “macaca moments.”

Radio. Radio is an extremely cost-effective medium by which to connect with people. Syndicated radio host Bill Press observes: “Fewer and fewer people read newspapers or watch TV news. Especially for politically active people, talk radio has a huge influence on what people think and how people vote. It also presents a huge opportunity for influencing public opinion, building public awareness and support, getting the message out, getting people to participate.”⁵

A good media plan has a strategy for radio that includes ads, audio releases, and live airtime.

Radio advertisements. Check your local listings as well as national talk show resources like Talkers.com (the Web site of Talkers magazine) to determine which ones to target. Talkers.com posts radio content and audience information in online features such as The Talkers Ten (the top weekly topics), The Heavy Hundred (the 100 most important radio talk show hosts in America), and The Top Talk Radio Audiences.

You can use this information to send a more targeted message to stations that carry syndicated conservative or progressive talk shows. Or if you are buying radio time on a local station that carries the home baseball team or on a local outlet of ESPN radio, you may choose a sports-related theme or ambassador to advocate for your cause or candidate. Your media plan should include ads on radio stations with broad audiences in ethnic communities. Know the message environment into which you are sending ads or audio releases, or are seeking live airtime, so your media plan and budget will have maximum impact.

Radio ads are much cheaper than television ads, so you can buy large numbers of ads and dominate the airwaves for days at a time. These types of saturation buys are effective at motivating people to support your candidate or cause. Consider buying spots around a radio station’s traffic and weather reports, since listeners tend to tune in for them at designated times every hour. It’s even better if your message somehow relates to traffic (e.g., public transport and infrastructure issues) or weather (e.g., disaster preparedness, relief, or clean-up issues).

Audio releases. You can also purchase an MP3 player, computer software, or cloud computing services for recording public service announcements, commentary on issues, or reactions to a major news event. You can then e-mail the MP3 files to local radio stations as audio press releases. Although they are still canned, the releases do give you an opportunity to read your announcement or commentary in your own voice, and they help you connect with radio listeners.

Live airtime. Bill Press advises aspiring leaders to “listen to what’s on the air” so they know the message environment, to call to inform the discussion with your message, and to book your most persuasive people as guests on talk radio. “Remember: producers have two to three hours to fill every day; they’re always looking for strong, lively, provocative, well-informed experts on hot topics of the day.”⁶

Blogs. Your main way to communicate with people online is through a blog you establish and through postings you make on community blogs that can distribute your message and ideas to online audiences, thank and update your supporters, and attract new people to your effort.

Every organization, candidate, or campaign should have a blog that records its activities and that calls others to service. An index or site map on your Web site should include your biography, mission statement, vision, ideas and values, service résumé, community maps and information, speeches and interviews, event news that is refreshed in real time, and streaming downloads. Invite volunteers to sign up online to join your effort or ask them to take your message or candidate to their neighbors, either by going door to door or by hosting a house meeting. Set up events in every corner of your community, and alert people by e-mail and through a centralized calendar as to when they can join you for house meetings, visibility activities, door knocking, and other events. Be sure to showcase photos from across the community to demonstrate the broad support and positive energy of your campaign.

Twitter users are now able to ask questions in advance or make comments in real time at debates, bringing voters closer to the action and the crowd-sourcing post-debate perceptions that used to be restricted to a handful of candidate representatives lined up in a room called Spin Alley.

Web advertising and analytics. Monitor popular blogs: review blogs that oppose your ideas for early warning signals of voter discontent or political attacks, and run banner ads on targeted blogs to drive people to your Web site. You will receive a report about how many people clicked on your ad and were directed to your Web site so you can assess your effectiveness.

Returning to our example of running for presidential delegate, you could run a Facebook ad targeting the pages of people who live within your community and limiting your ad buy to people who are “fans” of your candidate and your political party. That would quickly give you a universe of people who could be your own ambassadors. Your ad would send them to your official candidacy page or to an event where they could come and volunteer for you. Again, your theory is that these are mavens, connectors, and salespeople who are on Facebook in order to talk politics—so give them something to talk about: you.

