Strategic Campaigning

Strategic Campaign Flowchart

Example

Aim: For your university to be top of the Green League in 3 years.

Objective: That the university employ a full-time environmental manager by the end of the year.

Targets: Accommodation and Campus Services Manager - the SU and your VC could influence them.

Tactics:

• meeting with the Accommodation and Campus Services Manager;
• pass a SU policy to get support;
• mass petition to the Accommodation and Campus Services Manager.

Review and Build the Campaign

A campaign is a coherent series of actions which work towards a clear aim. In order to go from a desire for change to actually achieving that change you need a campaign strategy: a detailed, timed and well-planned idea of how you’ll achieve it.

Step 1. Your AIM

This should be a short statement that sets out exactly what you are trying to achieve. It is a description of the place that, when you reach it, you know you have won.

Step 2. Objectives

Objectives are the smaller things you need to change in order to get to your ultimate aim. Check they’re SMART and work out which ones you need to achieve first.

Are you SMART?

You may know your aim, but to really know how you’re going to achieve it and recognise when you’ve got there, you need to make it detailed.

Look at your aim and decide whether it is SMART:

• Specific enough
• Measurable - can you measure what you’ve achieved?
• Achievable - is it actually possible?
• Resourced - does your group have the materials and people to do it?
• Timed - when do you want to achieve it by?

Step 3. Target Practice

Target

The target is the person or group you need to influence to achieve your objective. This could be persuading your Vice Chancellor to make a certain decision or getting your MP to sign an EDM. Bear in mind that some objectives may not have an individual target as they may focus on changing things at a grass roots level.

Actors

You also want to target your efforts on the people and groups (the actors) that can add pressure to your ultimate target. If you want to influence your MP then you should try to get the local media, general public and local business onside to increase your pressure on the MP from one source to four sources.

Step 4. TACTICS

Tactics are the activities you actually do to win the campaign. Brainstorm lots of ideas and then think about:

• which tactics are most appropriate to influence your targets to do what you want them to do
• what resources you have available e.g. cash, people, contacts, time
• your campaign message
• how to plan it, see the action planning pages for ideas

Step 5. BUILD IT

You can’t do your whole campaign strategy at once. Work out what order you need to do your tactics in to reach your objectives. Fit in activities month by month and put in time for planning and arranging them.