Political Action Plans: Tactics

If you’ve been checking in on this series about Political Actions Plans, you’re well on your way to identifying who you need influence in the next year to advance your agenda. But what are the tactics you’re going to use to reach them?

Today, we’re talking tactics. I’m not talking about a whiz-bang data tool, or how to create an effective briefing memo. Rather, let’s talk about the principles and basics that will set your team apart from day 1.

Below is the excerpt on tactics from my introduction to Political Action Plans which you can read in full here.

Last week I hinted at today’s discussion by highlighting two important principles:

1. Education is advocacy
2. Good advocacy is effective because it adds value for your targets

When developing your tactics you’ll utilize over the life of your action plan, it’s important to revisit these principles often to keep your team grounded and properly oriented.

The reality of political advocacy is that there has never, or will there ever be a one-size-fits-all solution to winning decision makers to your cause. There is no relationship management database, piece of literature you can produce, or podcast you can share that will impact all of your targets. You have to make it personal, and to do that you need a broad approach to your tactical development.

Be Brilliant in the Basics

This concept is drilled into young Marine officers and I’ve found it a helpful mantra to carry over into my civilian professional life. It’s a given that situations can drive your tactics and courses of action. However, keying into some basic tactics and being really, really good at them allows you to adapt to broad sets of circumstances easily. These are the three that I hold closest in my own planning:

1. Utilize local residents as your key advocates – connect them to their representatives
2. Offer events or opportunities that make the decision maker visible to the public
3. Do the policymaker’s homework for them

These need to be hammered into your team. They should be plastered in the room where you’re developing your plan. They will drive your team toward adding actual value for your targets.

Leveraging Locals

Legislators, administrators, and staff are all people first. Read that again. One more time.

As ridiculous as that sounds, I can assure you that far too many activist organizations forget this. Critically, those who do forget it often fail to foster relationships between elected officials and those they represent. Too often as a staffer I heard stats and not stories. Those stats were informative for sure, but they fell short of making the personal connection that naturally capture’s a person’s attention in meaningful, longterm ways.

The really successful organizations, the ones I would reach back to as subject matter experts, developed key strategies to tell personal stories, and to place their clients/members in reach of our team. For instance, while they would bring new faces to each engagement meeting, they specifically identified a “district captain” who was my primary voluntary point of contact – often not employed by the organization – who acted as an intermediary and source of personal expertise on the topic.

Public Opportunities Without Fanfare

More than someone who would organize letter writing campaigns, this district captain was someone positioned to come into our team as a trusted confidant. They would help identify ways in which our agendas overlapped, and they offered opportunities for us to show our constituency that we were leading on an issue. It took time and investment to get to that point, but it paid off for those groups’ agendas.

One tactic they would leverage was in the realm of public events. Those events never had to be extravagant – especially in the modern world of social media. They were simple tours of facilities providing service to clients; morning coffees with 5-8 volunteers; time to address their board of directors during regular meetings. Each of these played into what the organization was already doing through client/member engagement, and thus constituted a light lift for them.

Now more than ever, Shakespeare’s observation that “all the world’s a stage” should be leveraged for your advocacy plan. When you can post photos, videos, and short thoughts in real time on countless platforms, even a simple car ride to a tour is an opportunity to highlight an elected official’s involvement with your issues. Make a habit of recognizing them in small ways – you’ll have an outsized impact.

As Best As You Can, Think for Them

Building on that impact is easy when you can feed them the information they need to successfully communicate your message broadly. You successfully get them to that point by doing their homework for them.

How does your issue directly impact their district/city/constituency? Is your proposal going to generate economic development and job growth? Will your policy expand services to groups of their constituency in need of assistance?

Finding answers to these and some other basic questions will help you create tangible talking points for a person stretched beyond capacity. So as you’re developing an idea for events in which you’ll engage a leader, evaluate their agenda and what projects they’re working on right now. Can you create a meaningful connection, do the analysis, and provide them a clear picture of how you are already working toward similar goals? If so, you’re helping them and their staff move along the spectrum from novice to champion of your cause.

I’ve found it helpful in my own planning to set aside time within the action plan to re-set as a team, re-evaluate the situation around us, and adapt the materials we are using to fit the moment for an individual member. In the coming weeks we’ll look at these re-set times and how they can be used to test your advocacy plan and determine if you need to adjust. For now though, take a look at your plan from a quarterly perspective. If you aren’t pausing at least one week in a quarter to evaluate, you’re likely not setting yourself up for success.

So, what are you thinking? Are you leveraging locals? Are you creating public facing opportunities? Are you doing their homework for them? If not, your tactics – whatever they may be – are likely falling short.

I’d really like to hear from you in the comments. What are some specific tactics you’re using in your own advocacy? What have you seen other groups do? What’s resonated with your targets? If you comment below on this week’s post, I’m going to put you in the running for a special gift from my favorite coffee company. How about it? Let me buy you a cup ‘o joe – take a moment to like and comment below!