The last few words

The last few words

One of our business writers, Kate Horstead, is standing as a candidate in a local election today. Here, she draws on her own experience of campaiging to offer some nuggets of advice for businesses who are trying to win over customers.

As the election campaign rolled into its final days and hours, the political parties geared up to speak to many of their voters for the last time before they voted, whether through a speech, direct mail, on their Twitter feed or website, on the doorsteps or in a party broadcast on TV. The last week is crucial, because however early the campaigners started, it is often the last few words people hear that will stick in their minds. Many of the postal votes have already been cast by this stage, but nerve-wrackingly, 90 per cent of the electorate is still to make its judgement.

But for the local campaign volunteers on the ground, many of whom started out their campaign many months ago, sticking leaflets through doors on drizzly winter nights, talking to voters on the doorsteps and responding to email queries, how do they organise themselves in the final days to make it really count?

As a local council candidate myself, I had established the people who were most likely to vote for us, and those who were leaning our way or yet to decide, as well as hard supporters for the other parties. In business-speak, I did my market research. I had also distributed several batches of information about what my policies are for the local area, and what my party has done so far to help local people. With just days left to win, my team and I needed to prioritise where that time should be spent to get the maximum return for our tireless efforts, or much of that groundwork could well be wasted.

Over the bank holiday weekend we distributed several different types of letters, targeted carefully at different groups. One was a tabloid to be distributed to all the houses in the constituency, while a separate letter was aimed specifically at people who said they would vote for the other main party in the constituency, as a last attempt to sway them towards us. Finally, there were personal letters addressed (handwritten) to all our non-postal voters, a friendly reminder of what we have done and what we plan to do if they vote us in.

Lastly, I fitted in a bit of last-minute face-to-face and phone canvassing, reminding voters that we were there and gathering data for polling day. My last words to them were often something direct and personal, along the lines of “A vote for us in this constituency really does count” or “Thank you for your support, it’s much appreciated”. My personal view is that however often I have knocked on their door or posted a leaflet through, and however firm they think their convictions are, people forget all too easily and those last few words can really mean a lot.

For those who sat through the leaders’ debates, your concentration is likely to have wandered at some point during the programme, but most people will have tuned in for each of the leaders’ short speeches at the end. No doubt it was the way they presented their final argument that will stick in your memory, at least until today, and the manner in which they said it might make you think twice.

But what can you learn from this as a business marketer? Obviously, as a small firm you don’t just have a week to target the right customers and sell to them, but perhaps you should try viewing every week of your marketing campaign with the same urgency as the politicians view this final week of the election campaign. Whether it is a call to action at the end of an email or a summary of what your product can offer them, make sure your last few words stick in your customers’ minds. You never know, it might help you to grasp those last few crucial sales that put you ahead of your competition.

• Top of page