The Campaign Workshop Blog

Digital Advertising Acronyms - Key Terms for Political & Advocacy Digital Ads

When entering  the digital advertising world without any prior experience or  background in the field, one of the largest challenges you will face would be getting the hang of all of the digital advertising acronyms. Digital advertising has its own language DSP, DMP, CPM, CPA, CTR... What do all these ad terms 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…

Tully Message Box: The Foundation of a Winning Political Campaign

The Tully message box, also just called a message box, is a simple tool that campaigns have been using for years. A message box can be used to create a specific theme, message, and strategy. Named for Democratic strategist Paul Tully, the Tully message box helps to visually break down four important components that will help any campaign craft their communications.  The beauty of the Tully message box is its simplicity. You don’t have to be a highly experienced political…

Check Out These Dos and Don’ts on Political Printing to Learn How to Avoid Common Mistakes. 

Regardless of how you cut it, writing and producing quality political direct mail and doing political printing is no easy task. There are a lot of things that go into quality political printing, and it takes quite a bit of time and practice to be able to do it well. With that said, below is a quick list of dos and don’ts to producing quality political printing. DO'S Use Big Fonts That Jump Out It’s a simple fact—the average voter is older. By the nature…

Political Campaign Budget Reality Check

If there’s one common thread that runs through the progressive movement and Democratic political campaigns, it’s that they are very often operating with a limited budget. This fact makes having a political campaign budget critically important, because you have to be strategic with how your resources are spent and get the most bang for your buck. A political campaign budget can go in an endless series of directions that all lead to a win. But many campaigns get into trouble when they don’t have a written…

Presentation Tools To Make Your Presentation Engaging

By using presentation tools, you’ll never give a bad or boring presentation again. Well, we hope not! The reality is that presentations don’t always take priority when you’re busy trying to run a campaign, manage a business or non-profit, or build an advocacy network. However, we‘ve all had to sit through a bad presentation—the presenter rambled on, there was no structure, the…

Digital Campaigns And Political Campaigns - Better Together

Digital campaigns for political causes have come a long way since we ran our first one in 2003 for the League of Conservation Voters in Colorado. We created a pretty rudimentary animated flash ad of gas spewing out of a car driven by Pete Coors. It got some good engagement and was pretty cheap to make, but digital advertising has changed a lot in the years between then and now. Every candidate or organization should be using digital campaigns to some extent, but which platforms and how…

Political Direct Mail: Republican and Democratic Mailers Have A Lot In Common 

As a Democratic consulting firm, we are frequently asked if there is a partisan difference in political direct mail. The short answer? Not really. Of course, there are vast differences when it comes to message, but regardless of party, both sides use similar strategies to reach voters. From a design, creative, and targeting standpoint, there is little disparity between Democratic and Republican direct mail.  In fact, if you notice major differences between any two…

 Absentee Voting & Early Vote To Help Your Membership Organization

In 2020, a majority of states in the country have no-excuse absentee voting or early voting. If you are trying to get more members in your membership organization to vote and engage in elections, early and absentee voting is an opportunity you can leverage. When it comes to early and absentee voting laws, many states have changed for the better over the last few years. With New Jersey and New York passing early vote and absentee voting laws, the majority of the US population…

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 pretty 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…

Alison Schwartz: Remote Work for Non-profits During COVID-19

Alison Schwartz: Guest Post  With what feels like the entire country moving to remote work, I have been thinking a lot about what a successful culture looks like when it comes to remote work for non-profits. Having been a part of organizational leadership, I know the level of intentionality that must be applied when everything is normal to create a healthy and vibrant work culture – but what happens when everyone goes remote, especially during a crisis like COVID-19? When we can no…

Understanding Coronavirus Digital Trends and Adapting Your Program for the New Normal

In the last few weeks, a lot has changed in our world, and we’ve gotten numerous requests for more information about coronavirus digital trends and changes in media consumption in general. Never one to stand between people and what they want, I’ve pulled together a list of some of the things we’re seeing in our work, and from partners and clients. Understanding the current digital landscape is an important piece of the puzzle as we try to navigate member…

Digital Campaign In-House or Hire a Firm?

Whether you are working on a political or advocacy campaign, a digital campaign will likely be a major part of your communications budget. If executed well, digital—from organic social media posts to programmatic advertising—gives you the ability to communicate with voters that you never could otherwise reach, and to hyper-target ads to specific lists or segments of voters. That being said…

Political Polling In a Pandemic- 7 Questions with Alan Secrest  

Alan Secrest has been polling for 35 years and reached out with some insights into political polling during a crisis:   1. Why is live-call political polling beneficial at this moment in time? Political polling is an invaluable part of any campaign strategy at any time. One of the benefits of having conducted live-call polls for over thirty years is the opportunity to identify and…

A Campaign Plan Is Your Roadmap to Success

A written campaign plan is the key to winning your race. Every campaign comes with unknown variables, but the more you plan, the better prepared you’ll be to roll with the punches. Remember, Alex Honnold didn’t free solo Yosemite’s El Capitan by winging it—he planned his unroped climbing route meticulously and trained diligently to execute the most impressive athletic feat of our…

Fire My Political Consultant, - Is It the Right Time? 

Many experienced campaign managers or operatives can recall a bad experience with a political consultant. Perhaps the consultant didn’t deliver what they promised, they were unresponsive, or they didn’t hit deadlines. Depending on how far out you are from Election Day, this can lead to some tough decisions.  Maybe you’re the candidate and you’re 100 days out from your election. Your campaign is behind in the polls, not getting press attention, and you don’t have as much money in the bank as…