By keeping current on events and posting your perspective on Daily Kos, the Huffington Post, or a local blog, you remain in the conversation. Before attending a public event or doing an interview, be sure you are up on the latest news. The morning paper is outdated the second it goes to press, but the paper’s Web site is refreshed constantly.

Newspapers. Newspapers carry weight with their readers because there are journalists and fact-checkers who weigh in before a story that might be tweeted as gossip actually makes it past the filters to permanent ink. The Newspaper Association of America Web site (www.naa.org) indicates that three of four voters are regular newspaper readers and that one of two undecided voters look to newspapers in making up their minds about how to vote on election days.⁷ Thus, newspapers are perfect for making serious arguments on an issue—promoting your vision (or taking apart the opposition) point by point. In addition, small community newspapers can sometimes be useful in reaching people interested in local news.

Opinion makers, reporters, politicians, community leaders, and large campaign contributors tend to be regular newspaper readers. A good newspaper ad or newspaper Web ad can create a buzz in these small circles. That buzz, in turn, can help create more positive media coverage and can motivate supporters to do more. Start with your local paper. Many newspapers have sections that differentiate by geographical zones. A balanced media mix must include online ads, in-paper ads, newspaper packaging inserts, or ads on the plastic delivery bags themselves that allow you to target your message to the zip codes of certain paper routes.

Community weeklies. Community weeklies and alternative media venues are often the most successful for emerging leaders because these papers sit in the barbershop and coffee house all week. The majority of emerging leaders and potential campaign workers will likely not get television coverage, and not everyone watches the nightly news or picks up the local daily paper.

The weeklies have their own special publication schedules. Many print midweek, so you must research deadlines. They are free, local to neighborhoods, and often read cover to cover.

Get your campaign events featured in community publications: church bulletins, senior center bulletins, and newsletters published by neighborhood groups. Many will welcome your additions. Remember, when it comes to bridging the digital divide, many older people and poorer people are not online, so you must reach them where they do receive information.

Billboards. Depending on their size and location, billboards can be effective for challengers or organizations with little or no name recognition. Candidates may giggle over buying the billboard across from their opponent’s campaign office, but should do so only if the campaign has money to spare.

Direct mail. Direct mail is the medium most organizations and campaigns use to get their messages out. You can target direct mail at a particular audience more effectively than with any other medium. Voters are accustomed to receiving information in the mail, so they naturally pay attention to your message. Mail also allows you to send a specific message to a group of voters who care most about that issue. Use your resources—Community Inventory, micro-targeting, and local wisdom—to target people who are receptive to your message.

In 2010, Michael Rubio, a candidate for State Senate in California’s Central Valley, sent mail to decline-to-state voters (not just Democrats). Despite a tough environment for Democrats, he cruised to victory because he built coalitions beyond his political party and added a positive personal touch.

Positive personal messages are always best because the mountains of mail that pile up on election eve and the pay-to-play slate cards have grown to annoy voters. Check the statistics and the feedback carefully before spending your money on mailings people may toss, resent, or both.

Telephones. With smart phones, digital recording, and high-speed communications, the telephone itself has become a medium. In 2009, 141 million landlines were in use combined with 286 million mobile cell phones and 245 million Internet users.⁸ According to an August 2011 Pew survey, 29 percent of American households used cell phones and no landlines.⁹

Offer downloadable answering messages that supporters can customize and upload to their outgoing voice mail, and provide your campaign jingle—if you have one—as a downloadable ringtone.

Phone banks. As noted in chapter 5, phone banks can allow you to reach people in their homes, get their opinions on your issue or campaign, and encourage them to vote for your cause. Phones are a great vehicle for getting people to attend a house meeting or community activity, or for getting them out to vote, because you can contact them on Election Day. In low-turnout elections, this type of concerted effort can make a big difference.

Texting. Most new-media vendors enable you to send alerts inexpensively to inform people of upcoming events and urging them to RSVP to events or to support a cause or candidate. With a simple Reply, people can add to a computer-generated petition to a politician on an issue. After an action has been completed, a follow-up text can express thanks and share results. Again, read the Federal Trade Commission’s CAN-SPAM Act very carefully. Get friends to text, message, or call their peers to encourage sign-ups.

