Campaign Consultant

10 Questions You Should Not Be Afraid to Ask When Hiring a Political Direct Mail Firm.  

A Campaign Manager Is Worth Every Penny

Political Campaign Photography Shoots Are Worth the Money

Good political campaign photography is a must.

Good political campaign photography is the cornerstone of a quality communications program. We’ve all seen bad political advertising. It’s a kind of bad that transcends the traditional meaning of the word. But it doesn’t have to be all European stock photos misused in Kentucky or stock photos of supposed endorsers (good grief, do NOT do this!). We can do better.

Online Advocacy Campaign Consultants: Is It Worth the Cost to Hire a Consultant to Manage Your Online Presence?

Online advocacy seems to be the term of the moment, but achieving real online advocacy results can be tough in both execution and budget.  If you are at a nonprofit where money is tight, (when is it not?) spending money on hiring a online advocacy consultant to manage your online presence can seem like an easy line item to cut. But don’t be so quick to count campaign consultants out. Depending on your nonprofit’s size and goals, an online advocacy consultant could be extremely beneficial (and we’re not just saying that because of our line of work).

This month’s political consultant is Stefan Hankin

7 questions with "The Campaign Doctor" Craig Varoga

Craig Varoga provides public affairs assistance and campaign services to a select group of public, private and non-profit organizations.  His firm offers clients strategic guidance in analyzing public opinion and developing strategies to achieve long-term goals. He answered seven questions on his experience with campaigns. 

1. How long have you been writing The Campaign Doctor column?

Campaign Strategist; Nancy Leeds

This week's campaign strategist is Nancy Leeds. Nancy is a writer and Political Campaign Operative who recently earned her MPA in Social Policy and Management at Columbia University. Sometimes people hire her to work on their non-profits and campaigns. When that happens, these opinions are still hers and do not reflect those of her candidates.

Figure out when it makes sense to add campaign consultants to your team. 

How to Have a Positive Political Consultant Relationship

Any experienced campaign manager or campaign operative can recall a bad experience working with a political consultant. Perhaps the consultant couldn’t deliver what they promised, they were unresponsive or didn’t hit deadlines. Undoubtedly, a lot of what goes into a successful relationship depends on the campaigns and the political consultant. How you start the relationship is important. As a former political organizer turned political consultant, here are my tips on how to jumpstart a successful relationship with your campaign consultants.

How Much of Your Digital Team Should be In-House vs. Consultants?

I recently sat on a panel at a conference about building your digital team. The conference was geared mostly towards political campaigns, but the topic got me thinking about what it means to build your digital campaign team overall—for political and advocacy campaigns, and also for organizations.

One topic we didn’t dive into much on the panel is how much of your digital campaign team should be in-house versus digital consultants. This will, of course, vary from campaign to campaign and organization to organization, but I think there are some general rules that can apply across the board.