Campaigns

Do it Yourself: How to Make a Good and Successful Campaign

Campaigning is very effective way how to reach general public, communicate some ideas and motivate people to take some action. It is very useful to campaign on more levels and communicate various ideas – e.g. motivate people to support women candidates before election, explain them why it is necessary to increase women's political participation... According to a research forming of political opinions of women differs from that of men, therefore it can be useful to aim the campaign on different target groups and reflect their specificity.
The core of a successful campaign is some original idea – nowadays people are overwhelmed by different ads and campaigns. Therefore it is necessary to bring something new, something what sticks out! Use of humor can help (and usually helps), but always with a respect to the particular cultural context and target groups. Generally, if you want to reach general public, it is always easier when you communicate simple message. Statistics and some theoretical arguments can follow (e. g. on a website linked to the campaign).
Bigger budget need not necessarily mean more successful campaign – good idea, slogan or visual design are priceless. In case you do not have too much money, use social media. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter... they all are for free and almost everybody uses them. Use of new media is the best way how to make your campaign viral!
Are you afraid your campaign is too daring? No, problem – guerrilla marketing is the best solution for you. It is not necessary to be openly connected with all parts of your campaign. Shocking campaign can be very effective but not necessarily good for image of the organization and further campaigning in more serious and informing way. Just spread those politically incorrect or too humorous parts of your campaign without direct link to your organization. You will have very good starting point for further public discussion.
Last, but not least is direct contact with your target groups. One way communication is not enough – go out and talk to people! This will provide you with very good opportunity to explain your ideas more deeply and eliminate some persisting myths and prejudices.

What Have We Learned?
— original ideas work despite being low-cost
— use of new media is cheap and effective (as we could see in Obama's campaign)
— guerrilla marketing can help to get attention
— direct communication with target groups works (contact campaign is important)
— use of humor (almost) always helps

 

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