Chad McLeod says the key to victory in his recent race for a Lakeland City Commission seat was one-on-one engagement with voters. He talked about lessons learned during the campaign in the 100th episode of the “PR and Politics” podcast he co-hosts with his brother and business partner, Joe McLeod.

While he did not receive endorsements from organizations other than the Lakeland First political action committee, his endorsements from opinion leaders was key, he said in the podcast that was released on Friday.

As somebody who moved back to Lakeland in 2015 after having grown up in Bartow and Highland City, it was important for him to meet with people one-on-one to introduce himself, he said.

And rather than engage in forums on Facebook and other online platforms, he would invite people who contacted him to engage in personal conversations.

In keeping with the theme of the podcast that he and his brother started in 2017, McLeod focused on the importance of establishing a clear message strategy and an online and social media presence before even announcing his candidacy.

One omission: There was no discussion of the role of fund-raising needed to get that message out.

Listen to the podcast here:

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Barry Friedman founded Lkldnow.com in 2015 as the culmination of a career in print and digital journalism. Since 1982, he has used the tools of reporting, editing and content curation to help people in Lakeland understand their community better.

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