The Campaign Workshop Blog, is hosted by The Campaign Workshop - an advocacy and political consulting firm. We write about tactics for advocacy, membership, civic engagement, and progressive politics.  We post weekly, and also publish ebooks, host webinars, and The How to Win a Campaign Podcast. Sign up to learn more.   

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The Language of Typography

by The Campaign Workshop

The advertising world is well-versed in using and exploiting the visual language of typography to convey messages that go beyond the overt, verbal language on the page Cal Swan, author of Language and Typography, says, “These two distinct areas often come together in practice as there is clearly a very strong relationship between the conception of the words as a message and their transmission in visible form.” Nowhere is this more important than in political messaging.

Obama Innovations

Obama's Innovations Online and Your Campaign

by The Campaign Workshop

Over the last two Presidential election cycles, the Obama campaign has done some really innovative work online. There has been a lot of discussion in the progressive community about how other campaigns and organizations can take some of these tactics and apply them to their own causes.

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Political Mail vs. Election Mail

by The Campaign Workshop

Many times it is difficult to distinguish between what is considered political mail vs. election mail. Here’s a quick rundown of the differences between the two.

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Political Email: Does More = More?

If you signed up for political email lists during the last election, you probably noticed a lot of email traffic. A lot. If, like a lot of us here at The Campaign Workshop, you were signed up for the political email lists of multiple candidates, campaign committees, advocacy organizations and more, you probably had an inbox flooded with emails. Which makes us wonder: is more political email better?

Independence Day

Independence from Student Loans

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

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.

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What is Red Tag Political Mail?

by The Campaign Workshop

Red tag political mail is a mystery to some. You may wonder how the United States Postal Service (USPS) treats the massive amount of campaign mail that moves through the postal system each election. The "secret" is red tag political mail. We write about this in our direct mail ebook. The USPS has a very effective system for identifying political mail and moving it quickly through the mail stream and into mailboxes before Election Day.

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Tips for First-Time Female Candidates From #NN13

by The Campaign Workshop

Some of us from Team TCW travelled to San Jose last week for the annual Netroots Nation conference, a place for progressives to gather and learn about how to be more effective at using technology to affect change.  Featuring over 80 panels with many distinguished guests, it was a great place to learn more about important issues.

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Political Organizers Top Tips for Campaign Data Entry | TCW

by Ben Holse (He/Him)

For political organizers, data entry and turf cutting are the two most likely tasks that will be keeping you up late into the night. Unlike cutting turf, which can be strangely comforting, data entry is only really enjoyable when it is complete. So to help out political organizers still in the field we have compiled a short list of tips to make data entry a bit easier.

Stop Hate Mail