The Campaign Workshop Blog

Our contributor today is Bob Kearney, who had worked in politics for many years before becoming a social worker. Bob and I have worked together on many a campaign, and he has a unique understanding of the stresses folks are going through this time of year and had some very actionable answers to my questions on navigating family politics.

Digital Storytelling is the "it" thing for advocacy but with enthusiasm around digital storytelling and user generated content  has come big expectations that it is a panacea for driving traffic and donations.  Digital storytelling can be a great option for your assocation, but it will take a while to develop and use the content in away that it will do everything you want or need it to.  So here are some of our (hopefully) helpful mediums to engage in digital storytelling in a thoughtful and fulfilling way.

For a long time, I have said that LGBT Candidates ( Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender and Gay candidates), tend to be better candidates than their straight counterparts at running for office. It’s because LGBT candidates have to be. If you are breaking a barrier, it is only those with stellar qualifications and incredible drive who get through tough election fights and win.

Running an effective advocacy campaign takes skill and planning here are five tips to run a winning advocacy campaign:

Campaign best practices can make a real difference on your political campaign. Over the course of my career, I have pretty much seen it all happen on political campaigns. From the candidate’s brother dying mere weeks before Election Day to losing power at a staging location and everything in between. Murphy’s Law states “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” Part of being a good organizer is always hoping for the best on political campaigns, but planning for the worst.

Legislative Advocacy is important because there comes a time in everyone’s life when they have to take a stand. While this moment is always more dramatic in the movies, it’s possible that you’ve come to this realization regarding a particular policy or issue in your locality. And if you’ve decided that you want to make a change in policy and advocate for your issue in your local legislature, it’s time for a little Legislative Advocacy 101.

As someone who has recently gone through the daunting and tough task of job hunting, I can completely understand and attest to the fact that it’s tough to find political jobs in DC and even tougher to find a job that is the right fit for you. With so many newly minted undergraduate, graduate, and even law school grads hunting for jobs in the same market, it can sometimes be a very overwhelming and discouraging undertaking. But in the end, all your efforts will be worth it. Here are the tips I learned along my journey to finding a great job with wonderful people, and how you can do the same.

Looking for accurate presidential election predictions? As Election Day approaches, it seems like every news channel will reference the latest polls or how many points ahead Trump or Clinton are in the race for the White House. But as scientific and data-centric as polls can be, there are a few unconventional ways to predict the presidential election, and most are eerily correct.

Social media campaign strategy has taken a more prominent role this campaign cycle than ever before.  Everyone knows that trump tweets,  but as Election Day gets closer and closer it’s time to take a look at what Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are doing on social media websites. To help analyze each campaign’s social strategy, it’s helpful to start with the social networks they list on their websites.

Digital video is all the rage these days. There is a lot of power and emotion in video images whether it is pre-roll, in-banner, interstitial or longer format. Knowing the right length of the video and the length of the buy is critical for a successful video ad campaign.

Election Day is rapidly approaching, and while many campaigns and advocacy organizations are already implementing election-driven digital campaign strategies, day-of digital campaign techniques require a much different approach.