Mix your media. The new media revolution is here. Campaigns must use all the tools available—Facebook to schedule events, Google Plus and banner ads to publicize them, Twitter to coordinate them, and YouTube to record them—so you must be versatile in all these venues. As you choose the elements of your media mix, consider how people in your community receive their information. That will drive your strategy. There is no template—only the needs that you research in your constituency. My personal preference is to use new media over network television and peer-to-peer over one-to-many.

If you are not Web savvy but your community is, you will need a good tutorial, so don’t be shy in asking for help. At a 2011 Civil Society boot camp in Budapest, Hungary, I asked the group of NGO representatives and volunteers who used which type of media. Turned out the homeless advocates at Housing for All had an Internet radio capacity that the multi-national multimillion-dollar Habitat for Humanity did not. (They agreed to help train each other.)

Whichever mix you choose, remember that in each instance you should consider your presentation with the essential public speaking advice: know your audience, connect with people, and talk to them the way they talk to one another.

WORK WITH THE MEDIA

Interacting with the media is essential to communicating with people. Follow the four rules of thumb: research the outlet (if not the journalist); respect media deadlines; present your message, not a script; and do not lie.

Do the research. As we saw in the previous section, it’s crucial to research the media outlet and, if possible, whoever is covering you.

Respect media deadlines. A journalist’s job is to get the news out, and your job is to get your message across. You must both do your jobs within certain time constraints. For television, everyone from the fact-checker to the anchorperson operates within the daily news cycle. This cycle starts in the morning and runs all day, until the final reporter files a story and the last television newscast ends. Be ready to amplify it during the day.

Understand the news cycle and dominate the news of the day. The news sites post stories at 4 a.m.; their editors and journalists go on cable at 7, 8, or 9 a.m. to drive the story. Then most shows pick up the stories and reactions thereto and run them for the day. So if you are trying to drive a conversation, you need to place your story online in the wee hours of a weekday morning and reinforce it. As a corollary, regardless of what you thought you wanted to discuss, once a news site is occupied with a big story, your message may get lost if you are not tying in your message with the theme of the day. Thus, any news or charge worth responding to should be responded to in the same news cycle as when it was made. Online journalists and new-media bloggers have even tighter deadlines, so be aware that respecting journalists’ time is essential to a good working relationship.

Make your own media. Press conferences are your opportunity to advance your message and to make your own media. You will be generating news reports and campaign reports. You cannot count on the media to tell your story. You may be eclipsed by other events or by bias in coverage, so you must be sure to make your own media and release it to your supporters.

Be sure your communications team prepares well for press events and conferences. Prepare the visual and written portion of the event so the public knows exactly why this event fits in with your larger message. Always sweat the small stuff no matter who you are.

In July of 2011 the White House welcomed the World Series champions—the San Francisco Giants. President Obama met the players, saluted the fans, and prepared to receive the team jersey. Always a step ahead, the president said, “OK, are we ready to move the podium?” when it was time for the team jersey photo. I turned to my mom and said, “He’s the president and he’s still his own advance man.” If no detail is too small for the leader of the free world, it’s not too small for the rest of us!

Present your message, not a script. The more automatic your answers, the more people will tune you out or try to trip you up. Either way, you will have lost an opportunity to express your passion for your call to service. Reporters will be looking for your personality, your response to pressure, and evidence of your work for people. Political reporters are particularly attuned to the question “Do you want to do something or do you want to be something?” because they continuously cover people who grow attached to the ego and fame associated with power. They can sniff out hypocrisy pretty quickly.

Phil Matier and Andy Ross write the eponymous column in the San Francisco Chronicle covering local and state politics. They advise that you should not run for office until you can identify “the comma behind your name”—that is, what you have done for people.¹⁰ Just announcing that you have money and values and vision without presenting a track record will automatically place you at a disadvantage. If you are already in public service, be prepared to read your salary in the paper and to be able to justify it. “Public salaries and benefits are among our most-read and shared items,” reveals Ross.¹¹

Candidates, public employees, nonprofit staffers—everyone seeking or receiving taxpayer money must be prepared to communicate a reason for serving that is larger than themselves and justifies public confidence in them.

