How to Win a Campaign

Just like in the game Risk, alliances are important in advocacy work too. Knowing who you can partner with and creating coalitions with your allies can help you expand your reach, draw from a larger pool of resources, and give weight to your demands. This week, Joe and Martín share their coalition building and coalition management best practices, as well as insights into how to use power mapping t...

Your advocacy campaign may be using patch-through calls, letter writing, petition signing, or any number of other tactics. However, without targeting and metrics, how will you know if these tactics are working? Through targeting and metrics! Tune in to this episode to hear Joe and Martín break down how to determine who the key decision-makers are and what data you should collect. This week’s guest...

Advocacy storytelling is both an art and a science. While there are millions of stories to be told, you need to choose the right stories for your goals and tell them effectively and compassionately. This week, Joe and Martín tackle the world of storytelling, breaking down what storytelling is, what it is not, who can tell stories, where you can find stories, and why storytelling is essential to yo...

Grassroots and grasstops advocacy might sound like opposites, but they’re really more like complements. Doing grassroots organizing the right way can help set you up for success in influencing grasstops advocates.  In this episode, Joe and Martín explain this symbiotic relationship and how to leverage your organization’s membership to execute a coordinated grassroots-grasstops campaign. Joe interv...

Messaging for advocacy is a central skill you must master to win your advocacy campaign. Convincing your audience to be on your side is not an easy task, and you need to draft messages that stay true to your organization’s goals but do not sound just like your mission statement. In this episode, Joe and Martín will teach you how to develop your messaging and explain what you need to keep in mind w...

Research and polling are essential parts of advocacy campaigns. Understanding the policy arena and testing your messaging will prevent your organization from wasting limited resources and help keep you on track to win. Tune in to learn about some different research methods, how to make the most out of a limited research budget, and what to look for when hiring a research consultant or pollster. Th...

Setting goals may seem like an easy task, but it’s easy to make them too broad, too specific, or too ambitious. Tune in to this first full episode of S2 to learn how your organization should be thinking about goals. Joe and Martín will explain primary vs. secondary goals and the importance of having both long-term and short-term goals. Martín chats with former Chief Advocacy Officer of the America...

We are finally in a post-Election Day world! This past election cycle was one that will go down in history, both for how important it was for Democrats to win back the White House and for how radically different campaigning has been in the age of COVID-19. In this special episode, Joe and Martín go over some of their personal highs and lows from 2020 and cover the most important lessons that candi...

In this Season 2 trailer, Joe and Martín are back and ready to dive deep into the world of advocacy campaigns. They discuss what advocacy means to them, how they got their starts in advocacy, and how you can get started in advocacy regardless of your experience level. All you need is a cause and willingness to fight for what you believe in. Sign up for the email list below so you can be the first...

Expressing your support for the BLM movement and addressing the concerns of racial and social justice activists in your community will be essential parts of running a winning progressive campaign this year. That’s why Joe and Martín have devoted this episode to going over what you need to do to ensure your campaign appropriately and effectively engages the BLM movement and clearly demonstrates you...

If we had a crystal ball that could tell us exactly what the outcome of the presidential election will be, many of us would sleep a lot easier at night. But of course, we do not have a crystal ball, and instead we turn to myriad polls, models, and other predictors to try to tell what’s going to happen on election day. That’s why Joe and Martín spend this special episode breaking down the rationale...

What do U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders, Angus King, and Lisa Murkowski and rapper Kanye West have in common? They’ve all been third-party candidates! But, three of them have been legitimate third-party candidates, and one is more of a spoiler. Tune in to this special episode to learn what a third-party candidate means for your campaign and how you need to respond. A third-party candidate running in...

Grassroots fundraising is what powers the progressive movement. Small-dollar donations and people-power are the nuts and bolts of twenty-first-century campaigns. In fact, to make it easy for small-dollar donors to find and donate to your campaign, you have to employ twenty-first-century tools. That’s why in this Tools Episode, Joe and Alexis Chininis of ActBlue discuss how campaigns can use ActBlu...

