The Campaign Workshop Blog

Checkout These Amazing Nonpolitical Podcasts

I love political and nonpolitical podcasts. But with the constant stream of political discourse that is our lives, it is good to get perspective from politics and listen to the occasional nonpolitical podcast.  When I was in high school I loved the drama of old-school radio. Somewhere there are tapes of an old radio drama I produced back in the day, but today’s podcasts are certainly much nicer than my productions and a great way to learn about a variety of topics. These podcasts are more than just…

Top 5 Favorite Twitter Tools 

No matter what day or time, it feels like there are five new digital or twitter tools that are all better, faster, and bigger than the last. As political consultants, we understand the power of digital and are always the first to try out any tool. In fact, we’ve tried so many that, eventually, we narrowed them down to our favorite 100 in our 100 Best Political and Advocacy Tools. For Twitter, below are a few we really…

Why the Strongest Political Tactics Can Be Learned From Our Resist Movie List

Welcome to The Campaign Workshop’s Resist Movie List! Movies are always a good idea. I always find it cathartic to immerse myself in scripted drama as a temporary escape from the real life political drama we are all living through because we all need a temporary escape. Watching movies can ignite the resistance by reminding of political tactics we’ve used in the past.  1. A Time To Kill I get emotional every time I watch this movie. The storyline follows a father who…

Is persuasion still possible? Political scientist Joshua Kalla answers our questions

Joshua Kalla is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley whose research focuses on American political behavior and opinion. Along with Stanford’s David Broockman, Joshua Kalla co-authored a study on voter persuasion that made a splash in the media and in progressive circles in September 2017. In this study, Kalla and Broockman argue that voter persuasion through traditional campaign…

Do you know the difference between a campaign message and an issue?

A strong campaign message can mean the difference between winning and losing. In the world of political messaging especially on the progressive politics side, there is a lot of confusion between what is a campaign message and what is an issue. Why the confusion? Issue politics has become a passion and because of this many candidates and groups see the issue as the message. But this is often a mistake. …

10 Tips for Your Advocacy Marketing

If you've ever worked on an issue advocacy campaign, you know that convincing 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 into it. Below are 10 tips that can make your advocacy marketing communications more effective and accessible to your audience.  10. Set clear communications goals. As simple as it sounds setting goals is an important part of advocacy marketing, but it is a…

Bernie Horn of the Public Leadership Institute shares his insight on progressive messaging and campaign strategy.

Bernie Horn is the Senior Director for Policy and Communications at the Public Leadership Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that works with a network of 13,000 progressive state and local policymakers on a wide range of economic and social issues. Bernie Horn is the coauthor of Voicing our…

How to Use Social Activism Online and Offline. Which Tactic is Best For Your Advocacy Campaign?

When Donald Trump won the election in 2016, a wave of social activism took over the country and has been building ever since. People are taking to the streets and protesting on an almost weekly basis. Many advocacy organizations have benefited from this momentum and gained supporters and donations. For a long time, advocacy organizations and non-profits have been using online petitions as a tool to gain followers. These can be incredibly powerful as…

Crowdpac is changing the campaign fundraising game. Gisel Kordestani tells us how.

Crowdpac is crowd funding for politics.  A Crowdfunding platform founded in 2013 Crowdpac makes it easier for political campaigns to fundraise at the grassroots level. Coming from a tech background, COO and co-founder Gisel Kordestani wanted to apply her business experience to make a positive social impact. We chatted with her about the unique features of Crowdpac and the importance of making political engagement as accessible as possible. 1. Is there something…

A strong email campaign management strategy makes for a winning email campaign 

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for an email campaign, but a solid email campaign management strategy can make all the difference for your organization or political campaign. Cultivating a fruitful relationship with your supporters takes time, planning, and strategy. Check out our email campaign management tips below to get the process started!  1. Plan Ahead Planning ahead is of the most important aspects of email campaign management. Make an email calendar,…