The Campaign Workshop Blog

Last year I spoke to a group of legislators at the Public Leadership Institute. There were a lot of great questions, and the crowd was so much fun that I decided to turn the highlights into this week's post.

It’s difficult to recruit volunteers for any political or advocacy campaign in the first place—not everyone has the time, energy, or desire to clock in unpaid hours for a candidate or cause that they support. But it can be even harder to retain volunteers in your grassroots organization once you get them in the door.

Digital Advocacy is on everyone's mind. Last month, I attended the Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washington, D.C. and one panel caught my eye: New Tools From the 2016 Elections That Nonprofit Techies Need to Know About. Given that our clients are both campaigns and nonprofits, it was a perfect fit. 

It seems like every month there is a new social media platform taking off that those of us who do digital work hear about from our clients (Peach anyone?). While the instinct is to be on every channel to reach the most people, it can work against engagement.

While blogging is undoubtedly an important element of any nonprofit content marketing plan, there are a number of other ways to use your team’s knowledge to promote your organization. These methods will increase traffic to your site and boost brand awareness. Here are a few:

Before a content launch, it is useful to have a system or checklist to make sure people know your new product exists and engages with it. This is a critical part of tour content's early success. This system is more than a tweet or a release—it is a holistic approach to all of it.

We all love life hacks. I’ll read any article that promises to show me “10 ways to be more productive at the office” or “15 secrets to make your morning better” or “5 ways to pack a healthier lunch.” Even if I just glean a single tip from the list, the sparkling promise of ease and order will hook me every time. That was why I was excited to try out the Hemingway Editor, a website that’s designed to show you simple ways to make your writing “bold and clear.”

Sometimes jargon prevents us from learning about useful tools. Recently I had a conversation with a client who asked me what is an API?  An API, or application program interface, is a portal to allow connection between databases, apps, or programs.

As political consultants, it's no secret that here at The Campaign Workshop we love words. We thrive on combining short, powerful phrases with impactful images to make eye-catching online ads. We dig into topics like GOTV, advocacy, and storytelling in our ebooks and guest blog posts. And in our office, we happen to have a tiny library (OK, so it’s really just a shelf in our conference room) where the staff can turn for inspiration, history or other political or consulting books once the crush of the presidential election is over.

By the end of the year folks will be going to conferences again.  Conference ROI is important to understand whether or not certain conferences are worth the investment and time. Every year my employees and I go many conferences Virtual and some day in person for both learning and marketing. I believe every conference  - I learn something. Prior to focusing on return on investment (ROI), we never a had a formal process for retaining knowledge from a conference. So a few months ago we implemented a simple plan to document conference ROI.

YouTube is the core platform for many folks when it comes to nonprofit video content. There is a whole culture around YouTube, and many folks just assume that it is the only platform to use to host your videos.

Since Facebook video launched on newsfeeds, it’s become one of the largest video platforms in the world. Due to the natural social pressure of the environment, it’s also a great place to run ads to promote your branding, persuade voters, and gain support for your advocacy or political campaign. Make sure you’re getting the most out of Facebook video for advocacy and politics with my three can’t-miss tips.