Strategy Wins Campaigns. Period.

All of the elements of planning a HexaCom political or public affairs plan are important, but if we had to pick one phase of a campaign that is most important, it would have to be the Strategy phase.

At HexaCom Group, we run “Strategy First” campaigns. While we also tactically execute our campaigns with skill second to none, we start from the perspective that good strategy is what wins campaigns, and bad strategy loses. Good execution can’t save a flawed strategy. The most creative advertising delivering the wrong message to the wrong audience is the path to defeat.

Strategy follows Research because it’s all about charting the course to victory, and you need the facts, the history, the knowledge of the playing field, and the opinion research to plot that course. Whether in a public affairs or political campaign, this means understanding where your client is now, and where they want to be.

In a political campaign, obviously, this (almost always) means getting more votes for your side.

In a public affairs campaign, victory is sometimes less obvious, so it is important to understand how your client defines the win. You can’t chart the course if you don’t know where your client wants to go and what’s success for them.

That’s how, with Research in hand, and the knowledge of our client’s current situation and desired outcome understood, HexaCom Group crafts a strategy unique to each campaign.

We spend a lot of time thinking about and discussing the right strategic approach with our teams and with our clients.

Campaign strategies in challenging projects are rarely a straight line.

Strategies are big picture. Think about the great war plans of past major conflicts.

In the American Civil War, the North had a simple strategy – “We have more people and more factories, so we will cut you off and eventually win.” A bloody but successful strategy.

In the Second World War, the base strategy was similar, along with the famous – “Europe First” decision.

Note that these strategies are big picture statements and approaches, and tactics flow from them, but the tactics are not the strategy.

So, what are the elements of a successful Strategy in the political and public affairs context? Here’s some of the top things we think about when crafting our campaign strategies.

1. Strategies are big picture.

2. They are about controlling the narrative. Almost always, the team that defines what a campaign is about will win the day.

3. It means knowing who your target audiences are.

4. You also have to know what messages will move opinions.

5. We want to have access to all the tools in the toolbox, and how each delivers on bringing your message to the audience and driving opinion.

6. And it’s critical to know what your relative strengths and weaknesses are compared to your opposition, and how that will shape the campaign.

These elements, in their own form, apply to ballot measure campaigns, candidate campaigns, independent expenditures, and of course, public affairs efforts. But the principles always apply.

Winning any type of campaign is so much easier when you can see the big picture and chart an overall strategy that defines your path to victory, long before the first tactical execution is conceived.

Let us show you how we bring our strategic vision and insights to your next campaign.