10 Elements of an Advanced Campaign Plan
• John Vandivier
Writing a basic campaign plan is easy. Writing an advanced campaign plan is hard. A basic campaign plan can take as little as ten or twenty pages, while a premium plan for a large race can easily take fifty pages and sometimes even twice that much.
The reason that premium plans can be much larger is because of the number of things which set apart a basic plan from an advanced plan. With some things in life there are only a small number of elements which separate the mediocre from the premium. In football the difference between a high school player and a professional athlete might be hard work and genetics. These things are not simple to implement, but they are few to list.
When it comes to political campaigns, the various elements which separate a basic plan from an advanced plan are neither simple to implement nor few to list. The 10 elements of an advanced plan include:
- Consistent with accepted general theory and best practices
- Customized to the specific campaign context
- Actionable
- Concise and understandable
- Establishes buy-in from and inspires all coordinated parties
- Robust and agile
- Proactive and dynamic
- Self-optimizing
- Measurably effective
- Realistic