The Research Involved in Crafting a Campaign Strategy.

During my summer internship for the Dini for Hoboken campaign, I learned just how much research and qualitative data aids the overall campaign strategy.

Research Behind Phone Call Fundraising:

Research and analyzing data is especially important when it comes to phone call fundraising. Due to the fact that calling individuals can be a tedious and time-consuming task, it would not be efficient to call every individual who is a registered voter in Hoboken. Therefore, we can research the individuals to target for donations who have a proven track record of consistently donating to past campaigns. How do we do this? I used the website fec.gov which has all records of past campaign contributions on display for the general public. However, it is important to only look at donors who have supported candidates that have similar ideals, values and messaging as the candidate you are supporting. For example, if a person consistently supported a candidate that was a Republican and stood for very different values than the candidate you are seeking donations for, then that person may not be the individual you want to put on the donation call list. After analyzing data from fec.gov, I kept track of the amount of money a person donated to a said candidate or candidates in a spreadsheet, and I also noted how frequently that individual gave funds. Through looking at patterns in an individual's donation amount and frequency, I could provide accurate recommendations to Dini on how much money she should ask for during her phone calls with potential donors.

For example, if an individual gave three donations of $250, $150, and then $300 each three months apart, I would recommend Dini ask for a one-time donation of $500, and if that doesn't work, then she should request three $170 donations three months apart.

I learned from the head campaign manager on the team that it is more effective to first ask for a one time donation even if a person has a track record of donating monthly or yearly due to the fact that it is easier for the donor to send in and easier for the campaign to manage. Once the recommendations are in, they are easy to upload onto NGP Van which is a democratic campaign software that helps manage online fundraising. 

Another type of analysis I conducted during my internship was of competitors' forms of communication (Emails, Instagram, Website). In an election with five candidates running for mayor, it is difficult but crucial to differentiate oneself. In order to be able to make Dini’s campaign different from the other candidates, I summarized and noted patterns in the communication style of the competitors' emails. Here are some of the patterns I identified: one candidate spent the majority of their time talking poorly about the other candidates to leverage their own agenda, another would always ask for a donation in their email and their communication style centered on asking for money, and another candidate had extremely lengthy emails. Identifying these communication strategies helped the rest of the Dini for Hoboken campaign team gain insight on how to craft a refreshing campaign that stands out from the others. 

The final form of data collection and analysis I conducted was looking at voter turnout data from past elections. This is incredibly important for door knocking and canvassing. Like phone calling, door knocking and canvassing are incredibly time consuming. Therefore, it is important to know the areas where individuals are most likely to get out and vote and which past candidate they voted for. Looking at the New Jersey Gubernatorial Election results I found that in certain areas in Hoboken there was an increased number of voters who consistently voted in elections whereas there were other areas where less people tended to vote. The most efficient use of our time in door knocking was to go to areas where people were registered voters and were excited to vote. This is because then we can solely focus on convincing them why they might want to vote for Dini, rather than having to convince them to simply vote as well.