Best Practices

Why Typical Digital ‘Trainings’ Fall Short

The Digital Campaign Accelerator is different. It’s a virtual, cohort-based workshop taking place over six weeks.

Is this scenario familiar? You’re interested in learning more about new digital marketing strategies and tactics to hone your skills and become a more capable political professional, so you sign up for a training provided by an organization or party. 

Two things usually happen – often at the same time: The well-intentioned individual delivering the training hasn’t invested the time in organizing their material in a helpful way and just braindumps for an hour. 

Alternatively, the attendees are at different levels professionally and in terms of skill sets which means you’ve invested an hour of time into rehashing something you already know because fellow learners are asking beginner-level questions. 

Whatever the case is, the results are often the same. You’re no closer to learning more about the topic of interest. 

As someone who has led countless trainings just like this, I’ve also been frustrated at the way digital training is delivered in politics. Invite a smart person to speak, gather as many people as you can, and have some Q&A then call it a day. 

This style of training may work for things that are straightforward and self-contained, like using a single piece of software or building a messaging template, but they fall short as soon as complexity increases. When it comes to digital marketing I’ve rarely seen these types of trainings produce real results. 

That’s because digital campaigning encompasses every aspect of a campaign, including fundraising, communications, voter contact, and persuasion. Fully understanding how it all works together requires an investment of more time and hands-on practice. 

The Digital Campaign Accelerator is different. It’s a virtual, cohort-based workshop taking place over six weeks. Each week, we’ll gather for a live, virtual session dedicated to a key digital campaign topic. In between each live session, participants work on a hands-on self-directed project designed to practice their newly learned skills.

Each cohort is limited to no more than 12 participants to facilitate a small, familiar group that’s comfortable asking questions and working together as desired. Live sessions are 90 minutes long. Participants should expect to spend at least 1-2 hours each week working independently on projects – more if they choose.

We have a few more spots left for the accelerator that launches on March 2nd. Click here to learn more about the program and apply now. 

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