Developed by
Spitfire Strategies, and the
Communications Leadership Institute, with funding from the Gordon
and Betty Moore Foundation, The Just Enough Planning Guide™ was
developed to help those looking to create winning policy campaigns,
issue campaigns, corporate campaigns or public education campaigns.
Based on findings from a comprehensive search to find the perfect
approach to campaign planning, this unique tool provides organizations
and coalitions with just enough of a process for planning successful
campaigns.
The Interactive Just Enough Planning Guide™ provides users with an
online, interactive approach to the planning process. As you work your
way through the tool, you'll have several opportunities to evaluate your
answers and ensure you are making the smartest choices. You can also
stop and save your answers at any time, and come back and finish later.
This allows you to finish the planning process in your own time — and
gives you maximum flexibility so you can get input on your choices from
staff, board members or other outside resources as needed.
At the end of the process, you will have a fully completed plan that
links your organization's objectives to the many strategic decisions
necessary for a successful campaign.
Here's the journey - the nine stages to successful campaign planning.
We want to continuously improve and update The Just Enough Planning Guide™ and our site, so we hope you will share your suggestions for how we can make it better.
Click here to download a copy of the guide today.
- Confirm That a Campaign Is Possible. This is the time to step back and assess the viability of a campaign. Are the stars aligned for this effort to be successful?
- Set a Clear, Measurable Goal That Is Achievable. Your plan needs to be focused on achieving a very specific goal. Your goal is your raison d’ętre. Are you trying to make something happen or stop something from happening? There is a difference.
- Chart Your Course. Much like a road trip, there are likely many ways to get to your goal. You will use your knowledge of the field and the external environment to determine the best steps to your goal.
- Anticipate Conditions. Visualize all possible scenarios – the good, the bad and the ugly – so your plan includes strategies for leveraging opportunities and mitigating challenges, including identifying your opposition.
- Know How to Make Headway. What will propel you down your path? What major campaign activities can help you get from point A to point B?
- Prioritize Your Target Audiences. Now that you have a strategy, stay focused by prioritizing who you need to engage to win, and when.
- Put a Public Face on Your Campaign. Give the effort a name and a personality that is memorable and easily understood. You want people to recognize what you are about and not have to guess.
- Operationalize Your Campaign. Based on the activities you think will help you make headway, determine which campaign tactics you will need: from intellectual knowledge to government relations to public mobilization to communications to coalition building to fundraising.
- Stay on Track. Build evaluation mechanisms into your plan that will tell you when you are making progress and when you need to stop and make a mid-course correction. Meet regularly with your team to discuss your progress.
"All organizations — no matter their campaign's focus — need a straight-forward tool to help them make the decisions needed to have high-impact campaigns that can make the world a better place. The Just Enough Planning Guide™ is just such a simple and straight-forward tool."
