Why (and How) We Do Campaign Consulting Differently
Traditional campaign consulting fails most campaigns. Historically, consultants work in hard silos, such as fundraising, compliance, mail, media, digital, field, and so on. Consultant relationships are sometimes adversarial, and often characterized by resource competition rather than collaboration, which can distort a campaign’s priorities and undermine its effectiveness.
A campaign is not a set of vertical silos. Campaigns should work on horizontal timelines, marrying all disciplines into a cohesive, thoughtful strategy, which lays out long-term and short-term goals in each critical area of work.
We believe that, in the earliest stages of the campaign, campaigns do not need high-cost consultants, requiring large retainers. Early energy should be spent building a smart, lean campaign framework, which includes a comprehensive written campaign plan, initial compliance and legal filing, a fundraising approach and list development, a web presence, an individual and organizational outreach and engagement plan, and a message. Indigo Strategies works with the candidate to develop exactly these things.
As the campaign reaches the appropriate milestones – and not before – Indigo Strategies can assist the campaign with persuasion and turnout, which can include field, mail, digital, phones and media components.
A general consultant has three primary jobs:
- Provide honest, expert counsel to the candidate.
- Build a comprehensive campaign plan with appropriate timelines and benchmarks.
- Hold the internal and external campaign team accountable.
One other important note:
Indigo specializes in hard races in tough places.
We almost exclusively do challenger races, and we’re unafraid of taking on both Republicans or our own party’s establishment when needed. This impacts our won-loss record, but we strongly believe that if a candidate in a tough race is willing to put their name on the ballot and do the work required, they deserve a professional campaign.
We think our approach is better, more thoughtful and more impactful. So do the candidates we’ve worked with. You can read what some of them have to say about us by clicking here.
