Anyone who has worked in the nonprofit industry for long enough will tell you that it is full of quirks and choosing the nonprofit consultant that is right for you is no easy task. Time and time again, we have nonprofit clients come to TCW after hiring the wrong firm.
Political Direct Mail: Keep It On Point and On Time
Building a strong political direct mail program for your campaign doesn’t have to involve the amount of back-and-forth you may expect (or fear). Having a clear dialogue and a shared understanding of goals between the political consultant and the campaign team from the get-go can streamline the process and reduce the number of headaches for both parties along the way.
Below are some tips for making the editing process as smooth as possible on both ends, so that your direct mail can remain on point and on time.
*Originally written by Joe Fuld and updated by Elena Veatch 4/3/18
When you get into politics, it’s hard to resist the all too common tunnel vision of focusing only on politics. But be careful – binge watching Veep or The West Wing is not going to help you run a better campaign or organization; nor will reading solely political books.
The fact is, you are running a business. And while we like to think of politics and business as totally separate realms, it’s tough to run any political operation without a Business 101 crash course. So, take a break from the latest Clinton campaign staffer or Obama aide memoir you are probably reading, and check out some of our non-political book recommendations. Below are ten non-political books that will be helpful to any politico running a campaign, a non-profit, or really any operation.
What Is the Difference between a Political Advertising Agency and a Traditional Advertising Agency?
As a political advertising agency, we work with campaigns and groups all over the country and it never fails that in many conversations, the candidate’s spouse uncle, cousin, works or has worked in advertising. We sometimes compete with traditional advertising firms and I have had folks ask me the question what is the difference between a political advertising agency vs a traditional ad agency? The answer is a there are lots of differences.
How Democrats Can Jumpstart Their Campaigns for the Future
Races are heating up, but there are a number of exciting opportunities for Democrats up and down the ticket. Here are some tips to jumpstart your Democratic campaign:
1. Do a thorough self-assessment. Are you ready to run? Does your family support you? Does your community support you? Have you done your politics? These are important questions to ask and know the answer to before you even file to run. If you can confidently answer, “yes” to these questions, you are ready to jumpstart your campaign.
2. Plan, plan, plan! The biggest mistake a candidate can make is failing to create a campaign plan. Your campaign plan should include a vote goal, budget, timeline, and message. Campaigns themselves are living, breathing animals once they heat up, but your campaign plan should pretty much stay the same.
3. Focus on the right stuff. It’s really easy to get caught up in the back and forth of a heated race and allow that to throw you off course. The best Democratic campaigns stay focused on directly communicating their message with targeted voters and turning them out. Period. Everything else is just noise.
4. Do the work. Running for office is hard. Doing what it takes to win is often even harder. Spending hours on the phone, asking for money every single day, is tough. Knocking on every targeted voters door is exhausting. But this is usually what it takes to win. The best way to jumpstart your campaign is to embrace the work and lean into it. You’re probably running because you want to represent your community—use this time to get to know them and ask them to join your campaign.
In Our Last Blog Post, We Discussed the GOOD Method and How to Run an Effective County Democratic Party
One of the takeaways from that post was development – primarily fundraising.
Beyond organizing, there is no better way to not only grow your County Democratic Party, but also wield it more power and influence than fundraising. This post will examine the steps to take to optimize your fundraising potential for your County Democratic Party.
Political Consulting Advice: Focus on People, Time, and Money
One of the roles I enjoy most is teaching folks how to run for office and run campaigns. Any campaign training we run usually starts with essential political consulting advice on the three key resources of a campaign. The three main resources you have in any campaign are people, time and money. Below are descriptions of each of these three critical campaign resources.
Hal Malchow Tells Us How Political Direct Mail in the Digital Age Is Still Relevant
Last week we released our first ebook: Political Direct Mail In The Digital Age. The book explains why with all the technology we have, political direct mail in the digital age is still relevant. We explain how you should decide on direct mail and targeted communications strategies for political and advocacy campaigns. We also discuss the cost of direct mail, micro-targeting strategies and how to use direct mail for GOTV.
A Political consulting firm comes in a variety of different shapes and sizes. Each undoubtedly has its own strengths, weaknesses and areas of expertise. However, regardless of the medium in which they specialize, there are a few traits that stand out in any good political firm. Below is a general, but crucial list:
Opposition Research: Create Winning Contrast for Your Campaign
Opposition research, or “oppo” for short, is something we have mentioned in this blog before, but have not discussed at length. Such an omission is unforgivable, and can only be chalked up to missing the obvious. Like, for instance, when a newspaper has a typo in its front-page headline because everyone was looking for little, nuanced stuff but missed the big, glaring oops! before going to print. So let’s right this wrong now, shall we?
We're very pleased to announce that Bill Redding is joining our team as a Senior Strategist. For those of you who know Bill, you're no doubt already aware that his political experience and expertise are impressive. For those of you who haven't yet had the pleasure of working with Bill Redding, here's a quick rundown of his excellent, pre-TCW adventures:
Want independence from student loans? As we break for the Fourth of July, we have students throughout the country facing a greater burden of debt. This is an issue that not only affects students; it affects our economy as a whole. Yes, Congress should act to retroactively decrease the rise in student loan rates, but there is still more that can be done.
I run a business where collectively my eight employees have hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loan debt—that is the norm these days. To make matters worse, there is little as an employer that I can do to help them.
Our team is made up of amazing creative, organizational, and political consulting talent committed to achieving political and advocacy goals. We have worked for candidates and causes, big and small, all across the country.
