Time for Action

You are now ready to implement your strategy. In this section, we will focus on two cornerstone aspects that are heavily used during advocacy campaigns: communications, and meeting your representative.

Communications

Communications are becoming an increasingly essential part of advocacy, and spending time on your communications strategy can have a major impact on your campaign success.

When designing your communications strategy, give thought to the following questions:

• Audience: WHO is the target audience?
• Content: WHAT is the most important information to convey?
• Timeline: WHEN does this information need to be shared?
• Context: WHERE will the information be shared?
• Purpose: WHY am I sharing this information?
• Design: HOW can I communicate this information in an interesting and accessible way?

Make your communications more engaging:

Whether it is a speech, a press release, a leaflet, or social media post, you may want to consider the following to ensure your communications engage and captivate your audience:

• Use a variety of communication methods; the more ways your audience engages with your message, the more likely they are to remember it.
• When communicating through written or spoken means, make sure your content is Clear, Persuasive, & Interesting.
• Statistics are powerful, but if you use too many, they lose their impact. Stick to the really important ones.
• Similarly, anecdotes and personal stories can humanise the issue, but must be backed up with solid data and arguments.
• Social and Digital Media are becoming more and more important. Much more than words are needed to communicate with your audience on these platforms. If you are interested in learning about ways to enhance your multimedia engagement/impact, click here to learn more about Mayer’s 9 Principles of Multimedia Learning.
• Most social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.) and email marketing platforms (Mailchimp) have analytics built in. Familiarise yourself with the different features available, and routinely check to see what is resonating with your audience.

Meeting your representative

Congratulations! You have successfully landed a meeting with your representative. Now what?

Before the meeting:

• Prepare! Decide on the following two things:
  • Key Message – What is the essential information you wish to convey?
  • Key Ask – What can this person do for you?
• It may be helpful to send a brief document in advance, outlining the key facts and figures, to set the stage and establish context for your discussion.
• Put yourself in their shoes. Ask yourself the following questions:
  • Why should they be interested in my issue?
  • What is there to gain from their perspective?
  • Is there something I can offer to them?

During the meeting:

• Give a brief overview of the issue.
• State why you believe this person is well-placed to support you.
• Propose your solution briefly.
• Introduce any coalitions/partnerships you have created.
• Leave the meeting with a pending task; e.g. promise to follow-up via email with a particular document, piece of advice, or contact. This is a good excuse to continue contact after the meeting

After the meeting

• Follow up, multiple times if necessary. Politicians have many demands on their time, so don’t be afraid to put your issue back at the top of their inbox!