Do not lie. Here’s a final rule. Know that at some point in every campaign, the “oh no” call is going to come from the media. It may be something you anticipate, like a past mistake you have already shared with your campaign leadership team, something you may have gotten an early warning about from your phone banking, or something you never saw coming.

In any event, the phone is ringing. “Face it and tell it,” advise Matier and Ross. “Meet the question head-on, don’t overspin, and don’t be afraid to be right.” If you need time, say so. Take time to consult with your kitchen cabinet. But you cannot put off the inevitable. You must respect the deadline, return the call, and do not lie.¹²

The reporter is judging you as a human being: Are you a good person who has made a mistake as humans do and will come clean, apologize, and move on, or are you someone who is going to lie? “This is the worst time for a reporter to dislike you,” cautions Brad Martin.¹³

PREPARE FOR DEBATES

As you assert leadership in a public service effort, you may represent your cause or candidate in a debate. Debates are the rare venues in a campaign in which the outcome is up for grabs. Political debates have gone from freewheeling policy discussions in the last century to carefully scripted twenty-first-century television events. Thus, Americans took note when Bill Clinton left his podium at a 1992 debate and walked out in front of the audience to speak with the guests more closely. The very compactness of debates leaves room for that type of symbolic gesture.¹⁴ On the other hand, when Mitt Romney laid a hand on Rick Perry during a 2011 CNN Republican presidential debate, many agreed that he had lost his cool and signaled a personal animosity that undermined the statesmanlike aura he was cultivating.¹⁵ The lesson: get close to the audience but not your opponent.

When negotiating a debate format, think of how best to convey your message. If you are negotiating on behalf of a candidate for office, consider her habits. If she is comfortable with crowds, push for a town hall meeting format. If she is shorter than the others in the forum, press for a seated round table discussion. If she is the most knowledgeable on the issues, you may refuse to allow notes in the debate. Negotiate the smallest detail in favor of getting your message across.

Many people spend hours in debate preparation, simulating as much as possible the setting of the actual debate and using friends or volunteers to play the moderator and the opposition. This aggressive preparation always improves your performance, so if you are the one in the spotlight, overcome any resistance to practice, and discipline yourself to prepare. Now that debates are being broadcast and Webcast, with questions posed by viewers and online contributors, surf the Web in advance and prepare yourself for the curveball question.

Once the debate has started, respond to each question, enlarge the issue in your response, and then take the answer back to your message. If you are asked a divisive question, George Lakoff advises you to say so. “Be ready for questions presupposing your opponent’s frames,” he warns. “Rather than answer a question such as ‘When did you stop beating your wife?’ call it out: ‘That question is designed to be divisive.’ Then, go on to make your point.”¹⁶

As with all media appearances, know your competitors, the moderator, and the audience. Go back to your message box where you researched your opponent—What They Say about Them and What They Say about You. Watch videos of the moderator in other forums to get a feel for her style and topics. Come prepared to make some news—either about yourself or the opposition. Then hammer away at your message throughout the debate. Everyone on stage is there to make news at someone else’s expense, so be ready for an attack, and keep on message. Stay on message even during breaks. Remember: the microphone is always on. Follow up with a press statement underlining your message.

ENCOURAGE YOUR SUPPORTERS
TO INTERACT WITH THE MEDIA

You can serve your cause by putting forth your views on local media outlets and responding to misinformation that advances a biased story line. Here are some simple actions you and your supporters can take.

Your Web site should list media outlets, e-mail addresses, fax and phone numbers so that your supporters can communicate your message and monitor media coverage of your efforts. Display action alerts (urging supporters to speak out) and success stories (the results of any letters published or calls aired on your blog).

Write a letter to the editor. Letters to the editor are opinion pieces, so make sure your first sentence states your point of view. Make your letter short (two hundred words or fewer) and to the point. Newspapers often specify what information they need in order to publish a letter, so be sure your letter includes that information. Newspapers typically publish letters with the author’s name and hometown (for example: “Jane Doe, Chicago”), so make sure whatever you say in your letter is something you would feel comfortable saying aloud in a room full of your friends and neighbors.

