How to run a successful campaign 

Get your campaign ready to win with this comprehensive read. 

 

So, you are running for a role. A class representative, a department representative, a Student Union Governor, or the Student Union Presidency and you need some advice. I ran for the Student Union President role twice and got the job twice. Bellow, I lay out the best advice I can give for you and your campaign to get you elected. 

 

Understanding your why 

Why are you running? What will you aim to achieve? What made you run? 

You need to understand what you are running for and the things that you want to change or improve your campaign. People need a reason to vote for you instead of anyone else and this is where you give it to them. 

Explain why you are running. Is it because you want to change something? Get something done? Why are you running? When I ran for my role, I focused on being able to give an answer with the most important details in mind in just 30 sec.  

Be clear and concise – Get your message across of what you are aiming. Do this clearly so that people understand your message better.  

Know what you will say – Give yourself time to research the issue, talk to people, and discuss ideas. Then practice, practice, practice. Practice by talking to people, walk up to someone, and interest them in what you can do for them. People want to hear how you can help them, not how they can help you! So, give them just that, focus on what you are saying to how you can better their college life, and how your proposals can add to it. 

Campaigning is about the ideas you present and how you present yourself. 

 

Prepare yourself 

Understand your opponent – As I said before, people need a good reason to vote for you rather than your opponent. Understand yourself with what your opponent is proposing and what they are doing to reach people. Don’t be nasty but be professional. When you understand your opponent’s ideas, you can point out to your voters where your idea can be better.  

“Instead of doing x like the other candidate is proposing, I am going to introduce y which will be better because…” 

Try to be as agreeable as possible but still stand for your own values. Straight out disagreeing with someone could ruin your vote with them. Therefore, be smart about it, maybe don’t cover that topic with that person, or maybe go look for someone else. You’ll know what to do in the moment! 

 

Your campaigning checklist 

The ingredients: 

• Manifesto 
• Posters 
• Tally charts (I know, I’ll tell you why) 
• A strategy 
• A team 

Mix all together for a perfect blend. 

 

Manifesto – Open word. This is what you will need. When laying out your ideas you are going to pursue if you get elected, make them clear and propose a way you are going to make it happen. In my first run of the presidency, I wrote in my manifesto how achieving better bus scheduling in the Tycoch campus could be a very difficult task. Whilst it isn’t optimal, feel free to write that “it could be difficult, but I will aim to do x” 

 

Posters – Get your word out with posters. Do it yourself or ask someone else to do it. But you need posters. Here’s what you should put in them: 

• Your name (duh) 
• Image of you 
• Where to vote 
• When to vote 
• Your key proposals on there (or even better, the most popular proposals) 
• A catchy short slogan 

That’s the key basics you need. In my campaign, I one time forgot to tell people where to vote. I had to take down all my posters and repost them. In other words, do as I say, not as I do.

 

Tally charts – Not so much tally charts as setting yourself goals. I’d set tally charts for how many people I’ve spoken to about my campaign. But it is a principal of setting goals. 

• Have your posters completed by x 
• Speak to x many people 
• Set your team goals and let them set some for themselves 

When you start, don’t slow down and don’t stop with progressing your campaign! 

 

A strategy – Who are you planning to reach? How will you do it? What time will you dedicate to this? Brainstorm the ideas you need for a strategy that would help you to win. The victory is with the voters, so focus on them. 

 

Your team – Your most powerful weapon 

Doing this without a team will be harder, you can do it just like I did but try to find yourself a team. Your team will be able to help you run your campaign, talk to more people, make campaign media material, and generally promote you. 

Finding your team – ask?! Am I wrong? You might have friends who might be interested but if you don’t ask then how on earth would they know to join? Just ask them because you have nothing to lose. Ask not just your classmates, ask people you know. 

Keep your team happy – Make sure that you keep your team happy. Be a leader that would work as a group and always listen to their ideas and suggestions.  

• Create regular meetings together so that you can discuss ideas and best approaches. Listen to them! 
• Update them on your progress. 
• If you have some cash to spare, get them some 99p 2 Litre lemonade or something. Doesn’t have to be expensive and you can always ask people to bring something each time. Allergies, careful! 

Just like the last one, give them free stuff for their work. Keep them inspired, energized, and get yourself a team. 

Share the workload – You might not be the best at making posters, ask someone else to do it. Do you need to reach more people? Train your volunteers on what you stand for and let them go out there and gather voting pledges for you. Don’t forget those regular team meetings not just one to ones! They are crucial to keeping a team. 

Set yourself and your team goals – They will help you achieve them. Do this regularly. 

 

There is a lot you can do with a team, if you can, don’t try to run your campaign yourself. 

 

My final notes 

An election is an idea war. The best ideas win. But it isn’t just about that, it’s the way you present yourself, sell yourself, and energize the voter. There will be one winner, but I want to tell you to enjoy your time campaigning. Do it so that you would have walked away from this experience with something. Something you might have learned.  

So good luck on the battlefield! Enjoy yourself.