The Campaign Workshop Blog

What Metrics Should I Care About for My Digital Advocacy Campaign? 

Every digital advocacy campaign is different and has unique goals. Therefore, there are a variety of metrics that you should focus on depending on your goals. There is not a one-size-fits-all benchmark or metric to track the success of every digital advocacy campaign. For example, if you are running a donations campaign to raise money for your cause, the metrics you track will be very different from the metrics you would track if you were running an accountability campaign. It’…

How Political and Social Movements in 1978 Transformed San Francisco

Lincoln Mitchell is a political analyst and writer based in New York and San Francisco. In his book, San Francisco Year Zero: Political Upheaval, Punk Rock and a Third Place Baseball Team, Mitchell explores how San Francisco became a city of contradictions as one of the most socially liberal cities with some of the worst income inequality in the United States. As a native of San Francisco, he explores 3 key events from 1978 from a personal and political lens to explain how…

Online Petitions Can Build Your Email List 

You don’t need a clipboard for online petitions, but you do need a strategy. Online petitions are a great way to bolster your supporter base around an issue. You can use a digital action as a hook to get folks involved with your campaign or cause in the long run. List building isn’t always easy, quick, or cheap—make sure you plan ahead so you can do it right and make the most out of your new supporters. How do online petitions work? There are a couple different reliable, cost-efficient ways to go…

Five Tips to Win Your Down-Ballot Race

Down-ballot races are great for first-time candidates or folks who want to start working on campaigns. Getting involved in your local or state government is an important and noble task. State and local governments combined spend more than the federal government and some county governments are bigger than state governments.  There is a lot of opportunity for public service in down ballot offices.  Although there can be many to choose from and it’s a great opportunity to get involved, you’ll want to keep…

Political Printing: 8 Tips for Checking a Printer Proof

So you send your final political direct mail file off to the printer and breathe a sigh of relief—until you get your printer proof. Now what? The political printing process continues long after you finalize designing and proofing your direct mail file in-house. After you send off your final political direct mail file, the printer will send you back something called a print proof that you need to approve. A print proof is an exact mockup of what your piece will look like when it prints so…

What Is a Vote Goal? What is a Vote Deficit? Why Do I Need Them?

When you’re thinking of running for office, one of the very first things you should do is bust out your trusty calculator and calculate your campaign’s vote goal. Simply put, your vote goal is the number of votes needed to win your election. Your campaign has one goal: to convince enough voters to show up to the polls on Election Day (or to vote early) and vote for you. To achieve that goal, you’ll want to know how many of those voters you need to actually be successful. Knowing…

Storytelling Tips to Strengthen Your Campaign Communications

Storytelling in campaign communications can have a powerful impact on your advocacy campaign, member outreach or political communications. There are many ways to bolster your message, from numbers and statistics to expert testimony to eye-catching visuals, but one tactic that sometimes gets overlooked is storytelling.  An effective advocacy campaign communications program will work to foster its supporters who have personal connections to issues and organizations into storytellers.…

Why We Use Union Printers and Union Printing

Here at The Campaign Workshop (TCW), we work exclusively with union printers. Union printers are not only committed to providing a safe workplace and fair wages but also benefits to their employees. Without going into a massive labor history lesson, unions are really important both to the middle class in this country and the progressive movement; something we certainly can get behind at TCW!  Why progressive candidates need to use union printers: With the decline in union membership and a reduction…

How to Use Your Budget for Nonprofit Ads Wisely

To make the most of their budget for nonprofit ads, a lot of advocacy organizations will look for ways to increase their membership or put public pressure on legislators. The best way to accomplish both of these goals may be through a CPA campaign. CPA stands for cost per acquisition, which means that the campaign is priced out based on the cost for each name you acquire, often via a petition campaign. Petitions can show widespread support for a specific issue to a legislator, or help an…

Spoiler: We Can All Be Good Community Advocates.

When people hear the terms “grassroots organizers” or “community advocates” they often do not see themselves reflected in those descriptions. However, very often they have already been an advocate without even realizing it. Community advocates are anyone advocating or speaking out on behalf of themselves, another person or a cause. Some simple examples of community advocacy are parents who speak out on behalf of their children in school when there is a problem, or someone speaking out on behalf…

Why Does Paper for Political Direct Mail Printing Matter?

When it comes to political direct mail printing paper, there are as many choices as there are types of coffee drinks at your local Starbucks. Each paper type has specific characteristics that influence printability, color, texture, and price. Which option you choose depends on your budget, design, and overall goals.  Most political direct mail printing paper starts out as wood fiber-based, uncoated paper. Some paper stocks, such as a matte paper stock, leave the paper uncoated and…

Build Better Advocacy with a Plan for Nonprofit Storytelling

Nonprofit storytelling is a powerful tool, but it often falls off the radar when push comes to shove, probably because it takes significant time and people resources to do well. This post will walk you through why it should always be part of your planning and priorities, how to weave it into things you’re already doing (it doesn’t have to be a heavy lift if you do it a little at a time) and some of the elements of compelling storytelling.  The purpose of nonprofit storytelling is to…

Don’t Neglect Social Media in Your Political Digital Campaign Strategy - 

Whether you’re running for your local school board or the U.S. Senate, social media will likely be a prong of your political digital campaign strategy. Strong digital campaigns meet people where they are online, and the numbers don’t lie—social media remains an omnipresent force in our world, with more than…

How to Get the Most out of Your Political Printing

The world of political printing is varied, vast and mysterious for many. But it doesn’t have to be a mystery (unless you’re into intrigue, in which case, I’m sure you can keep the mystery alive in whatever manner floats your boat)—this blog will help you navigate the ins and outs of choosing a printer for your political work. From direct mail, to yard signs (buyer beware, they don’t vote!) to walk lit, the world of…

Become an Expert With These 10 Digital Advertising Acronyms

When I entered the digital advertising world a little over a year and a half ago without any prior experience or educational background in the field, I never expected that one of the largest challenges I would face would be getting the hang of the digital advertising acronyms. DSP, DMP, CPM, CPA, CTR... what do they all mean? Understanding these acronyms will help you communicate better with digital vendors and allow you to ask the right questions. Luckily, we’re here to help. Below is…