If you engaged in any form of public affairs you cannot escape politics. An organisation may want to steer clear of political controversies, especially during an election period, but public affairs is by its very nature political. Politics is ignored to the detriment of your campaign.
There will, of course, be many decisions to make in putting a campaign together on whether to feature politics heavily or not, to decide whether to work with one party more closely than another. These are however tactical considerations. The wider strategy for the campaign needs to ask itself some fundamentals about the politics surrounding the issue so that the tactics can be put in place.
The danger of failing to ask these is that the campaign pleases no-one. This lack of knowledge and information hinders the campaign and you potentially talk to the wrong people at the wrong time. Without asking these political questions, there is also a clear failure to consider all the risks involved in the campaign. That is bad campaign planning which have disastrous consequences.
So what are some of the questions you should – here are five.
- Who is going to win the election? At this time, it is critical that campaigns have scenario-planned for what comes after the election. There is no doubt that this time around a number of different positions need to be mapped out but that is no excuse for not doing it. Is your campaign likely to be completely derailed depending on the outcome? If so, do you need to take action now?
- Who is the most influential? This need not be a question focused on the upper echelons of the party leadership but thinking tactically about policy making processes, party conferences, speech writers, media advisers etc. The leadership may not necessarily be the most influential politically for your campaign. There could be others from across the parties so cast your eye widely. The most politically influential from your campaign may sit outside of day-to-day politics in a think tank, media outlet, or online.
- Who are the rising stars? Or where are the rising stars? Many newer MPs, in particular, are good MPs because they campaign and get involved in championing local matters. Is that something that should be considered for your campaign? Developing long term relationships and networks matters in any walk of life and public affairs is no different.
- What are the best channels to communicate with politicians? Getting your messages to your political audience may seem like an obvious question but how often are ‘the usual’ approaches employed. Does this campaign need something different? Does the audience for this campaign pay attention to online channels, local outlets, or colleagues?
- What issues are going to mean most to politicians? In an election period, in the UK at least, party discipline holds and what the leadership says and does should be the lines to which all other candidates stick like glue. Message discipline may sometimes be ridiculed but in an election period, any deviation will lead to adverse media coverage. So now is not the time to start picking apart what issues mean most to the politicians. However, after the election, it is fair to look at what politicians have said before, what backgrounds they have, key issues for their constituents as a way of identifying what means most to them and whether they might be the right audience for your campaign. So the politics should not be avoided by embraced. Without this political knowledge what you are doing is not public affairs.
Are you asking the right questions of your campaign?