Sunday, February 7, 2010

Can You Dig It: Meeting Your Audience Where They Are

Watch this video by two candidates from Maryland's 6th district: Jordan Hadfield (State Senate) and Todd Crandell (House of Delegates):



Despite the poor quality of the video, the message is brilliant.

By offering to get out there and shovel citizens' walkways, Hadfield and Crandell demonstrate a willingness to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

What's more, they communicate a precise understanding of the fundmental physiological needs of the community at the present moment.

Shovels in hand, they turn the inconvenience and isolation of a blizzard into a powerful opportunity connect with voters.

From the Green Room: Before you speak to any audience, try to figure out what they need most at this very moment. Once you identify that need, figure out a way to address it.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Somehow even the hand-scrawled visuals work. They make the guys seem all the more down home & authentic.

Sarah Gershman said...

I was thinking the exact same thing.

Tim Hayes said...

Getting things done requires action, action and more action. It even means working out in the snow if the opportunity presents itself. Great job.

Tim Hayes

Sarah Gershman said...

Well said, Tim. Thanks for stopping by!

Anonymous said...
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Unknown said...

Sarah, thanks for noticing and writing about Can You Dig it? Jordan and I ended up shoveling out 37 homes over the weekend.

We were out until about midnight on Saturday then back at it on Sunday.

Most of the people we helped were senior citizens; their kids or grandkids signed them up via the web, so we got a double whammy - cyber meeting the younger folks online then meeting their relatives when we showed up to shovel.

It was hard work, but it was worth it for many reasons.


Todd

Sarah Gershman said...

Terrific. Thanks for sharing. I cannot think of a more important act of generosity one could do locally right now than shovel someone's walkway!