Research is a Big Part of Winning Campaigns

But It's a Lot More than Opinion Research

Continuing our series about the HexaCom Group Advantage and our approach to winning tough political and public affairs engagements, we want to talk today about Research.

Most firms will tell you their version of a statement like – “We base every campaign on research.”

But this shouldn't mean just doing a quick survey and then jumping straight into a campaign.

Our approach is different. The first element of a HexaCom Group campaign is indeed Research. Frankly, it should be the first element of any campaign or public affairs engagement.

But notably, we did not say Phase One is “Opinion Research.”

Opinion research is a critically important component of the Research phase of the campaign, but it is not the only component.

Other important activities in the Research phase of a campaign include policy research, opposition/candidate research, stakeholder mapping, and thorough review of past election or issue campaign results.

Take a ballot measure campaign; let’s say campaigning against a measure your opponents have placed on the ballot.

How can you conduct good qualitative or quantitative opinion research to map your campaign strategy to defeat that measure without deep understanding of the policy that would be enacted by the measure?

Does it raise taxes? By how much? Who will pay the taxes?

What are the unintended consequences of the measure? Is there a phrase or section of the measure that exposes a flaw or vulnerability?

We’ve had campaigns where we knew we were going to win as soon as we read the opposing measure.

Similarly for candidate and independent expenditure campaigns. What are you going to test in your benchmark poll without doing this research first?

Of course, research also includes stakeholder mapping and understanding past engagement and election results.

Think of the Research Phase as gathering all the data and intel you need to inform your strategy, and you’ll understand the broad scope of this phase. And that’s why in a HexaCom Group engagement, Research is through and meticulous.

After you have collected all this data, and only after that, does it make sense to call your opinion research team for those focus groups and surveys.

Our process was formed over the years in the toughest ballot measures, issue and public affairs campaigns, candidates and independent expenditures.

It all starts with Research.

We’d love to see how we can help you win your next campaign.