In it’s most simple form, a party message is a statement of why someone should vote for a party and its candidates. A message should describe the party’s plan for improving the country and give people a sense of what the party will do for them if it is elected or re-elected. The message should give people a clear sense of both the policies and the values that a party supports (NDI 2004: 10).
The campaign message is the answer to the question: Why are you running for this office? It’s the theme that separates a party or candidate from their opponents, and the one thing they want the voters to know about their candidate’s position on the issues. It’s a broad statement of the values that define their candidacy, the values from which every single issue a campaign focuses on is linked to.
The best way to succeed in winning an election is to build a strong, unified message for the campaign. The only way to get the voters to know the message, to associate the values of the message with their candidate, is to incorporate the message into everything that the candidate and the campaign staff does.
Every aspect of the campaign, from fundraising to door-to-door campaigning to volunteer recruitment, must revolve around the message. Every communication must relate back to the message. Every event, every activity, every project that the campaign undertakes must relate to the message, spread the message, and incorporate the message. The goal, at the end of the campaign, is to make sure that every voter walks into that voting booth thinking about the campaign message.
Developing The Campaign Message
The Central Message
A campaign message is not the candidate’s program of what they will do if elected, it is not a list of the issues the candidate will address, and it is not a simple, catchy phrase or slogan. All of these things can be part of a campaign message, depending on whether or not they will persuade voters, but they should not be confused with the message, a simple statement that will be repeated over and over throughout the campaign to persuade target voters.
The central message is a short text of 50 to 100 words describing exactly what the party stands for. If the campaign can convey this central message to voters, an important goal will have been achieved, because it gives the party a clearly recognizable profile. Therefore the central message has to be repeated in everything the party does throughout the election campaign. It sets the tone for the campaign (van den Boomen 2009: 11).
Party messages are used to inform the public about what a party stands for and to convince people to support the party. A party uses messages to demonstrate to people that it has a vision and a plan by developing persuasive messages. A party that cannot effectively communicate its vision and plan to voters will not be successful.
The test of a good message comes when a party member can give a concise, persuasive reply to the question “why should I support your party or candidate?” The member’s answer to that question should be the party’s message.
Party messages should be backed up with a policy of how the party is going to achieve what it stands for or how it is going to prevent what it is against. For example if a party is for job creation, how does the party intend to create more jobs (NDI 2004: 11).
The central message consists of three elements: problem, solution and direction. Here is an example of a central message:
“We want to strengthen our country both economically and socially. Everyone ought to be able to share in the increased prosperity and improved quality of life. We want to get more people off benefit and into work, a fair tax system, smaller school classes for our children, 30,000 extra jobs in health care, and a police force that is closer to the people it serves. That is what we have fought for in recent years. In the 21st century we want a country that is Strong and Social.”
At the heart of this message are a number of key issues with corresponding promises, plus the campaign slogan.
1. Key issue: More jobs
Promise: Get people off benefit and into work
2. Key issue: Fair distribution of wealth
Promise: A fair tax system
3. Key issue: Good education
Promise: Smaller classes for our children
4. Key issue: Safer streets and communities
Promise: More police closer by
5. Key issue: Better-staffed health care
Promise: 30,000 more health care jobs
The message ends with the slogan “Strong and Social”. This central message actually makes the voter a number of promises, all with this similar pattern: if you (meaning the various target groups) vote for us, this is what you will get in return. For the health care sector they even quote a precise figure. The overall message being: this is what you can call us to account for.
A different approach – the PvdA’s message for the 2004 European elections:
“Do we want to continue on the road of a conservative Europe with its alarming rise of unemployment rates, its ever-more expensive health care and its steady disman- tling of our social security? Or should you vote for a Strong and Social Holland in Europe? So that we can limit Europe to take action only in those areas where it can really make a difference: stimulating economic growth, creating new jobs, fighting terrorism and crime, combating pollution and implementing an asylum policy that is strict but just. Europe should not follow the example of Holland under Prime Minister Balkenende (Jan Pieter Balkenende, served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 until 14 October 2010). That is why the PvdA advocates more jobs and a robust social security; close surveillance of the external borders in the fight against trafficking in women, terrorism and crime; an independent foreign and national security policy, instead of being George Bush’ lapdog; and an open, dem- ocratic election to appoint the Dutch member. That will make Holland Strong and Social in Europe.”
