There are a ton of different tools that you can use to help run your campaign. Spreadsheets. CRM suites. Web site builders. Social media advertising. Email marketing. Text outreach.

One class of tools that is easy to overlook are those that help you with your writing.

That may seem simple – but look at that list of other tools in the first paragraph. They are all geared towards communication with potential voters. Even those that don’t let you communicate directly with voters? They’re helping you figure out how to plan your communications!

Communication has always been a key part of campaigning. In the age of covid, good written communication skills are critical. If you are going to run a campaign – or help run a campaign – you are going to be doing a LOT of writing.

Make sure that you do it well!

Tools can’t help you with the content. You’re going to have to come up with that yourself. What they can help you with is making sure that your presentation is clear, concise, and easy to read.

With that in mind, here’s a couple of free tools that I have in my toolbox. You may want to think about adding to yours, as well.

The Hemmingway Editor – http://www.hemingwayapp.com/

I am actually writing this post in the Hemmingway editor right now. It gives you real-time feedback on your writing and how readable it is. It will tell you when your sentences are too complex and in need of simplification. Color coding tells you when you are overusing phrases or adjectives. It can even warn you when you are being wishy-washy instead of decisive.

The Hemmingway Editor is my go-to for writing a quick post or revising a longer document. Copy and paste your text, then edit until all the annoying color warnings go away. Simple!

Grammarly – https://www.grammarly.com/

Grammarly is a web-based grammar checker. Most importantly, it has a Chrome plug-in. Installing that will let it check spelling and grammar in anything you do in a web browser. That includes Google Docs, Facebook posts, and – yes – the Hemmingway Editor as well. It will notify you of misspelled words, misplaced commas, and other readability issues.

Your Favorite Editor

Do you like to use Google Docs, MS Word, Open Office, or some other editor? Chances are, they have integrated spelling and grammar checkers. Figure out what these are, what options help you, and turn them on!

Even if you are using the Hemmingway Editor and Grammarly, you can still get some value from them. Each spell checker and grammar checker works differently. I’ve had Grammarly miss errors that MS Word flagged – and had both miss errors that Google Docs caught.

Writing clearly and communicating effectively isn’t hard. It is something that can be very easy to get wrong, though! Make sure that you use the tools that are available to you. Don’t let your campaign communications send an unintended message.