What is your vision?

This section looks at the importance of getting some of the fundamentals of a campaign right.

It might sound like stating the obvious to say that a campaign should have a vision, and key messages. Surprisingly a lot of campaigns either lack these things, or they don’t communicate them clearly.

Campaigning is all about changing hearts and minds through the strength of your argument. And for your argument to be powerful and remain focused, it must be based on clear vision and messages.

Also, the page on Influencing decision-makers looks at identifying who has the power to create (or prevent) the change your campaign is about. Identifying your campaign targets is a crucial aspect of your strategy.

We have kept this section quite short because there are already a lot of very good resources out there, which we have provided links to.

Further information

A particularly useful resource is Chris Rose’s Campaign Strategy website. The Campaign central website does not cover the important area of campaign strategy because this online resource already covers it in considerable detail.

A very succinct yet thorough exploration of the importance of vision and key messages can be found on the Battlefront website.

There are a range of other excellent resources about these issues, available online such as: ‘Tips on Good Practice in Campaigning’ published by NCVO. Look in particular at Tip 4, ‘Be clear what you are trying to achieve’.

Also, there a range of books that you can find out more about in the Resources section that have a range of information about these areas such as, ‘The Good Campaigns Guide’, The Campaigning Handbook, and ‘How to Win Campaigns’.