The Campaign Workshop Blog

Get Your Political Campaign Website Ready for the New Year

A political campaign website is one of the most important early investments a campaign can make. Your website gives voters a place where they can learn more about your campaign and where you can spin your narrative however you want. Until recently, websites costed thousands of dollars to develop and required many months of careful planning and plenty of time to build. Nowadays, there’s an abundance of easy-to-use templates at your disposal – it’s no longer a significant cost investment…

Building Advocacy Campaigns on Winning Advocacy Strategies

Advocacy campaigns should be built on advocacy strategies. Simple, right? But creating a strong foundation for an advocacy campaign is sometimes easier said than done. If you’re planning an advocacy campaign, you’re probably passionate about an issue. Make sure all that time and effort (not to mention the unavoidable frustration that comes with any campaign) are invested in a campaign that has a fighting chance to succeed. With some careful planning and resilience, you can make the…

 Stay on Message: A Good Campaign Message Helps Campaign and Advocacy Goals. 

Is Your campaign message ready for 2022?  You may be wondering how to stay on message in the new year in order to meet your goals. The new year will bring with it plenty of forums, debates, and other public speaking events that will serve as opportunities to share your campaign message with diverse audiences. Maintaining a strong, consistent message will prove crucial as we inch closer to primaries and Election Day. Read on for some ways to help yourself stay on…

Your Democratic Direct Mail Questions Answered

What does a campaign mail firm do? Admit it, this is a question that a lot of people have asked but never got a clear answer. Well, never fear, after producing winning Democratic direct mail for over ten years, The Campaign Workshop is here with answers. Your mail firm is an integral part of your campaign’s communication team. They are available to provide you with advice on the best ways to message your campaign, interpret polling data, and formulate your message in order to create a comprehensive…

Is Virtual Training the Right Option for You? 

Thinking about virtual training? As a company, we create and run political, campaign, and advocacy training programs for groups and organizations. Since 2009, we had done all our training in person, but Covid-19 changed that. We now do a mix of virtual and in-person training on a wide range of topics from advocacy, and candidate training, to board facilitation. Training is not a one-size-fits-all solution and different kinds of training, in-person, virtual, and hybrid, can all help you achieve your…

A Successful Virtual Fundraising Event Starts with a Plan 

Virtual fundraising is not easy. These tips will help you build a virtual fundraising event plan. No matter the size, let us share our experience on what fundraising mistakes to avoid and how to launch and execute a successful virtual fundraiser.   Getting started: Good virtual fundraising events are not organized and executed overnight. The main components of a successful fundraising event are linked to what you do before, during, and after the event.  Have virtual fundraising goals:…

Virtual Meetings Don’t Have to Suck: Learn How to Make Remote Meetings Work for You

Virtual meetings don’t have to suck. Due to COVID-19, most organizations are Zoomed out, but virtual meetings are not going away anytime soon. Learn how to get the most out your Zoom meetings while being informative and engaging.   Have an agenda: An actual agenda for a meeting may sound basic, but there are lots of folks who have meetings without one. Always do it.  Make it short: Don’t keep talking for the sake of it. Virtual meetings should be efficient–keep…

Canvassing Rural Areas: Door to Door Is Not the Same Everywhere

Canvassing rural areas present a unique set of challenges. You want to door knock as many homes in these areas as you can. Grassroots canvassing is the most effective method of volunteer voter contact so plan for the door-to-door canvas program to take time and resources. You also want to be conscious of your resources and canvas in a way that makes sense for both you and your canvassers. Below are some of our favorite grassroots campaigning suggestions to overcome the challenges…

2022 Campaign Management Tools: What You Need to Know

Looking for campaign management tools?  So, you are gearing up your political campaign or advocacy program for the 2022 cycle, and you’re already starting to find that you can’t possibly keep track of every campaign tool you need. Fear not. We are back with our 4th edition of the 100+ Best Campaign Management Tools List. This year’s version will make your campaign tools choice easier…

Peer-to-Peer Texting is Changing: Understand the Landscape

Whether you like peer-to-peer texting or hate it, it is essential to understand it if you run an organization or a political campaign. This is due to a changing landscape with real implications for fundraising, organizing, and voter turnout activities in the short and long term.  Textpallooza: Over the past two election cycles, the volume of peer-to-peer and political texting has increased with almost no end in sight. There is a lot to like about texting as a communications medium. The…

Do Not Buy a Political Email List – Learn to Build One

There are ads all over the internet to buy a political email. As easy as it sounds, do not do it – do not buy a political email list. They are waste of money, can hurt your online reputation and upset constituents. Instead, build a list organically. Building a political email list is a daunting task, but with a few tactics, planning and patience, you can increase your supporter base.  What is a political email list?: We define a political email list as an email list of folks to engage,…

7 Questions with Tim Gibbs

Tim Gibbs has worked in the public policy sphere for more than 20 years, where he helped pass impactful laws at both the municipal and state levels. In the last five years, Gibbs played a critical role in passing over 100 local ordinances, including successfully advocating against the sale of flavored tobacco products within various urban and rural areas of California. Gibbs also has significant ballot initiative experience. One of his successes includes the approval of Proposition 56 in 2016, which increased…

What Does Political Organizing Look Like from our 2021 Crystal Ball? 

We’ve written a lot about political organizing and tactics like canvassing and phone banking in the past. But what does the future of political organizing hold in a post-pandemic world? Will digital be more important than in-person? How will grassroots and tech work together? What will the role of data be?  As a former grassroots political organizer who likes to stay up-to-date on all the latest trends, allow me to dust off our crystal ball once again and give you our take on…

IssueVoter: Maria Yuan discusses civic engagement

IssueVoter founder Maria Yuan decided to start the nonpartisan platform after working on a successful political campaign in one of Iowa’s swing districts and for a Texas State Representative. The organization seeks to increase civic engagement and communication between constituents and their members of Congress. In this interview, Maria discusses her experience running IssueVoter and how her platform connects constituents with their Congressional representatives.    1. Why did you start…

Digital Campaigns - Make Digital Advocacy Easy to Find

When it comes to digital campaigns an organic approach is often overlooked. The first place most of us look to answer a question is online. But often digital advocacy campaigns and political campaigns forget about search especially organic search in their digital strategy. Start with a plan: Advocacy organizations, Associations and political campaigns need to plan for organic search - specifically Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in their digital campaigns.…