The Campaign Workshop Blog

Earned Media Can Help You Gain the Trust of the General Public

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!   Independent expenditures have a bad rap Overall, independent expenditure campaigns get a bad rap. Because they are…

Tips You Can Use as You’re Setting Up Your Digital Targeting and Messaging for Your Independent Expenditure Campaign

Independent expenditure campaigns play a unique role in an election, largely by filling gaps campaigns have. These gaps are often caused by resources being directed elsewhere and independent expenditures can help bolster a campaign by targeting audiences with messaging that candidate campaigns either can’t or won’t reach.   Targeting Candidate campaigns should have a distinct set of targets they are going after, not only in…

Make Sure You’ve Completed Any Verifications You Need to Run Political Ads on Facebook, Twitter, or Google

If you’re running political ads for your independent expenditure campaign, you already have to make extra sure that everything you’re doing and saying is legal. All of your content will likely need to be reviewed by lawyers, especially if it could be controversial. But one area that’s relatively new to this kind of review is making sure your digital ad accounts and/or pages have been verified to run political ads in the US. Following the…

How Could an Independent Expenditure Get Assets from the Campaign, If They Even Can in the First Place?

What information independent expenditure campaigns can use depends on who you ask, and what set of law 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 video publicly available on their website (the best example of this being “McConnelling”, which went viral in 2014…

Define Your Independent Expenditure Strategy Before You Start

When running an independent expenditure campaign, it’s important that you develop an independent expenditure strategy that accomplishes your goals. We’ve written in the past about tips for running an independent expenditure campaign, but now it’s time to get into specifics about how to be strategic about your campaign. Although the “independent” in independent expenditure generally means…

The Only Thing Missing from This Direct Mail Is Snoop Dogg

The words, “cool” and “direct mail,” don’t immediately seem to go together. And it’s true, a lot of direct mail is uncool (let’s just be honest here). But just like Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg’s delightful friendship, sometimes an unlikely pairing is a fantastic fit. What I’m about to detail for you is cool direct mail. Buckle up. Not long ago, I received a letter package in the mail. Though I typically allow mail to languish on my console table, I opened this piece promptly (full…

Leverage Social Media in Your Direct Mail

An 8.5 x 11 piece of cardstock may not sound like a thrilling medium for relaying your campaign message to voters at first blush, but direct mail leaves a lot of room for creativity. In fact, if you’re running an independent expenditure (IE) campaign, mail can be one of the most effective ways to make a difference for the candidate you’re supporting. What’s more, your mail doesn’t have to be disconnected from the digital sphere—mail and social media can be the perfect complements to make your messaging…

 

Deciding to Put A Ballot Measure On the Ballot-Go Or No-Go

In today’s political climate of political partisanship and mistrust, constituents are turning to ballot measures to bypass traditional government controls to pass legislation. Take some of the most notable 2018 ballot measure topics and trends: Legalization of medical or recreational marijuana Minimum wage increases Abortion access and funding Restrictions or limitations on taxes Medicaid expansion *If you’re interested in learning more about current ballot measures in your state,…

Building A Strong Coalition For Your Ballot Measure Campaign Is Critical To Ensuring Success On Election Day. 

Ballot measures are a cornerstone to our democracy and an important medium for citizens to influence and create public policy through the electoral system. It allows everyday people to craft policy language, garner support, and put ideas up for a public vote. Ballot measures have been used to both expand rights to citizens and also restrict rights to certain communities and groups of people. With no candidate at the center, ballot…

Tailoring Digital Best Practices for Your Ballot Measure Campaign

Just like all campaigns, a good ballot measure campaign will include a strong digital presence on both organic and paid media. One big differentiator for ballot measure campaigns is that you’ll likely need to focus on persuasion more heavily than with other campaigns. You also may need to do more explaining as to what the ballot measure is about, why it’s important to vote for or against it, and how it appears on the ballot. Here are some great digital tactics you can use to make…