3 Principles of Advocacy

Whether you’re a lobbyist working to advance a piece of legislation, a non-profit that fights to protect the environment, or an organization that represents the interests of workers in your state, strong advocacy skills are crucial.

Advocacy at the local, state, or federal level look different and require different tactics, but the fundamentals of influencing action are often the same. This article will outline three advocacy principles that help accomplish your policy goals.

Personalization

Personalization is key to influencing people to do something. The more you can speak directly to someone the more likely they are to feel connected to you and take the action you want them to take. A tailored message is key, but equally important within that message is to show them why they should care about something. Put them at the center of your message – demonstrate how their life improves or worsens as it relates to your issue or legislation.

For example, if you are advocating for environmental legislation and your target audience is a group of farmers, provide tangible details about how their livelihoods are at risk due to climate change. Highlight the financial ramifications of erratic or extreme weather on their annual crop yields, use data to show the impact of weather on agriculture over the years, or use anecdotes from other farmers. All of this highlights why they should care, it makes them think about the future and the importance of taking action now.

Or, if you are working to advance an education bill and your target audience is parents of elementary school children, focus on data that shows a correlation between a decline in test scores and a decline in high school graduation rates. Connect this to long-term earning potential and the importance of creating a brighter future for their children by prioritizing education today.

The bottom line is: put yourself in the shoes of your target audience to determine what messages or information will motivate them most to act.

Relevance

Making something relevant is necessary in a busy world. People are bombarded with dozens if not hundreds of marketing and media messages every day. If you want to break through the noise and emerge as important, connecting to relevant news and circumstances is critical.This is especially true when advocating for legislation or policy as windows of opportunity are rare. When that window opens, it’s imperative that you act fast.

If an issue is thrust into the news cycle or into the spotlight, use it as an opportunity to advocate for your legislation. For example, if you are advocating for an environmental bill and there’s been a recent storm or extreme weather event, it’s an opportunity to use the effects of that event to advocate. Of course, discretion and thoughtfulness is necessary, but there is a way to considerately make the case for the need for change without overlooking people’s pain.

Sometimes the window of opportunity is small, but it can still be enough to accelerate your message. Perhaps the media is focused on students going back to school and so you use the newshook to highlight new data showing a decline in test scores. Use this to emphasize the importance of your issue. Big or small, make sure to use the window of opportunity to advance your message so that it reaches more people.

Ease

Finally, the last key principle of effective advocacy is to make it easy for people to join you. If the process to support something is long and complex, it’s significantly less likely that people will do it. The easier the action is, the better. That’s why making something opt-out is always easier than making it opt-in.

Unfortunately, things like voting are harder. Getting people to take time to research the issues, fill out their ballot, and mail it or getting them to show up somewhere at a specific time to vote is especially challenging. There are ways to make it easier through education and information, but it’s still difficult. That’s why the average voter turnout rate in the United States is about 66% for general elections and even lower for off-year elections.

In addition to making the action easier, you can also make the messaging easier. Frame the decision as an easy one; the easier it seems, the more likely people are to agree or to act. Make the choice as simple as possible to reduce or remove any barriers that could get in the way.

Conclusion

While there are many tools for effective advocacy, the three principles outlined here are key to any advocacy campaign. You will likely see each one in your campaign beginning with personalization – showing your audience why they should care about something (i.e. the impact it will have on their lives). Relevance helps push the issue to the front of your audience’s consciousness and makes it more urgent while ease helps seal the deal and gets people to act or to agree. Using these three principles you can craft an effective advocacy campaign.