Welcome back, Saturday Campaign D.I.Y.ers! For those who tune in, welcome to the Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic campaign. Each week we discuss issues that help drive successful campaigns. If you’ve missed prior diaries, please visit our group or follow Nuts & Bolts Guide.
This weekend I’m in North Carolina at the Data & Democracy summit, and we’re going to be talking about the role of data and next-generation tools in your advocacy work. We have to face facts, things are changing quickly, and new tools provide ways to talk to your members and fellow activists.
With so many tools available and so many different vendors, how can you make sure you are making the right choices with the money you raise and the man hours you are prepared to put in.
No, we’re not going to do a tools showdown—instead, let’s talk about how you evaluate new technology to determine what will work for you!
Assess your group core competency before you begin.
When we began our journey with activists, we started with a core group: an educator in Tim Smith, a stay-at-home mom in Nancy Wood, and an accountant activist in Sarah Goodnow. These opening leaders of our newly found organization all had their own strengths.
Before you embark on using any political tool, you have to evaluate how well your organization is prepared to utilize the tool at hand. It isn’t that hard to get individuals trained on how to use, say, a button maker or a copy machine. It is a different animal altogether to prepare individuals to use social media marketing software or GPS enabled tablet guides.
Before you start shopping for new tools or get persuaded to spend on next-generation efforts, do a frank evaluation of your group. Do you have members involved in your effort who will grasp and successfully use the tool if they are given the opportunity? Will they be interested in using the tool at hand? How difficult is the learning curve?
If you’ve ever worked in the corporate world, you have long heard terms like Core Competency and USP—Unique Service Points—that help define those entities. Well, activism can be like that as well. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your group? What are truly unique qualities you have that you can bring to the table? Often, the unique qualities are reflected in your advocacy, but when you assess next-generation tools, you have to look for tools that will amplify what makes your group special.
What kind of tools are out there?
Prepared for a surprise? Tools for your organization are often in the eye of the beholder and can be made important by how you use them. If you’re reading this entry, then you know that Daily Kos itself can be a powerful tool to help shape some of the discussion for activists. Is it the right tool for your activism efforts?
Some individuals on Daily Kos, like Brainwrap (Charles Gabba) have successfully used Daily Kos to build up their own activism efforts by establishing a clear point of contact for their efforts. So, let’s apply this same standard for any tool in most situations. If you have a student in a high school around the country, often you find that you are receiving messages about your children in SMS/TEXT messaging apps on your phones. Schools use apps like Textcaster and campaigns can use apps like Hustle.
The medium though isn’t as important as the message and how well it connects to your intended audience. Tools can be complex or easy.
Don’t make a plunge on a first pitch. Many of these organizations are often willing to give you a walkthrough or a chance to try the tool for a while before you commit to start paying for their service.
Don’t stick with something that isn’t working.
So, you committed to a hot new marketing tool you thought would be great for your efforts. After a few months, though, you find that it just isn’t working out. Maybe you had expectations of the tool it just couldn’t achieve. It is also possible that the needs of your organization changed.
If something isn’t working, don’t stick with it hoping it will get better. Your organizational resources aren’t bottomless, and wasting them on a tool that goes unused just means money you are throwing away. The tool itself can be great—but if it isn’t working for you, then it simply doesn’t matter how good or great the tool is, it doesn’t work for you.
At the same time, you may find a tool is so effective that you need to change the service level you receive from a vendor. Frequently re-evaluate how successful your use of any tool is, and decide if you are spending effectively, if you need to stop spending, or if you need to increase spending on a tool.
Most importantly, do not stick with a tool that isn’t being used.
Next week on Nuts & Bolts: Candidate Recruitment for Activists
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Nuts & Bolts: Building Democratic Campaigns
Contact the Daily Kos group Nuts and Bolts by kosmail (members of Daily Kos only). You can also follow me on twitter: @tmservo433
Every Saturday this group will chronicle the ins and outs of campaigns, small and large. Issues to be covered: Campaign Staffing, Fundraising, Canvass, Field Work, Data Services, Earned Media, Spending and Budget Practices, How to Keep Your Mental Health, and on the last Saturday of the month: “Don’t Do This!” a diary on how you can learn from the mistakes of campaigns in the past.
You can follow prior installments in this series HERE.