Campaign Corner: What should I measure?
The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest.
Today’s Campaign Corner question: I work in marketing for the day job, where measuring impact and altering our plans as a result is the norm. In the evenings when I become a Lib Dem campaigner, however, measuring seems to go out the window and we just do what we always did. Surely we can do better than that?
A very good question! The short answer is ‘yes’. I’ve talked before about some of the online numbers that should be tracked (The two crucial email numbers I didn’t mention), so here are three offline figures:
- Delivery network coverage: what percentage of your ward is covered by local helpers, excluding your key activists? A good delivery network (complete with good delivery slips) is vital for getting our messages out all year round. A genuinely local network which does not rely on one or two super-activists doing masses on their own is also much more sustainable. It can cope with events such as one of them falling ill, becoming a councillor or getting a new, busy job.
- Canvass data: the sibling figure is how many residents do you have voting intention data for? It is a particularly useful number to track as people often neglect canvassing relative to other campaigning activities.
- Money raised: having a good broad base of fundraising makes the local campaign finances much more robust than if you are reliant on just a few key activists stumping up the cash at election time. It also makes for a healthier party with stronger local roots – and there is always something more you can sensibly spend money on.
Want to know more about local campaigning? Campaigning In Your Community by myself and Shaun Roberts should be right up your street. It’s available for only £4 from ALDC and you can read an extract for free here.
Previous Campaign Corners have included:
- Should you still target during a PR election?
- What to do on the doorstep
- How to make Focus leaflets looks better
You can read them all here.
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