This message is more ideology driven. It does not contain any quantifiable promises but it does try to appeal to the sentiments of the average PvdA voter. In contrast with the first message, this one is more openly oppositional, witness phrases like “Europe should not follow the example of Holland under Prime Minister Balkenende.”
Example of a combination of 1 and 2. This message is a mix of quantifiable results and ideological intent:
“It’s morning again in America. Today more men and women will go to work than ever before in our country’s history. With interest rates at about half the record highs of 1980, nearly 2,000 families today will buy new homes, more than at any time in the past four years. This afternoon 6,500 young men and women will be married, and with inflation at less than half of what it was just four years ago, they can look forward with confidence to the future. It’s morning again in America, and under the leadership of President Reagan, our country is prouder and stronger and better. Why would we ever want to return to where we were less than four short years ago?” (van den Boomen 2009: 12)
Campaign Messages and Voter’s Attention
There are two important things that campaign teams need to remember about voters. The first is that the candidate and the election campaign are low in the average voter’s list of priorities. The second thing is that the campaign message is only one of many other sources of information that the voters receive everyday.
As a result, voters will only pay attention to a campaign message for a minute or two. The campaign must not waste it.
Advertising companies understand this. That is why they come up with a clear, concise message and spend a lot of money making sure their target audience sees, hears and tastes that message as many times as possible. Campaign teams must do the same thing. they can spend hours and hours writing the most thoughtful position papers and newsletter articles, but if the voters throw them away in 15 seconds, if no one reads them, this will be a waste of time (NDI 2009: 24) .
Politicians tend to think that voters are just as interested in politics as they themselves are, but that is not true. The average voter will give only a very small proportion of his time to thinking about political issues. So on the rare occasions that campaign staff or candidates do have people’s attention; it is vital that they communicate as clearly as possible and be as convincing as possible.
Characteristics of a Good Message
Once the campaign team has decided on the issues they will address in their message, and the ideas they will advocate for solving these problems, they must think about how they will describe the message.
The words and ideas that they use to express the message are almost as important as the substance of the message. If the message is not clear and understandable, or if it is long, complicated and boring, people will not be interested. There are a number of criteria that make up a strong message.
Ten Requirements for the Message
1. Intelligible: Have some members of your target groups read the message. If they don’t understand what it says, the message is not suitable for the campaign. Campaign teams should consider the education level of the people they want to support their party or candi- date. The words and concepts that are used are using to make the points in the message should be appropriate to the target voters. Many political parties make the mistake of de- veloping a complicated message that average people cannot understand.
2. Concise: A central message must be brief and to the point. The best messages can be described in one or two carefully chosen sentences. If it takes a long time to describe a message, it is probably too long and complicated. Remember, there should be ideas and policies to that the campaign uses to support the message, but the message is a brief statement of what the party cares about the most. Unless it is brief, people may become bored or lose interest. Voters have very little patience for listening to the long, boring speeches of politicians. If a candidate or spokesperson cannot effectively deliver the message to a voter in less than one minute, then they will surely lose that voter’s attention and probably their vote.
3. Clear: Voters do not want vague promises, they want to hear a loud and clear state- ment about what the party stands for. Your message must be delivered in language the voters use and understand easily. Too often politicians want to impress the voters with how smart they are, using technical words that either the voters do not understand or have no real meaning for them. It is not wise to make the voting public have to work to un- derstand what a party or candidate is talking about (NDI 2009: 25).
4. Appealing and inspiring: Voters have to be able to relate to the message. That means it has to have a certain emotional power. A party or candidate’s message must give peo- ple hope that if they come to (or remain in) power, things will get better. Many messages are about problems that will take years to solve. To be effective, a message must make people believe that even if it takes time, the party or candidate’s ideas will eventually help their lives. For a message to be successful, it must make people believe that the solutions will be worth the wait.
