Planning your Campaign

Once you've established your mission statement and set out what you want to achieve and why, it's time to think about getting more specific about how you're going to make your campaign a success. Writing targets for your campaign are a great way to ensure that the goals of your campaign are achievable with the time and resources you have to carry it out. We've all heard of SMART targets, and they can be helpful in setting out what you want to achieve.

Here's a target that isn't SMART

I'm going to run a social media and print media campaign in 2020 to engage students in sustainability.

Here's one that is! 

We aim to raise awareness for sustainability on campus by running a social media and print media campaign over the first 2 weeks in March. We aim to get over 100 shares on our awareness video, by running a competition on social media for students to share the video and be entered into a prize draw.

Inclusion

Something to consider when planning out your campaign activities is whether you are running an inclusive campaign. Have a think about how a student might be able to get involved in your campaign if they are part of a marginalised student group, or perhaps a distance learner or part-time.

Some practical steps that you can take to support inclusive campaigning are:

• Holding your meetings online or ensuring that people can join meetings remotely;
  

• Practicing open-mindedness to other peoples' ideas and skills;
  

• Creating leadership roles to voice diverse perspectives - liberation campaigns, for instance, often include several intersectional roles such as a 'BAME Officer', 'Disabled Students' Representative', and so on;
  

• Advertising your campaign widely to reach a large cross-section of students.
  

Resources

Another main factor of planning your campaign will be identifying what you need in terms of resources. Resource covers both manpower and money; you may well need some of both! You'll need to think about who might want to help you with your campaign, and how you're going to contact them. You could think about using www.surreyvolunteering.com to advertise your campaign to attract volunteers, or visiting our Clubs and Societies Directory to see if there are established student societies or groups that might be interested in getting involved.

How can the Students' Union help?

Once you've set out the aims and objectives of your campaign, the Voice Zone at the Students' Union can help make your campaign a reality with funding. Campaign groups are eligible for up to £100 to cover all materials or resources needed by your group. Additional funding may be provided on a case-by-case basis to cover additional costs such as an external speakers or travel. In order to apply for funding, head to ussu.co.uk/campaigns to fill in the following:

• A description of your campaign
• Your mission statement and its aims and objectives
• Details about how students can get involved
• A draft of your budget
  

After that, you'll be asked to join one of the Voice Zone meetings that happen fortnightly during term time to talk through some of the practicalities of your campaign. At the meeting, the 6 Officers that make up the Zone will then offer some suggestions to help you hit the ground running. If you have any questions about this process, just email ussu.vpvoice@surrey.ac.uk or find us at the Union!