So, You’re Running for Office.
The MCo. Pre-Launch List
First: congratulations. Second: please do not announce yet.
You don't need a perfectly polished campaign before you launch. You do need enough built that launch day creates momentum instead of creating a giant to-do list.
Here’s where we’d start.
01. Buy the URLs.
Do this now. They're cheap.
Get the obvious campaign URL in .com and .org if you can. Then grab yourname.com and yourname.org if they're available, too.
We like Squarespace Domains. It's inexpensive, easy to manage, and you'll be glad you already own everything when it's time to build the website.
While you're at it: claim your social handles. Even if you don't plan to use every platform. Part of this is for your campaign, part of this is making sure haters don’t have a convenient URL or social media handle to talk…badly about you.
02. Put up a website. It does not need to take six months.
You need a clean site that tells people who you are, why you're running, what you care about, and how they can donate, volunteer, and contact you. This should be snappy: 3 or 4 issues and no more than 4 paragraphs about you. NOT your life story, skimmable.
That's it.
Unless you're running for governor, you probably do not need a months-long custom development project.
If you are running for governor, please call us directly. :)
MCo. also has political website templates designed to get small campaigns online quickly. Reach out for details.
03. Hire a professional treasurer. Seriously.
A good campaign treasurer is worth their weight in gold.
In Washington, campaigns have registration, reporting, contribution and disclosure requirements through the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC). A professional treasurer can help you navigate that process and get the financial side of the campaign properly established.
They can also help you get the systems around fundraising and campaign finances in order.
Please do not make campaign-finance compliance the thing you decide to learn on the fly. You won’t be good at it and even if you are, shouldn’t you be knocking a door right now?
04. Get a logo—and get the useful versions of it.
You don't need to spend three weeks discussing the emotional significance of a particular shade of blue.
You do want:
☐ Your primary logo
☐ A version for light backgrounds
☐ A version for dark backgrounds
☐ A simple submark/icon
☐ The actual logo files—not just a screenshot someone texted you
Look at the MCo. site: the full Marchetti & Co. logo is the primary mark; the compass is the submark.
It might seem excessive now. The first designer, mail vendor, sign printer, or consultant you work with later will thank you.
05. Please, for all that is good, get a professional headshot.
You are about to put your face everywhere.
Website. Social. Press. Literature. Endorsements. Mail. Fundraising. Probably some extremely large signs.
Get a good photo.
If you're truly in a pinch, yes, you can take a decent one yourself. Go outside. Find some greenery. Face good natural light. Have someone else take it. Portrait mode is your friend.
Better: hire a photographer.
Bonus points for someone with political experience who understands you need more than one usable shot.
Extra bonus points if you call us. Yes, we do campaign photography to.
06. Set up social—and have something ready to post.
Some consultant somewhere will tell you that you need to post three times a day on six platforms.
Would that be nice? Sure.
Is that practical for most candidates? Not even a little bit.
Once a day is great. Three times a week is a reasonable floor. Much less than that, and we should probably talk about why you have the account.
More importantly, have content ready before you launch. Don't announce on Monday and wake up Tuesday wondering what the hell you're supposed to post.
And remember: Everything. Is. Content.
Morning coffee before a political meeting. Walking into an event. A quick video before you knock doors. Something you heard from a voter. Why you care about an issue. Behind the scenes. Go live and answer questions.
It does not all need to be a designed graphic with your logo slapped on it.
Actually, please don't do that.
07. Get an email platform.
We like the one with the monkey. IYKYK.
Before launch, I'd have at least these drafted:
☐ Launch announcement (Please send this to a press list + ask a friend, ask someone in the other seat, they will help you. Probably.)
☐ A few fundraising emails
☐ “How you can help” / volunteer email
And start building your list.
Talk to your caucus, state or local party, and other aligned organizations about what resources may be available to you. Add your own appropriate contacts. Start collecting emails everywhere you reasonably can.
A lot of political consultants will tell you to immediately start calling your family and friends for money.
If that's your thing, go for it.
Personally? Hate it.
There are other dollars out there that don't come with the weird dinner table guilt.
08. Start talking to people.
Politics is networking.
Talk to the party. Talk to your caucus. Talk to elected officials. Talk to community leaders. Talk to people who have run before. Talk to organizations that care about your race. Talk to potential endorsers. Talk to donors.
And ideally, do some of this before your public launch.
Nobody important to your campaign should be surprised to discover on Instagram that you're running.
09. Know what happens the day after launch.
You launched. Great.
Now what?
What are you posting tomorrow? Who are you calling? What's the first fundraising goal? When are you knocking doors? What's your first event? What endorsements are you pursuing? What does the next week look like?
Your launch isn't the finish line for getting your campaign ready.
It's the starting gun.
You do not need to have everything figured out.
You just don't want to launch half-cocked and spend the momentum you worked so hard to create trying to get your basic infrastructure together.
Get the essentials handled. Have a plan for the first few weeks.
Then hit the button.
And if you'd rather have someone help you get all of this together? Well. That's kind of our thing.