Information is power. That’s why BallotReady is so important, especially today. In this Tools Episode, Joe speaks with Alex Niemczewski about Ballot Ready, a tool that provides your constituents with information about all of the races on the ballot for the upcoming election. It also teaches the public about early voting rules and helps them make a plan to vote.  As a data-driven platform, this too...

From Suze Orman to Robert Kiyosaki, there’s no shortage of people trying to tell you how you should budget your life. But unlike with personal finance, there aren’t any celebrity finance gurus just waiting to tell you how to budget for your campaign, which is why we  interviewed Conner Johnston, co-founder of Warchest. In this Tools Episode, Joe chats with Conner about Warchest, the only tool that...

Call time, the time spent calling potential donors to ask for their investment in your campaign, is an ongoing, arduous process. To find a way to help make it easier and more effective, Andrew Blumenfeld developed a tool called, you guessed it, Call Time. In this Tools Episode, Joe sits down with Andrew to learn how Call Time can help you fundraise faster. Call Time helps you keep track of who you...

In this Tools Episode, Joe chats with Russ Oster about how campaigns can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their canvassing operations using Grassroots Unwired. With Grassroots Unwired, your canvassers can collect data, take photos and videos for constituents to share on social media, and even collect donations. Listen in to learn how you can use Grassroots Unwired to stay connected with...

The digital world is where today’s voters connect with friends, strangers, and influencers. In this Tools Episode, Joe speaks with Mike Liddell about Digital 8, a tool that makes it easy for you to reach your constituents and move them to action. When your constituents use Digital 8, all they need to do is click to donate, sign up, or get involved. It's that easy. Tune in to find out if Digital 8...

Personal contact is what drives voters to the polls. That’s why in this Tools Episode, Joe speaks with Sangeeth Peruri about how your campaign can use OutreachCircle to best take advantage of relational organizing. OutreachCircle integrates multiple platforms so that you can have an easy to use, streamlined process to connect with your friends, and their friends, and even their friends. If you wan...

The full, raw interview with Amie Kershner of AKM Consulting and former finance director of Priorities USA PAC. Amie has had over fourteen years of fundraising experience for major progressive Democratic organizations like Priorities USA and Emily’s List, so when she starts to spill her insider tips and tricks, you will want to take notes! Learn where to find out background research on your donors...

The full, raw interview with Carmen Berkley of Dancing Hearts Consulting. Carmen has participated in and led door-knocking efforts for a range of issues from political campaigns to census awareness, and she has knocked on doors across America from the Mid-Atlantic to Mexico, Missouri. Learn everything you need to know from writing scripts to training canvassers to standing firm and not running awa...

The full, raw interview with Annise Parker, current CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund and Institute, and former Mayor, Controller, and Member of the City Council of Houston, Texas. Hear her thoughts on how to survive campaign life, how to separate work and personal life in politics, and how to deal with conflict on the campaign trail. Listen to her stories of what it was like campaigning during the ho...

After months of door knocking, ad buying, hand shaking, picture-taking and town hall-ing, you might be tempted to think there’s nothing else to do come election day. False! You need to run an effective get out the vote campaign! Even if you convince your whole district to vote for you, it won’t matter unless they turn out at the polls on election day. That’s why in this episode, Joe and Martín tea...

In order to win your campaign, you need voters to know your name as well as your campaign message. That’s why it's important to invest in paid communications, and if you can afford it, a media consultant to guide you through media strategy and help produce advertising spots for TV, radio, and social media. But what makes eye-catching creative work and how many spots do you need to buy so your mess...

If you think it’s hard asking strangers for money, imagine asking your own friends and family! Fundraising isn’t easy, but it’s essential to win your campaign. Most candidates will do anything to get out of calling donors, but Joe and Martín have some foolproof strategies to make fundraising easier for everyone on the campaign trail. This week, Joe and Martín discuss fundraising myths, where to fi...