Perhaps the greatest challenge to an advocacy campaign is narrowing down your audience. Understanding the target for your message is critical. Who has the authority to make the changes that need to be made? Who influences them? Choose as your audience(s) the kinds of people who make the decision -- or directly influence people who make the decision -- about your policy goal. Roll over each audience to learn more about your options.
Add notes below, if you’d like, about your specific audience(s) and your reasons for choosing them.
CHOOSE Audiences: |
Individuals elected to public office. Many – though not all -- policy decisions lie with current elected officials. Incumbents may need some convincing that the status quo is not as things should be. Try to determine as specifically as you can which officials are the key decision makers and which groups can best influence their actions. In general, of course, try to narrow your target audience as much as you can.
Individuals running for public office. If current elected officials are the problem, perhaps it makes sense to concentrate on candidates for office who might bring a fresh perspective to the issues. You may want to reach out to candidates or their staff to discuss your issue and proposed solutions. Don’t forget that elected officials are sometimes also candidates. This choice carries some potential legal consequences – or at least obliges you to be aware of the relevant tax code restrictions.
Individuals in government agencies who administer, oversee, and manage public programs or funds. If administering or implementing a policy is the problem, you may need to focus on appointed or career officials rather than on elected politicians. Understand the pressures they work under and the solutions they might find appealing.
Individuals who are registered to vote, or more specifically individuals with an established voting record. Influencing candidates and elected officials is easier if your audience includes voters – and especially voters that incumbents and candidates need to persuade. Like you, politicians won’t waste time trying to persuade the “unpersuadeable”; can you bring new voters to them?
Individuals and groups that donate to candidates, campaigns, and PACs. Donors can have influence with elected officials and candidates. See if you can work with them to help win support for your issues and solutions.
Groups of people with shared interests, characteristics, or qualities, often because of where they live or what they do. We preach specificity for a good reason: to help advocates use their resources as effectively as possible. You don’t have the funds to persuade the general public to agree with you; and you don’t need to. Which “publics” or constituencies can help you achieve your policy goal? Who will carry the most weight?
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Individuals who generate news coverage for newspapers, radio, television, or websites and are in a position to include your issue in their coverage. Reporters, bloggers, editors and other media gatekeepers are an audience in themselves, and a means to reach the audiences to whom they speak. A good understanding of how the media portrays your issue will help you decide what to “pitch” and who to pitch it to. Can you develop relationships with particular gatekeepers? Can you take advantage of social networks and spread your messages using viral marketing? Remember to assess how media coverage connects to your overall advocacy strategy. Unpaid and paid media placements can support your other media tactics by, for instance, bringing more people to your Web site right when you have an urgent action for them to take. News media will be more receptive to your issue if they know the public is interested, so be ready with evidence and a local contact they can talk to.
| Popular Culture Artists and Gatekeepers |
Individuals who contribute to popular culture. Writers (song, screenplay, television), producers, directors, agents, and performers often are open to working with advocates. If this area is less familiar to you, consultants can work with you to gain access to this audience individually or through meetings sponsored by organizations such as the Writers Guild of America.
Private-sector organizations or enterprises. Does your issue bear on core business interests in a specific sector? For instance, advocates on poverty, environmental, health care, and migration issues can articulate how each of these issues affects the bottom line. Is your issue affecting their business’s competitive advantage? Are they addressing it as part of their corporate social responsibility efforts? Can their participation increase your impact on decision makers by providing the clout and prestige of business organizations, as well a “strange bedfellows” story line?
Individuals who are influential in their communities, such as mayors, school board members, clergy, police chiefs, etc. “Zoom in” -- how does your issue affect local leaders and organizers? Has it changed the community in concrete ways? Often the most compelling stories and actors -- even for global issues -- are found at the local level. The right local story can take an abstract issue and make it tangible and more credible. If you are working on a statewide or national campaign, your local story may propel the issue onto the national stage through strategic media placement.
The local, state, or federal forums where legal disputes are adjudicated. Perhaps your issue would be best served by enforcing or clarifying laws or rights that need firmer legal grounding, or simply legal defense, rather than a new law. Taking the issue to court can lend authority (and even publicity) to your cause.
Once more: Ask yourself: “What is the smallest audience that I need to engage in order to spur change on my issue?” The answer may yield other, even more specific audiences that will be key agents of change.
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