Campaign Trail Lessons in Communicating Effectively as a Candidate

Matt Mackowiak (Mack-o-VEE-yack) is an Austin based political and communications consultant and President of Potomac Strategy Group. They provides political consulting to conservative campaigns, as well as media relations and crisis communications assistance to companies, groups and individuals.

He has served in senior roles for two U.S. Senators and a Governor, in the Bush administration, and in winning campaigns. Matt has developed a deep network of media and political relationships nationwide. It’s not uncommon to see Matt on Fox, MSNBC or BBC news and his written work appears regularly in a number of newspapers. He’s even got his own podcast, Mack on Politics, which is created in partnership with the Washington Times.

Links from the Podcast:

Connect with Matt Mackowiak on Twitter or check out his newspaper columns and podcast at Mack on Politics!

Important Time Stamps and Notes:

[00:00] Podcast Introduction

[00:24] Matt Mackowiak Bio

[01:22] Matt’s background in politics

[12:41] What do you look for in clients? Who do you like to work for vs won’t work for?

[18:35] What are some good ways to prepare Candidates in communication fundamentals?

[25:12] What exercises do you walk candidates through to help prepare them for media interviews, debates, etc?

[33:48] Dealing with Wave elections and looking back at the Trump phenomenon

[44:05] Do you think has truly changed after 2016 vs what will go back to normal?

[51:46] Talking about the Travis County GOP Chair craziness in 2016

[55:21] Where can folks find you online?

[56:25] Adios and outro