Creating a visual image in the minds of voters is much better. Talk about people, things and real life situations to describe abstract ideas, such as “economic policy”. Politics is an emotional business and politicians who appeal to the hearts of voters gener- ally defeat those who appeal to their heads. This does not mean that the intellectual basis of a party or candidacy should be abandoned or that the campaign should underestimate the intelligence of the voter. This means that the campaign team must find a way to tie its campaign message to the core values of the voters and make it clear that the party or candidate understands the problems they face everyday (NDI 2009: 26).
5. Relevant: The message has to address issues that are relevant at the time of the elec- tion and the experience of the voters. Candidates and campaign spokespersons must talk about topics that are important to their target audience. These topics will often be prob- lems that voters face everyday in their lives, not issues that politicians think are important to public policy. Voters are more likely to support candidates that talk to them about their jobs, their children’s education or their pension then a candidate that talks about the bud- get, even though the budget may deal with all of these things. Candidates should remem- ber that they are trying to convince the voter that they are the best candidate to represent them and persuade them to do something, namely vote for you (NDI 2009: 25).
6. Unique: Voters immediately have to recognize the message as coming from the party and no one else. A party’s message is worthless if voters do not associate it specifically with that party. Campaign teams and party strategists should try to make their message different from what the other parties are saying, or try to come up with supporting ideas and policies that are uniquely theirs. If every party says they are against corruption, but one party alone pledges to enact a tough anti-corruption law, then that party have made itself unique.
Voters must make a choice between candidates. The campaign needs to make it clear to the voters how their candidate is different from the other candidates in the race by con- trasting him or her with them. If every candidate stands for economic development and so- cial security, then voters will have no way of making a clear choice. If, on the other hand, one candidate supports tax cuts for this particular industry and the others do not, then the voters will have a very clear choice (NDI 2009: 25).
7. Credible: The message needs to come from the values, practices, policies and history of the candidate. It cannot be inconsistent with the party or candidate’s background. In addition, the message should be believable; candidates who make unrealistic promises simply make people less interested in politics and less trusting of politicians. Voters must believe what a candidate says, both about themselves and what they will do, is true. It is therefore critically important to backup statements with evidence of experience or knowl- edge from the candidate’s personal past. Saying they understand a problem or issue with- out demonstrating why or how they understand it is a waste of the campaign team’s time and the voters’ time (NDI 2009: 25).
8. Respectful and positive: The message merely offers voters a choice. It should not con- tain very negative attacks or arrogance about other parties or at the voters themselves. If parties spend too much time trying to make their opponents look bad, this appears very unattractive to voters. People are motivated by positivity and energy, and if a campaign fo- cuses too much on the bad sides of your opponents, it will look like the party has nothing to offer but conflict.
9. Confident but modest: The party should be confident about its message, but remain open to new ideas and new developments. Parties should make it very clear that their leadership and their programme will be best for the country, or that a candidate has the vision and skills to represent their constituency better than anyone else. However, candi- dates should also be humble in their approach, since candidates will lose people’s votes if they appear arrogant.
10. Dynamic and exciting: of course in the end the goal of the message is to get the voters actually to go to the ballot box and vote for the party that wrote it. The message should aim to motivate people to support the campaign and vote. It should be a message of ener- gy and hope that gives people a feeling that politics is relevant to them and gives them a chance to improve the situation of their community.
The Message Box
The American political strategist Paul Tully designed the following exercise to help candidates design their messages and think through their election strategies methodically and thoroughly. He called this exercise the “message box.” The message box requires candidates not only to determine what they will be saying during the campaign, but also how they will respond to their opponents’ attacks.
On a large piece of paper or a chalkboard, draw the following graph:
Now fill in each box with as much information as possible.
What we say about us
How do the candidate and the campaign define themselves? This quadrant is filled with all the positive things the campaign wants the voters to know about your candidate.
What we say about them
How does your campaign define your various opponents? This quadrant is filled with all the negative things the campaign would want the voters to think about your opponents, the reasons why voters should not vote for them. You may not say these things directly, but you should at least know what they are.
What they say about us
In this quadrant the campaign must begin to view your candidate and campaign from the point of view of your major opponents. What would the opponents want the voters to think about your candidate and why, in their opinion, should the voters not vote for your candidate?
What they say about them
As you continue to view your campaign through the eyes of your major opponents, now look at how they would define themselves. Why, in your opponents’ opinion, should voters vote for them?