Call in to a radio show. “Callers drive talk radio,” says Bill Press. He advises campaigns to “use talk radio to get the facts straight, reinforce your message, and let the community know what’s going on and how to get involved.”¹⁷

If you are the caller, remember Will Durst’s advice and listen to a show before you call in to get a feel for what the hosts cover and the tone of their show. Call in to a show as early in the time slot as you can. Most radio shows have far more callers than can be accommodated on the air.

Write down your question or comment ahead of time so that if you do go on the air, you are prepared. Before you go on the air, you will briefly talk with a screener who helps the radio host select calls that will be appropriate and entertaining. The screener will ask your name, location, phone number, and the topic of your call.

Make sure the topic of your call is clear and concise. Keep it short and be polite. Also be in the moment—if you are interrupted before you can complete your point or question, kindly but firmly say, “Please let me finish my point.” Stay calm—regardless of how the host responds to your point or question.

Monitor media bias. David Brock, who leads the watchdog organization Media Matters of America, enumerates elements of bias to look out for: distortions, errors, and misstatements; unbalanced coverage; misleading arguments; uncritical reporting; lack of coverage; repeating partisan talking points; and, extreme commentary. Although Media Matters’ mission is to combat conservative misinformation, the following tools and tactics recommended by Brock may be used by anyone.¹⁸

Send a specific critique. Be polite. Keep it short. Be specific. The person who reads your e-mail should come away with a clear understanding of your request. Personalize your e-mail—but don’t get personal. Each e-mail should be directed to one individual or media outlet and should refer to the coverage (or lack thereof) of that particular individual or outlet.

Contact advertisers. If a news outlet habitually presents misinformation, contact companies that financially support it or advertise on it and request they withdraw their support. Identify the companies whose advertisements appear most often, or visit the news outlet’s Web site to determine who provides financial support. ColorofChange.org and Change.org are two grassroots petition Web sites that enable this crowd-sourced advocacy.

Get active locally. If a particular news reporter, radio host, or television personality in your community presents misinformation or fails to balance political views, draw attention to any misrepresentation of the truth. Search for local or state blogs that critique the media. They could be excellent sources for information or great potential allies.¹⁹

FOLLOW-UPS AND THANK-YOUS

With every communication, ask for support (membership, dollars, and votes), direct people back to your Web site, and thank them for their consideration. Then follow up with results of their work. “People want feedback on the success of what they’ve done,” says Kerry Kennedy. “If you send a thank-you letter, they’re committed. There should never be a time when people aren’t thanked and recognized for past achievement and asked to participate in the next. If they never hear from you, you’ve lost them.”²⁰

Announcing the results—members joined, precincts walked, house meetings held, signatures collected, money raised, hits on a vlog, or texts for a cause—and thank-yous renew your connection with people and help them see the power of their work. Even if you did not reach your stated goals, remind people that you challenged them to service and that their actions were appreciated and meaningful. Letting people know results is not only good manners but good organizing: it will keep people engaged and invested in your efforts. People who did not participate in one action may see the results of another and be inspired to act next time.

Longtime labor organizer Fred Ross Sr. used to remind his activists: “People will appreciate what they do for you far more than what you do for them.”²¹

GET REAL: DRAFT A COMMUNICATIONS
PLAN WITH A BALANCED MEDIA MIX

The campaign manager and communications director should work out a media plan that will bring news to people the way they prefer to receive it, and talk to people the way they talk to one another.

Develop the plan through dialogue with the candidate or nonprofit leader and walk the communications team through the thinking behind the plan and its implementation, soliciting advice and expertise.

Present the plan to the campaign’s leadership teams, since many of your team members have contacts with various members of the press or serve as bloggers or spokespeople in their own scope of service.

List media outlets. Find all that cover your community; include their Web sites, contact information, advertising options and rates, and timing of your proposed ads.

Organize your messaging. List the activities that you will undertake to connect with people.

Monitor the media. For each item, list media outlets and contact information; blog the results.

Action alerts (urging supporters to speak out)

Success stories (post results of any letters published or calls aired on blog)