The Campaign Workshop Blog

Here Are Some Common Mistakes That Political Campaign Websites Make

In 2019, candidates must have political campaign websites. Not that long ago, websites cost 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. Some of the most tech-savvy among us will even build their campaign websites themselves. But with the democratizing of the website building process, we’ve seen political campaigns inadvertently skip steps and…

Demystifying Your Political Campaign’s Digital Report

Now more than ever, digital programs are integral parts of almost any political campaign and learning how to read a digital report is crucial. Understanding digital reports not only allows you to understand how your digital campaign is performing, but also allows you to make optimizations to ensure that you are making as large of an impact as possible.…

Don't Let Errors Mar Your Political Direct Mail

When it comes to producing political direct mail, it’s crucial to vet your copy before any piece goes out the door to avoid mistakes. As people in my life dating back to the second grade can probably tell you, typos are the bane of my existence (everyone has their thing). Minor mistakes in writing can sometimes warrant a laugh or be just momentarily cringe-worthy. We’ve all made errors in our spelling or grammar in final products at one point or another—famous authors, New York Times columnists,…

Voter Contact: Political House Party Dos and Don'ts

Everyone loves a good party, however, when it comes to a political house party you want to make sure it is serving the purpose of your campaign. Specifically, you want your political house party as a tactic for voter contact, especially around primaries and special elections. It is a good way to get a candidate to engage in their community quickly, in-person, and authentically. Some may say this is an old-school technique, but we have added in some new-school tactics, like SMS, to make it…

Grassroots Advocacy 101 with Joshua Habursky

Joshua Habursky is the Founder and Chairman of the Grassroots Professional Network (GPN), an organization that helps associations, corporations, and government agencies develop skills in the world of grassroots advocacy. Joshua is also an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management and specializes in advocacy communications. He is currently the Head of Federal Affairs at the Premium Cigar Association where he works on campaigns that help advance the…

7 Questions with Lewis Granofsky, Partner at FieldWorks on Ballot Measures and Ballot Campaigns

Lewis Granofsky is a successful and experienced political and grassroots organizer, and a partner at FieldWorks. He has extensive field experience managing ballot initiatives, community-based marketing programs, canvassing, and activist recruitment. Lewis has managed numerous successful outreach and fundraising canvasses for organizations such as The Sierra Club, Human Rights Campaign, SEIU, and many more groups. Lewis has also developed and expanded…

Ensure you Hire the Right Political Campaign Manager 

Whether you're running for city council or congress, hiring a skilled political campaign manager is an essential part of your electoral success. From brainstorming campaign strategies and managing budgets to prepping a candidate for public appearances, the political campaign manager is the backbone of every campaign. To save yourself from unnecessary stress down the line, it's crucial that you hire a capable manager to run your campaign. We want to help you with your search. Below…

Build Your Candidate Website to Engage with Voters

Building a candidate website is one of the first steps you and your team need to take after you decide to run for office. But a lot of candidate websites end up coming across as clunky, hard to use, or dated. Your website is the first version of you that many voters are introduced to, so it needs to make the right impression. Below are a few simple best practices to make sure you get the most out of your candidate website.    Navigation Your website needs to be easy for voters to use,…

Zvi Band on Making the Most of Your Personal Network to Achieve Your Goals

  Zvi Band is the co-founder and CEO of Contactually, a CRM that empowers professionals to build authentic and lasting relationships. Zvi is an engineer, an entrepreneur, a developer, and a strategist based in DC. He has been named a Washingtonian Tech Titan three times and has been featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Zvi Band's recently published book, Success Is in Your Sphere, dives into the importance of deepening the relationships within your…

How Can I know If My Political Campaign Has Reached Saturation

A question we are asked frequently is how a political campaign can assess if they have reached saturation with their digital program. As with lots of things digital, the answer isn’t totally cut and dry, but we have some tips for you to assess whether or not your political campaign is reaching saturation within your target audience.  First, you’ll want to start with your vote goal – how…

How to Run a Political Campaign without Partisan Labels 

Around the country, a lot of municipalities require that any mayoral and city council candidate run their political campaign in nonpartisan races. This means that candidates don’t run with an R or a D next to their names on the ballot. In many of these races, candidates will run at first in a primary and then a runoff or a general election, which take place if none of the candidates exceed a 50% threshold. In these races, voters who are paying close attention to the candidates will often…

Gabriele Magni Answers 7 Questions on Candidate Identity Research

Gabriele Magni is a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University’s Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance who recently conducted research on how candidate identity (e.g. race, gender, and sexual orientation) can influence electability. The research was conducted alongside Andrew Reynolds, a political science professor at the University of…

How to Create a Campaign Digital Budget That Makes an Impact

When you’re setting up a communications program for your political campaign, one of the hardest questions you’ll face is how much your campaign digital budget should be. When you’re thinking through your budget, there are three main factors that will influence how much money you put into digital.   Who is your audience? When trying to decide what portion of…

When Should I Drop My Political Mailers?  

For any campaign that is investing in political mailers, the timing of that campaign mail is a crucial question. Most political direct mail consultants will talk about the political mailer sending date in terms of the "drop date." This is the date that a printer physically delivers your political mailers to United States Postal Service (USPS), typically at a Sectional Center Facility (SCF). Most political mail consultants are set up to deliver to SCFs, but it’s worth checking with your own consultants…

Win Your Primary with Direct Mail!

Direct mail can be your campaign saving grace. Running for office can be overwhelming. There is a steep learning curve with very little room for error and a lot to consider. Always remember that once you formulate a strong, clear message for your campaign, the most important part of a primary campaign is getting that message out to voters. What better way to do this than via direct mail?   Why mail? It's efficient: In fact, sending direct mail is the most cost-efficient way to send voters a paid…