The Campaign Workshop Blog

As anyone who’s worked on a ballot measure campaign will tell you, ballot measures tend to fly under voters’ radar. You typically need a strong ground game and a dedicated group of local volunteers to be successful. Most ballot measure campaigns also need an element of voter education and persuasion added to their programs. Without it, many voters won’t understand what the measure does and why it’s important. Ballot measures are often the very last thing on the ballot, so sometimes you simply need to remind voters to fill out the entire ballot or to flip the ballot over.

Should I use Substack for Non-Profit communications?  Substack is primarily a newsletter and blogging platform. Think of it as a more user-friendly version of Medium that has garnered a large following. Many people I know regularly post on Substack. Initially, I explored Substacks focused on branding, organization, and food, but the platform's political content has grown, and I now follow a few political Substacks.

Brandon Wolf is a nationally recognized gun safety and LGBTQ+ civil rights advocate and public speaker. Brandon is a survivor of the 2016 shooting at Orlando's Pulse Nightclub. After losing two of his best friends that night, Brandon set out to honor their and the other 47 victims’ legacies with action. Brandon is a co-founder of The Dru Project, a non-profit organization that helps fund higher education to empower youth and future leaders in the LGBTQ+ community. We asked Brandon 7 questions about his experience and career path.

Qualifying a ballot measure is a significant undertaking. Sometimes the most difficult part of a ballot measure campaign is just making it to the ballot. From gathering signatures to overcoming legal hurdles, qualifying an initiative takes planning, time, and (very often) a sizable investment (both in terms of dollars and human capital).

In today’s political climate of partisanship and mistrust, constituents are turning to the ballot measure process to bypass traditional government controls to pass legislation. 

If you’re running for office, you’re going to need a campaign plan. With these 9 campaign plan tips, you will give yourself the best chance of winning your race:

Advocacy strategies can be time-consuming to create and difficult to execute. We have written often about the core elements of an advocacy plan, but taking the time to develop your advocacy strategy is an important step. But where do you begin? Try using strategy tools.

If you've ever worked on an issue advocacy campaign, you know that convincing a person to even listen to your message can be a difficult task. Now, more than ever, public opinion has become harder to shape when people tune out information more than they tune it in.

A strong campaign message can be the linchpin that differentiates success from failure. However, a common source of confusion in campaigns is the conflation of a campaign message with a central issue. The reason behind this confusion is the passion that fuels issue politics—which often drives candidates and advocacy groups to perceive their chosen issue as their core message. This is a mistake. A campaign message is not merely a reflection of an issue or set of issues; rather, it seeks to establish a more profound connection between the candidate or campaign and the voters they are reaching out to.

For those of us who closely follow political debates and electoral politics, only a few things are as disheartening as seeing our favorite candidate veer off course from their intended candidate messaging. Whether it’s a rant, a lengthy tirade, or a complete departure from their message, it’s truly frustrating to see them lose their way to the point of becoming incoherently off track.

We love podcasts here at The Campaign Workshop. When we're not busy working on our own podcast, How to Win a Campaign, we love learning, laughing, and growing through our favorite podcasts and hosts. Jump into fall by checking out the top podcast recommendations from The Campaign Workshop staff.

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially in the world of political communications, where space is limited, and readers’ attention spans are minimal. This means that the images you choose for your campaign are critical and will likely require some level of investment.

Summer is a time for rest, relaxation, and yes, reading! Summer may be ending but check out the top 2023 reading recommendations from The Campaign Workshop Staff. Check out our staff’s picks for the best books of their 2023 summer!

In the world of political campaigns political power is often achieved through the party convention process. Whether you are running for state representative, county office, or President of the United States conventions still matter in many places.

Organizations and campaigns have used patch-through calls for years when they need many people to reach out to elected officials. But in an era of cord-cutting and digital everything, will folks still take the time to get patched-through to a lawmaker? And will lawmakers listen? The answer is maybe.

Have you been implementing SMS for advocacy, or texting for advocacy, into your issue advocacy or public affairs campaigns? Texting for advocacy is an important tool for nonprofits and organizations creating an issue advocacy communications program.

Advocacy emails are a powerful tool. For many groups and organizations, advocacy emails can amplify their message in a positive way. As you are probably well aware, most people use their email for both work and personal use, so communicating with your supporters with this medium is a logical choice.

We have all seen the exponential rise of short, viral videos in the last few years¬–so how can we garner the same popularity for advocacy videos? As social media platforms continue to expand and become more popular, creating videos for your campaign can prove to be a worthwhile financial and creative investment.