The Campaign Workshop Blog

As a first-time candidate, you’ll have a steep learning curve and a lot of information thrown your way. Whether you’re still deciding if you want to toss your hat in the ring or you’re just starting to get your campaign moving, it’s important to be critical of yourself and of the advice you hear to decide if you're ready to embark on this journey. 

Candidate recruitment is an important practice, but contrary to the popular myth about how candidates are identified and supported, someone from the DNC does not appear on your doorstep one day out of the blue and proclaim that you should be the next state rep from Omaha. Good candidate recruitment takes interested parties, both on the candidate and organizational side, who care about their community and organizations and want to see real change.

Reviewing your tools on a yearly basis can help with organizational clarity and costs. Looking at all your subscriptions and choosing based on your needs can yield strategic clarity. 

In our line of work here at The Campaign Workshop, there are a lot of common mistakes we see in political messaging. Getting political messaging right is more art than science. You need to take a lot of things into account, including timing, authenticity, emotion, contrast, your call to action, and more. Learn the common mistakes folks make in their political messaging and how to prevent them. 

Running an effective advocacy campaign demands more than just passion and good intentions. It takes skill, strategy, planning, and a whole lot of hard work. 

So, how do you cut through the noise, build support for your cause, and create real, lasting change? The following will give you some of the essential tips for running a winning advocacy campaign and building a roadmap for success.

Running a campaign on a tight budget? We get it. That’s why we compiled a list of free tools to include in your campaign toolbox to make your efforts more efficient. From launching your campaign to streamlining operations, these free tools can make a difference. 

In local non-partisan elections, ideology matters—and so does having a vision that spans beyond anti-Trumpism. Because nonpartisan officials control budgets and make a real impact in our local communities, it is worth your time as a candidate in one of these races to cultivate a clear and appealing platform in your campaign.

Over the years we have developed a list of The Campaign Workshop’s core values that align both with the company culture we want to foster and the staff members we want to attract.

When used right, the power of advocacy storytelling with data can help move your issue forward in a compelling way; when used wrong, it can make your issue more complex than it is and put your issue at the back of the pack. Learn how to effectively incorporate data into your advocacy storytelling and bring clarity and impact to your message. 

In the wake of actions taken by the new administration, remembering that advocacy work can have a meaningful impact on the outcomes of elections can be a strong motivator. There’s still a lot of work to be done, and our opponents aren’t going to stop anytime soon.

Learn effective legislative advocacy strategies with our step-by-step guide and discover how to influence policy in your community. 

Starting a campaign is a unique challenge. From getting digital running to prioritizing fundraising and self-care, here’s what every staffer, campaign manager, and candidate should know.

As we move past the first 100 days of the Trump presidency, it’s important to be focused on growing grassroots actions for the upcoming years.

When you’re a part of an advocacy campaign, spotting issues and fixing them are not always easy. In the realm of advocacy, there will always be bumps in the road, that is the nature of making change. Identifying common advocacy hurdles and proactively planning for solutions is a good strategy that can improve your campaign. 

Campaign training can make the difference between a winning and losing campaign—especially training for volunteers. Although it’s important that you have a good candidate, campaign manager, or volunteer coordinator who can gather the volunteers, if those volunteers are not provided with training, they might not be of any help. When volunteers can provide much of your people power on a campaign, it’s important to make sure they know what they’re doing. A simple and effective way to get your volunteers up to speed is to send them to a campaign training!

When we started building training programs, we had a limited training tips to work from. However, after connecting with great mentors, going through various training programs, and learning through trial and error, we have accumulated tools to run effective training session.

Executing a successful and impactful advocacy campaign requires time, dedication, and organization. In today’s day and age, there is strong competition from various advocacy issues fighting for attention, so to run a successful campaign, you will need to be ready to hit the ground running.

As we move into 2025, more people will be dedicating time and resources to creating digital political advertising plans. The Campaign Workshop has been actively involved in digital political ads for over a decade, and each year we have seen a growing emphasis on the importance and effectiveness of digital advertising within political campaigns. 
Why spend money on digital political advertising now?

When it comes to your independent expenditure strategy, earned media doesn’t need to be your enemy, it can be your friend. Earned media can actually help you raise awareness for your independent expenditure campaign and improve engagement with your campaign amongst the general public. Whether you attract positive or negative attention, well, that’s on you!

While they share a number of similarities, independent expenditure mail and candidate campaign mail also have quite a few differences. Both independent expenditure mail and candidate campaign mail may have the same primary goal (i.e., getting a candidate elected), but the means that they use to get there can vary.