Your Ultimate Guide To Campaigning

Transcription

1 Your Ultimate Guide To Campaigning

2 A Campaign... is an organised activity or series of activities energetically marketed to accomplish an aim engages likeminded people to achieve a goal is a method of persuasion spread about the topic to encourage others...is about change! Campaigning Is A Powerful Way To... Promote good and prevent bad decisions Influence opinion and behaviour Raise awareness on issues that are important to you Improve the law, regulations or guidance, and implementation at regional and local level Campaigning is not just about lobbying. A Successful Campaign Requires Good planning from the start Sound skills and arguments Time and usually money Communicating your messages Using local government, media, the public Letters, leaflets, meetings Choosing The Right Campaign Inject The Injustice Actions by a public or corporate body which people feel is 'wrong' A threat to people's way of life and the things they care about Solutions or remedies which are politically attractive to decision-makers Consider These Questions How much of a priority is this issue? Can you afford not to get involved and is the trade-off with other priorities worth it? Do you have the resources to run an effective campaign; if not, how can you get them? Does your group have credibility with the people who will take the decisions and the ability to influence them? What are the chances of success? See National Days Visit NUS website or other bigger bodies to join their issues. This should make you think about why you are running the campaign and what your aims and objectives are. Don t forget to include students all the way through!

3 The Four Stages of Campaigning Planning This should be outlined and decided a month before the start of the campaign What Is Your Aim? This is your main message so it s best to keep it clear, simple, understandable and worthwhile. You may have one aim with more objectives but don t complicate a simple message. Get your research together, who will support you already, who will you need to convince. Publicity& Marketing What is the best way of getting your message out effectively and clearly? Who are you going to target? If you target these people in the right way they are more likely to listen and act how you would like them to which is also making better use of your budget. Think of a slogan, themes, and ideas. This should be agreed by the core decision makers before moving on. Communication Tools What are you going to use and most importantly why??? These should be attractive, visible, have a constant running theme, grasp your message in a quick glance. This is the perfect time to think out of the box and really go to town on any ideas you have! All relevant information should be included and all should be spell checked! Planning & Implementation This means delegating people actions, having a lead co-ordinator, making deadlines, ensure everyone is aware of whets going on. Think about how you are going to maintain regular communication and how are you going to measure your results? All these 4 planning stages should be realistic, achievable, relevant and flow together to ensure all areas are covered from the Aim to the evaluation. Whilst planning your campaign or even before, think about what you can gain from RUSU and how we can help. If there is something you are not sure about or think RUSU should be helping you or supporting you with then contact someone to ask all relevant contact details are in the pack. Action This should be done about 3 weeks before. Get the designing finalised, all correct information on there and send to print Make sure the clear aim is at the front of everyone s minds Activity Or Event Get campaigning! Have a positive mental attitude that YOU WILL WIN!! Be focused, have lots of passion, engage with as many people as possible, use all resources you have gained and outlined in your planning. Ensure all your planning is put into action.

4 Evaluation/Review Best to be done a week after the end of the campaign. In the planning stage it is good to get a date in for this session so everyone knows it is coming and can book the time in, get some points that they want to raise together. Ensure the same team members that were there for the planning stage are there, discuss what worked, what didn t, recommendations. You may want to do 2 review sessions, a core team evaluation, then a wider evaluation this could be done via a meeting discussion or a survey/questionnaire. However you do it, it should be noted for future committees or your next campaign to reflect on how it can be improved. Finally, send out a message to all who attended/took part/was in some way involved thanking them for their time and effort/ providing equipment/help. This can be an or a gathering for drinks/buffet. Don t forget to let people know the results E.g. if the laws have changed, a bus pass has been introduced, opening hours have been extended. If there has been a change and no one uses it, it s been a wasted effort and might be revoked. What Can RUSU Do For You? More detailed training, Campaign planning sessions and review sessions If you submit your campaign proposal to Student Voice and it becomes a RUSU campaign, you still have ownership over the campaign but you will receive much more support from RUSU as well as funding Website We can help develop your page or place a link on the home page, We can add a link into Everybody s Talkin which gets sent to all UoR students. You can use Spark, RU:on, and Junction 11 for interviews or as a different channel of publication. Link your message to a RUSU campaign or and NUS campaign keep an eye on the website(s) and any communications you have Use Student Voice to highlight your message even if you don t submit it as a campaign, the type of people that attend student voice are interested in what other students and student groups are doing. This contact could be the start of a communication action network. Depending on your issue you may want to attend the Services & Ents meeting. Anything you are planning, if you let RUSU know we can promote you and your event, you can use our contacts, any experience we have similar to the what you are planning. Why do we do this? Because we are proud of student involvement and what to help you! We can only do this if you tell us!

5 Summary Clear aim is set Coherent message is used throughout Decide what communication tools you want to use Delegate task, set deadlines Ensure everyone is aware of the campaign and the overall aim Communication is upheld All printing has been done, venues booked Activity week brings the planning together, increases awareness, implement ideas from planning stage Discuss how it all went, what can be improved and any recommendations for the future Finally thank key players and people involved for their time as well as ask them for any comments they may have This should make you think about people you need to target, how you are going to get your message out and who is going to be responsible for what. Why not have a go at planning your own campaign using the activities below. Can you solve your own problem tree? What SWOT analysis will you achieve? See how you can find your key players and how you will target these groups or individuals? Check out the 10 top tips! Use the RUSU target groups diagram to help you and you may want to look through a list of student groups There is also an Evaluation form you can use after you have completed your activity or achieved a result. Please feel free to contact a member of RUSU if you would like to arrange a campaign planning session for your student group. campaigns@reading.ac.uk

