The Campaign Workshop Blog, is hosted by The Campaign Workshop - an advocacy and political consulting firm. We write about tactics for advocacy, membership, civic engagement, and progressive politics.  We post weekly, and also publish ebooks, host webinars, and The How to Win a Campaign Podcast. Sign up to learn more.   

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Advocacy strategies

Advocacy Strategy Tools to Build Your Advocacy Organization

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

Advocacy strategies can be time-consuming to create and difficult to execute. We have written often about the core elements of an advocacy plan, but taking the time to develop your advocacy strategy is an important step. But where do you begin? Try using strategy tools.

advocacy hurdles

Advocacy Hurdles - Improve and Win Your Advocacy Campaign

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

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. 

member communications

Member Communication: Make Membership Outreach Count

by Martín Diego Garcia (He/Him)

For organizations large and small, member communication is the key to activating your people ahead of elections and key legislative votes. Depending on the size and nature of your group, your membership may be 1) unified around clear shared goals, or 2) dedicated to the same overarching values but at odds when it comes to the means for achieving them.

independent expenditure campaign

Independent Expenditure Campaign Tips for Digital Targeting & Messaging

by Julie Watson (She/Her)

Independent expenditure campaigns play a unique and vital role in many elections. They can support candidate campaigns by filling the gaps that they may have in their strategies, resources, or messages. These independent campaigns can use digital advertising to target different audiences, convey different messages, and use different tactics than candidate campaigns. This can help the candidate campaigns reach, persuade, and mobilize more voters.

advocacy marketing

10 Tips to Amp Up Your Advocacy Marketing

If you've ever worked on an issue advocacy campaign, you know that convincing a person to even listen to your message can be a difficult task. Now, more than ever, public opinion has become harder to shape when people tune out information more than they tune it in.

campaign message

Campaign Message Vs. Issue—What’s the Difference?

by Tobias Cebulash (He/Him)

A strong campaign message can be the linchpin that differentiates success from failure. However, a common source of confusion in campaigns is the conflation of a campaign message with a central issue. The reason behind this confusion is the passion that fuels issue politics—which often drives candidates and advocacy groups to perceive their chosen issue as their core message. This is a mistake. A campaign message is not merely a reflection of an issue or set of issues; rather, it seeks to establish a more profound connection between the candidate or campaign and the voters they are reaching out to.

Campaign Message

Strategies for a Consistent Campaign Message

by Enrique Rivas (He/Him)

For those of us who closely follow political debates and electoral politics, only a few things are as disheartening as seeing our favorite candidate veer off course from their intended candidate messaging. Whether it’s a rant, a lengthy tirade, or a complete departure from their message, it’s truly frustrating to see them lose their way to the point of becoming incoherently off track.

independent expenditure campaign

6 Tips for Your Independent Expenditure Campaign

Many people think about creating an independent expenditure campaign (IE campaign), but very few will actually take the time to do it. If you don't know a lot about IE’s, check out our IE FAQ here. IE campaigns should work to accomplish two goals:

A thumbs up hand on the right and a thumbs down hand with chalk on the left side on a blue backdrop

Independent Expenditure Campaigns: What They Can and Can't Use

by Tobias Cebulash (He/Him)

What information independent expenditure (IE) campaigns can use depends on who you ask, and what set of laws you’re covered by. In recent years, you may have seen candidate campaigns that appear to bend over backward to make photos and b-roll videos publicly available on their website (a classic example of this being “McConnelling,” which went viral in 2014). Why? What are voters going to do with all this stuff? Well, it turns out that in most cases, the audience isn’t the run-of-the-mill voter at all. These campaigns may instead be trying to make information publicly available for independent expenditure campaigns to use.

Favorite Podcasts

TCW's Favorite Podcasts

by Elizabeth Rowe (She/Her)

We love podcasts here at The Campaign Workshop. When we're not busy working on our own podcast, How to Win a Campaign, we love learning, laughing, and growing through our favorite podcasts and hosts. Jump into fall by checking out the top podcast recommendations from The Campaign Workshop staff.

Political Photography Tips

Political Campaign Photography

by Julie Watson (She/Her)

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially in the world of political communications, where space is limited, and readers’ attention spans are minimal. This means that the images you choose for your campaign are critical and will likely require some level of investment.

Favorite Books

TCW's Favorite Books of the Summer

by Elizabeth Rowe (She/Her)

Summer is a time for rest, relaxation, and yes, reading! Summer may be ending but check out the top 2023 reading recommendations from The Campaign Workshop Staff. Check out our staff’s picks for the best books of their 2023 summer!

party convention

How to Win a Party Convention Fight

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

In the world of political campaigns political power is often achieved through the party convention process. Whether you are running for state representative, county office, or President of the United States conventions still matter in many places.

Training Tips

Training Tips from The Campaign Workshop

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

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.

row of customer service representatives at work

Patch-Through Calls: What Are They & When to Use Them

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

Organizations and campaigns have used patch-through calls for years when they need many people to reach out to elected officials. But in an era of cord-cutting and digital everything, will folks still take the time to get patched-through to a lawmaker? And will lawmakers listen? The answer is maybe.

Texting fot advocacy

Texting for Advocacy | Using SMS for Nonprofits

by Alice McLoughlin (She/Her)

Have you been implementing SMS for advocacy, or texting for advocacy, into your issue advocacy or public affairs campaigns? Texting for advocacy is an important tool for nonprofits and organizations creating an issue advocacy communications program.

Advocacy Emails

Advocacy Email Campaigns: Don't Ignore Email for Advocacy

Advocacy emails are a powerful tool. For many groups and organizations, advocacy emails can amplify their message in a positive way. As you are probably well aware, most people use their email for both work and personal use, so communicating with your supporters with this medium is a logical choice.

advocacy video

Setting up your Advocacy Video for Success

We have all seen the exponential rise of short, viral videos in the last few years¬–so how can we garner the same popularity for advocacy videos? As social media platforms continue to expand and become more popular, creating videos for your campaign can prove to be a worthwhile financial and creative investment. 

Online Advocacy

Media Buying for Online Advocacy

by Julie Watson (She/Her)

Online advocacy campaigns are a powerful way to raise awareness, mobilize supporters, and influence decision-makers on a variety of issues and causes. Selecting the most effective types of digital media to use is essential for maximizing impact and engaging with your target audience.

advocacy engagement

Advocacy Engagement, Tactics and Strategies Evolved

by Martín Diego Garcia (He/Him)

Engaging individuals in advocacy efforts is an essential part of creating lasting change. But it can be a challenge to get people to take meaningful action, and even more challenging to keep them engaged over the long term. That's where the advocacy engagement funnel comes in.