Nine Steps to Successful Campaigns

Stage 4: Anticipate conditions
What routes, shortcuts, potholes and rest stops stand between you and your goal? Visualize all possible scenarios so you're prepared to leverage opportunities and mitigate challenges. Who will support the campaign? Who will be against it? Who is the competition, and how do you differentiate yourself from competitors? What assets do you bring to the table? Is there an external deadline driving the timing of the campaign? The bottom line: What stands in your way to win support for the campaign?

Stage 5: Know how to make headway
This stage answers the question: What campaign activities will get you from point A to point B? What kinds of activities are you going to have to operate? Do you have a field campaign? Do you need to release a report or a poll? According to Grimm, by the end of stage five "you've really got a road map with some detail in it that's telling you exactly what's going to make up your campaign."

Stage 6: Prioritize your target audiences
Review who the primary decision makers are from your strategy, then list and prioritize the target audiences you need to mobilize to influence and inform them. Measure the target audiences against your budget, and determine who will give you the most bang for your buck.

"The amount of energy and resources you spend should be directly proportional to the importance of each target audience," Grimm said.

When prioritizing your target audiences, consider what you need them to know about the issue, what you need them to do regarding the issue, and what they already know and do about the issue.

Stage 7: Put a public face on your campaign
Give your campaign a name and a personality that is memorable and easily understood, and come up with four main messages that your campaign wants to get across. You want to inspire people to join your campaign. What value do you want to convey? Make sure you convey them in a way that's easy for supporters to turn around and relay to their friends and family members. Are you for something or against something? (Depending on which you choose, the emotions you elicit will be different.) What is your basic campaign theme? Is it credible?