If done correctly, the complete message box should outline everything that could possibly be said during the election campaign by both your candidate and all of your major opponents. This includes things that may go unsaid or charges made by implication. For example, if you say that you are the more experienced candidate, by implication you are saying your opponents lack experience. By saying you are honest, you can imply that your opponents are corrupt. Your opponents can do this to your candidate as well. If, for example, when they say that they care about education, they are implying that you do not care about education. How will you respond to their charges, both stated and implied?
Often the difficulty is putting yourself in the role of your opponents and view your opponents positively and yourself negatively. Remember, just because your opponents say it does not mean that it has to be true. The real question is what will voters believe? If you do not respond to what they say, the voters may take your opponent’s information as the truth.
The other important part of this exercise is to have answers for the possible charges your opponents will say about you. If they attack you or blame you for something in one of their boxes, how do you respond in your boxes? (NDI 2009: 26-27)
Common Mistakes in Developing a Message
There are many risks and possible dangers that campaign staff should be aware of when they are developing a message. If the message is badly written, then it can have the opposite of the intended effect: it can actively discourage people from voting for a party or candidate. Key issues to be aware of when developing a message include:
The message should be carefully targeted at target groups: If a campaign message speaks to everyone, then in reality, it speaks to no one. The people who will vote for a party’s candidate are different from those who will not vote for them and both groups have different concerns. A campaign must determine what these differences are and address its message to those likely supporters (NDI 2009: 26). A message needs to have a precise aim, whether it addresses one person, a group of persons, a hall full of people or entire segments of society in a national election campaign. The larger the group, the more difficult it becomes to aim the message precisely. The disadvantage of a message directed at large groups of people is that the message has to be phrased more generally. Political campaigns are inevitably targeted at large groups of people. That makes it important to identify separate target groups within that group and formulate separate messages for each of them (within the framework of the overall central message).
1. The message should not put too much emphasis on administrative issues: a message concerned solely with technical administrative issues does not appeal to the voter. Such a message confuses means with ends. After all, government is only a means to achieve a goal. The message should be about those goals, not about the means. So do not use phrases like “more public and private sector collaboration to improve the quality of life in this town”.
2. The message should not focus on internal affairs that the voters cannot relate to: Make sure that internal party conflicts do not enter into the campaign, or even worse, that they are reflected in the message. A central message should be unequivocal and have lots of contradictory or weak sounding statements that were included because of a compromise between members of the party or campaign team who disagreed.
3. The message should not be out-of-date or irrelevant to the issues of today: if a message focuses too much on the past it risks the criticism of being outdated. In this respect, it is generally not advisable to use words like “protect”, “conserve”, “preserve” and “guard” in a campaign message. The message statement has to make clear what the voters can expect from a party after the elections.
4. The message should not contain too many technical terms: some terms that politicians and party officials use everyday are completely meaningless to the average voter – they either do not understand them, or take them to mean something entirely different from what the party intends. So avoid the use of technical words Always check this by having someone who does not know much about politics read the campaign team’s first draft of their message.
5. The language used in the message should be concrete and meaningful: sometimes the central message contains phrases that are actually meaningless. They are the result of compromises over the wording of the message, or they have been put in because something had to be said about a particular issue the party does not yet have any clear views about. These kinds of phrases should not be included. It is better to say nothing at all than to write a badly written or unclear sentence in a message. So a message should not contain sentences like: “The challenges we are facing about the environment demand an active approach. We intend to start an open dialogue about this with all parties concerned.”
6. The message should not be too negative: negative messages can be effective. Exposing the failing policies or bad planning of other parties and contrasting them with a party’s own positive and forward-looking alternatives is part of politics. But while the central message should be used to distinguish a party from its opponents, it should not be very negative when criticizing other parties or make personal attacks on members of other parties. A message should build on the strength of its party’s own alternatives, rather than on opponents’ weaknesses.
7. The message should have the agreement and support of everyone in the party or campaign team: a message is supposed to unify the campaign. In every single part of the campaign the message should take centre place. Sometimes this goal is not achieved because during the campaign a number of party officials keep questioning some parts of the message. This kind of internal conflict or disagreement within a party is dangerous for any campaign (van den Boomen 2009:14).