Phase 0: Prep Work

Before launching into any persuasive campaign, meticulous preparation is essential to lay the groundwork effectively. The extent of groundwork required in this phase is contingent upon the goals, budget, and timeline of your campaign. Without a doubt, defining clear objectives for your endeavor is the crucial first step.

Goal Setting While the pipeline we have constructed aims to be universally applicable to all campaign endeavors, the reality is that each community, budget, and organization presents unique challenges. You must determine what you aim to achieve with your efforts and assess how much investment—be it in time, funds, or personnel—is feasible. For instance, if your objective is to bolster support and raise awareness for the local pregnancy resource center, your campaign may be comparatively straightforward and require less preparation than a large-scale persuasion campaign leading up to a major election.

The Five Year Wine Test A valuable brainstorming exercise to refine your specific goals is the Five Year Wine Test. The exercise unfolds as follows: Picture yourself five years from now, hosting a dinner for the friends who aided you in orchestrating and executing this campaign. As the evening progresses, you present a bottle of wine to commemorate the success of the campaign. Over the course of the next hour, you reminisce with your friends about the achievements of the campaign from five years prior. What specific successes would feature prominently in that conversation?

The objective of this exercise is to envision the potential impact of your campaign if it achieves its goals. How has your community transformed five years hence? What accomplishments are you celebrating that would not have been possible otherwise? Examples might include:

• "We successfully secured a legislative seat for a staunch pro-life candidate."

• "Our local pregnancy center experienced a surge of over 200% in appointments."

• "We fostered an active and engaged local pro-life activist community."

• "Our polling data indicated a 10% increase in support for an abortion ban."

• "Through conversations with over 5,000 individuals, we influenced 3,000 to reconsider their stance on abortion."

While the list could extend indefinitely, it is imperative to define what success looks like for your campaign. These objectives should be specific, attainable, and impactful. Avoid overly broad goals such as "make my community more pro-life," as they are challenging to quantify. I recommend outlining 3-5 significant goals for your campaign. Take the time to develop them thoughtfully, and don't hesitate to seek input from others and iterate through revisions to ensure alignment and enthusiasm among your team.