Create and Publish a Campaign
TL;DR — On the Campaigns page, click + Create Campaign and submit with a name. The campaign starts in Draft — invisible to candidates. When ready, open the campaign and click Publish to make the public application link live.
Before you start
- To create a campaign: Admin role. Campaign Managers and Members don't see the Create Campaign button.
- To publish or unpublish: Admin or Campaign Manager role.
- You'll need: a campaign name. Everything else can be filled in or changed later.
Create the campaign
- In the sidebar, open Campaigns.
- Click + Create Campaign in the top-right. A drawer titled Create New Campaign opens.
- Enter a Campaign Name (required) — for example, Fall 2026 Admissions. The Slug auto-fills as a URL-safe version, e.g.
fall-2026-admissions. You can edit the slug if you want a shorter URL. - (Optional) Pick a Program, a Workflow source, Tags, a Description, and any of the three dates (Start Date, End Date, Application Deadline).
- Click Create Campaign at the bottom of the drawer. The drawer closes, a "Campaign created successfully" toast appears, and the new campaign shows up in the list with the Draft badge.
Anything you skip can be edited later from the campaign's own page. Only the name and slug are required to create.
Choosing a workflow
The Workflow field copies a set of stages — the steps candidates go through, like application form, document upload, interview, payment — into the new campaign. Three options:
| Option | What it does | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Start with blank workflow | No stages. You add them manually after creation. | First campaign, or when you want full control over the structure |
| Workflow Templates | Copies stages from a saved workflow template | Reusing a workflow you've set up as a template |
| Copy from Campaign | Copies stages from another campaign in your organization | Cloning a previous cycle as the starting point for a new one |
The Workflow field only appears if your organization has at least one workflow template or at least one previously-created campaign that has stages. On a brand-new organization, the field is hidden and the campaign is created blank.
After creation
A new campaign is in Draft — invisible to candidates and not listed publicly. From the campaign's detail page you can:
- Edit any field, including the slug.
- Add or rearrange Stages (application form, documents, interview, payment).
- Assign Managers so Campaign Managers can run the campaign day-to-day.
- Publish when everything is ready — see below.
Publish your campaign
Publishing flips the campaign's status from Draft to Published and makes the public application link active. Until you publish, candidates can't see the campaign and the link returns Campaign not found.
- From the Campaigns list, click the campaign you want to publish.
- In the campaign header at the top of the detail page, find the Publish button.
- Click Publish. A toast confirms "Campaign published successfully!" and the button switches to a red Unpublish.
- (Optional) Click Copy Link in the same header to copy the public application URL to your clipboard.
Permission: Admins and Campaign Managers can publish or unpublish. Members can't.
Share the link
The public application URL looks like:
https://brightstep.app/application/<your-slug>?org=<organization-id>
Always share the full URL with the ?org= query parameter. The Copy Link button in the campaign header builds this URL for you. If you paste a stripped version (just /apply/<slug> without ?org=), the page returns Campaign not found — even when the campaign is published.
You can also generate tracking variants (e.g. &utm_source=linkedin) from the campaign header dropdown.
Unpublish or close
- Unpublish — same button, now red. Use this to temporarily hide a published campaign while you make corrections. The public link returns Campaign not found until you re-publish.
- Close — set status to Closed when the campaign is over (e.g. after the application deadline). Closed campaigns can't be re-published from the Publish button — closing is a final step. To re-open, edit the status from the campaign settings.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| + Create Campaign button is missing from the Campaigns page | You're signed in as Campaign Manager or Member | Ask an Admin to create the campaign, or to upgrade your role |
| Error: "A campaign with this slug already exists in this organization" | Another campaign in the same organization already uses this slug | Edit the Slug field manually (e.g. add a year or suffix) and resubmit |
| Create Campaign submit button stays disabled | The Campaign Name field is empty | Enter a name. The slug will auto-fill |
| The Workflow dropdown doesn't appear in the drawer | You have no workflow templates and no campaigns with stages yet | Submit with a blank workflow. You can add stages from the campaign's detail page after creation |
| Campaign created but candidates can't see it | New campaigns start in Draft by design | Open the campaign and click Publish |
| Publish button is missing from the campaign header | You're signed in as a Member | Ask an Admin or Campaign Manager to publish |
| Publish button is greyed out | The campaign's status is Closed | Closed campaigns can't be re-published from this button — edit the status from campaign settings if you need to reopen |
| Public link shows "Campaign not found" even though the campaign is published | The shared URL is missing the ?org=<organization-id> query parameter | Use Copy Link from the campaign header — that builds the full URL with the org parameter |