The Campaign

By the title, this should be the shortest post in the history of our blog. The typical answer to this question, and the way we teach our candidates, is that the candidate has two main jobs: to raise money and to meet voters. But these tasks are often easier said than done.

As a first-time candidate, you’ll have a steep learning curve and a lot of information thrown your way. Whether you’re still deciding if you want to toss your hat in the ring or you’re just starting to get your campaign moving, it’s important to be critical of yourself and of the advice you hear to decide if you're ready to embark on this journey. 

As we move into 2025, more people will be dedicating time and resources to creating digital political advertising plans. The Campaign Workshop has been actively involved in digital political ads for over a decade, and each year we have seen a growing emphasis on the importance and effectiveness of digital advertising within political campaigns. 
Why spend money on digital political advertising now?

During this midterm election season, the media landscape is an important place for campaigns and organizations to look as they plan for the fall.  As we continue to see, all elections in the US have become more and more nationalized.

Is Your campaign message ready for 2022?  You may be wondering how to stay on message in the new year in order to meet your goals. The new year will bring with it plenty of forums, debates, and other public speaking events that will serve as opportunities to share your campaign message with diverse audiences.

As candidates, by this point you have probably been knocking on doors for weeks and are finally at a place where you are ready to bring in the cavalry, your volunteers! For campaigns, we believe in doors, doors, and more doors.  Those doors translate into more voter contact and more identified targets for GOTV. Hitting doors in the right way is why having a structured and detailed canvass training is vitally important.

In our last blog post, Digital Advocacy: Advertising Campaign Goal Setting Part I,  we talked about how to develop digital advocacy strategy, cost per acquisition (CPA) campaigns, email programs and the best ways to utilize ad testing. In today's post, we take a closer look at using tactics like paid digital advertising, social media and analytics for digital advocacy. You can also read more about this in our latest ebook, Guide to Digital Advocacy.

Running for office or working on a campaign?  Check out The Campaign Worskshop's fifth e-book “Ready, Set, Go! Jumpstart Your Political Campaign. 

Much has been said about political email, especially as it grows in popularity. Email is certainly not going anywhere and political email has proven to be an effective tool in both recruiting supporters and raising money for your campaign. It’s important to pay attention to all aspects of your email, but how much attention should be paid to the sender?

Your nonprofit facebook ad will need an image to display on users newsfeeds or right-hand rails. In a platform like Facebook, where viewers are accustomed to scrolling continuously, you’re going to need an image that is arresting enough to stop the scroll. Make sure the photo or illustration you use has a clear focal point that is either intriguing or easily recognizable and relevant to a viewer’s interests.