6 The Problem Tree Diagram The purpose of this tree is to help you think about what the core issue is (the trunk in the middle), the causes (the roots at the bottom) and the effects (the branches at the top). The branches and roots from the tree are arrows to all the possible problems that this one issue may be causing and the effects these may be having. If the issue (the trunk) is poor access to private hire vehicles for students with disabilities Some of the causes (the roots at the bottom) may be Students being turned away if they have a guide dog Not enough access to private hire vehicles The law is not being enforced by the council These causes may also lead to other causes e.g. If the law is not being enforced by the council, students will therefore be unaware of how they can make a complaint Some of the effects (the branches at the top) may be Students are late for appointments, meetings or lectures. Students are left stranded Students with disabilities are being discriminated against An increase in living costs Again, these may lead to other branches E.G If students are late for appointments, meetings or lectures. They are unable to participate in extracurricular or social activities. This may lead onto causing a lack of confidence or embarrassment for the student and ultimately may lead to them dropping out of University. Aims and Objectives Once you have completed the tree you will be able to see your aims and objectives. The negative statement at the trunk of the tree, when turned to be a positive will be your main aim e.g. poor access to private hire vehicles for students with disabilities is the main issue at the trunk your aim will be good access to private hire vehicles for students with disabilities Your objectives will be the areas you have highlighted as causes. If there are a lot of causes you have identified, it is a good idea to group into a few areas, which then become your main objectives. Remember to make your objectives SMART: Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic and Timebound. Aim Objectives

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8 SWOT Analysis This SWOT analysis is to encourage you to think about what you already have, problems you may be facing, problems that may arrise and anything/one outside that you may be able to utilise. Positive Strengths What can RUSU do which will help achieve your aim and objectives? Negative Weaknesses How could RUSU be harmful in achieving your aim and objectives? Internal Opportunities Are there any external factors that you could benefit from or could help you in achieving your aim and objectives? Threats Are there any external factors that could harm or hinder you in achieving your aim and objectives? External

9 Targeting It is important to know and understand who you should and will be targeting to make change. This will also show if your campaign is an insider (a meeting with a key individual that has the power to change) or outsider (involving lots of students, protesting and more visual) campaign, or both. To complete the grid below it s best to brainstorm all the people and groups of people that you feel may be influential either beneficially or not so much. After you have done this enter each into the first column (key person/individual) and move onto the following columns, completing them with the description below. Attitude: For, Against or Neutral Level of Importance: Low, Medium, or high Influence: What areas do they have influence over? Why have you given them the level of importance? Key person/group Attitude they have to the issue Level of importance the issue is to them Influence they have of the issue Now you can work out from above if there are any people/groups you wish to take out or main targets you would like to focus on. It is important to make it clear what you are asking of them, how you are asking for this to occur, who arranges and therefore where the money comes from to do the activity, and when you would like it done by. To make this clear complete the table below. Key person/group What are you asking of them Activity inc. how many Budget & Resources Timing

10 Evaluation What have we learnt? How can we improve? How are you feeling about the campaign now? What went well? Consider logistics, people, your aims. What didn t go so well? Consider logistics, people, your aims. Did you achieve the aim? Did you achieve the objectives? How many people were involved? Did you use all your resources? What is the outcome of these people being involved? Did you stay within budget? Was there anything printed in the press? How did you feedback to students? What outcomes has the campaign had? Is RUSU stronger as a result? If not why not? What would you do better or different next time?

11 What have you learnt? How can we improve? What needs to be done next? Can this campaign be taken further? On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = poor 10= excellent) How effective was the campaign? (consider your aims and objectives) How well was the campaign communicated? How many students engaged? Campaign Summary:

12 RUSU Target Groups President VP Academic Affairs VP Student Activities VP Democracy & Campaigns VP Welfare & Representation Student Staff Liberation & Representation Course Reps Welfaree Reps Fairtrade Steering Faculty Reps Nursery Parents (Maria) Faith Forumm Religious Societies Chaplaincyy JCR's The Green Team RUSU Freshers' Angels Volunteers - MASIV Communityy Reps RAG Societies & Societies Conventionn Services & Ents Student Media RUOn Junction 11 Spark* Sports Clubs & Sports Federation Student Voice

13 10 Top Tips to Campaigning Success 1. Know Your Stuff Make sure you research your issue area thoroughly. Every argument must be supported by robust evidence if it is to be convincing. 2. Building A Team A great campaigner is someone who can take people with them on their journey. Build a team of people who have the right mix of skills you will need to achieve your goal. 3. Make A Plan A campaigner should always know, and be able to articulate, precisely what they want their outcomes to be. 4. Speak Truth To Power You will need a campaign target. Who directly has the power to make the change you are campaigning for? 5. Map Your Issue It is helpful to map the forces that will influence your campaign target e.g. who and what will be supportive or resistant to your objectives? 6. Build Alliances Check out whether other organisations are pursuing similar objectives. Making alliances can be an effective way to strengthen your message and broaden your reach. 7. Use The Right Tactics For You Think carefully whether your proposed tactics will help you achieve your objectives. Tactics that worked for one campaign might not be right for you - there is no one recipe for success. 8. Timing Is Everything Timing your tactics to coincide with activities taking place by either supportive or opposing forces can increase your impact or exposure. Always be aware of the environment in which you are operating. 9. S.W.O.T. Analyse your Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats to help strengthen your objectives and mitigate potential problems. 10. Evaluation Setting clear targets at the beginning of your campaign will allow you to monitor your progress and assess whether you are making not just an impact but the right impact.