How to Create a Political Elevator Pitch
By Drew McKissick
Just as every business needs to “sell” something, politics and public policy is about sales too. And people respond (or not) to political messages in pretty much the same way that they do to any other sales pitch. Good messages that are relevant are more likely to cut through the clutter. Bad messages get tuned…
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Informing Conservatives for Action
By Drew McKissick
It is one thing to identify other people who care about the same things as you do, but an uninformed group of people, no matter what the size, isn’t well equipped to have much of an impact on anything. They’ve got to be informed. Here are some basic steps you can take to informing conservatives…
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How to Cut through the Clutter and Communicate a Clear Message
By Drew McKissick
When you’re trying to have an impact on pretty much anything in politics it usually involves a need to communicate a clear message, whether to a group of people or to the media – or sometimes both. But in order to cut through the clutter of competing stories and messages and communicate a clear message…
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Fight Downhill
By Drew McKissick
In terms of political messaging, fighting uphill is when you’re trying to make people care about issues and be motivated to vote on the basis of issues that they don’t currently care about, aren’t motivated by, or maybe that they aren’t even aware of. The smarter move is to try and convince people to vote…
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Issues Win Campaigns
By Drew McKissick
Whether you’re running a grassroots organization, a lobbying campaign or an election campaign, issues matter. As legendary South Carolina political consultant Lee Atwater used to say “Issues win campaigns”, and he was exactly right. Issues win campaigns because campaigns are about people…and people are moved by issues. Issues can be used to unite voters behind…
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How to Push Your Message
By Drew McKissick
Whether you’re pushing a single issue, a lobbying campaign, or working for a candidate (or you are a candidate), it doesn’t make much sense to develop and package a message and then not try to push it out the door. It’s sort of like having a better mouse-trap and not letting anyone know about it.…
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How to Package Your Message
By Drew McKissick
In politics, it’s one thing to know what you want to say, but it’s another to put it all together in a way that helps you have an impact. And that means message packaging. It’s all about different techniques of “How” you will distribute your message in different formats for different purposes and mediums. Here…
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Go on Offense for More Effective Political Messaging
By Drew McKissick
Whether you like it or not, in politics, the aggressor usually shapes the debate. This means that, in terms of political messaging, it’s best to be on offense so that you can advance your agenda on your own terms and on your own schedule . The reverse scenario is that you get blindsided and are…
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How to Frame the Debate
By Drew McKissick
Have you ever noticed in the Bible that, whenever he was accused or interrogated by his opponents, Christ almost always answered them with a question? When it comes to political debate, there’s a lot to learn from that example. It’s a way of “framing the debate”, which helps you strategically present issues in terms that…
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Tips for Effective Confrontation in Politics
By Drew McKissick
The principles that are at stake in American politics sometimes require that conservatives be willing to be confrontational. If we’re always fighting with one hand tied behind our backs, we can’t very well expect to win. But it’s one thing to point out the need to be willing to be confrontational, and another to go…
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