Engagement and lobbying: the 360 degree approach
Level up your skills with these five strategies
Lobbying: it’s something businesses, advocacy organisations and charities alike are spending a large amount of money on these days. In the field of top-down advocacy strategies, there are many options to choose from, like paid and earned media, or direct lobbying. Through my work in Parliament I’ve seen plenty of people setting up 30-minute meetings, organising round tables or hosting breakfast meetings or receptions.
Still, I’m left asking myself: is this the most effective way to engage and lobby elected officials?
I think there’s a better way. A layered, interactive approach that pays off in the long run. It’s the 360 degree engagement campaign, which combines traditional avenues of influence like media and businesses with the effectiveness of a bottom-up campaign by regular people. And, given the size of communication, public affairs and marketing budgets businesses have, I’m puzzled by the lack of investment in this strategy.
Okay, it’s rarely a quick fix and requires commitment from the top, but it’s cheaper in the long run and allows you to build trust and meet your goals. Creating a two-way conversation with key stakeholders about your purpose and how it relates to the day’s most significant issues is always an excellent investment. When mobilised intelligently with strategy, purpose and finesse, thousands of voices are more potent than any costly paid advert.
1. Focus on the people who can help you move an elected official
In my last post, I spoke about how the rise of social media has tipped the balance of who wields influence. It’s not just social media that’s changed the dynamics though. In first-past-the-post systems like the UK, political parties are forced to focus both on a national strategy and a targeted constituency by constituency strategy. As a result, if you convince supporters who are normal every day voters to engage with their elected officials directly, then they can be moved to act in favour of your cause.
Create bottom-up pressure on elected officials to drive local, regional and national governmental change. Empower your grassroots supporters to engage opinion-makers and their elected officials at local, regional, and national levels in a meaningful way.
Most elected officials want to get re-elected, and those in marginal seats are more responsive to pressure from constituents. I spent most of my political career working to help parties hold or gain target seats. These critical seats are the most volatile regardless of your political persuasion. Due to the nature of these seats, elected officials have to listen more and represent constituencies better to continue to gain support. My advice for campaigners in the UK - target the fifty or so most marginal seats at Westminster, and similarly for the devolved nations.
Those in safer seats are more responsive to those who can nominate (or not nominate) them at the next election. They are more likely to rebel, either with permission or regardless of what others may want them to do if an issue turns out to be a real vote grabber with the right people. Local party groups wield significant influence in what constitute safe seats, as they may have the power to deselect the parliamentarian. These groups are influential in selecting who could represent the party in the future and are also frequently in contact with their local representative. It’s hard for elected officials to tune out strong opposition from this group of people. How do you get your message through to the right people, who can exert pressure on elected officials in safe seats on your behalf? If you want to go down this route, try a mix of engaging local individuals (such as councillors) and using good social media targeting to get your issue into the public eye.
2. Turn elected officials into champions
Developing meaningful partnerships with elected officials across the country can get them invested and move them to more significant action. Members in marginal seats run ongoing incumbency campaigns to engage with voters on various issues. If there is a natural hook to any of your campaigns, individual MPs can be great partners.
Leading up to the 2015 and the 2017 General Elections, it was my experience that these officials had a natural appetite for adopting great national campaigns with a local spin in their seats. This was significantly true if the campaign helped with good photo opportunities and copy. There is a real opportunity to create momentum, raise awareness and generate earned media through these campaigns ahead of future elections.
3. Encourage supporters to make it personal
Over the years, many MPs have refused to engage with blanket letter campaigns that follow the same template without any other personalisation. Some simply refuse to reply, while others share responses written by party-aligned researchers that reflect the party’s view on the matter.
When I was an intern in Parliament, the Cameron government put forward a proposal to sell off about half of the publicly-owned Forestry Commission land. The MP I worked for received more than 100 letters from his constituents opposing the proposal, and the picture was similar in other MPs’ offices. We held out for about three weeks, then wrote to all 100 constituents holding firm on the government line. The very next day, the Government changed its mind due to the intense pressure from the public (especially from those writing their local MP).
As more organisations mobilise constituents, it’s becoming an important part of the overall engagement of parliamentarians. It makes it more critical to encourage your supporters to personalise their letters and communications. Staff must take the time to read the letters and respond accordingly. Customised letters that speak to personal experience are more likely to be memorable and generate conversation than the same number of standard template letters.
4. Getting your supporters to take action once is only the start
It’s easy to use letter writing as a vanity metric, and state the number of supporters who signed a petition or wrote to their MP. In my opinion, what you do next is just as important.
Are you regularly updating your supporters about how your campaign is performing and what responses you’re receiving?
Has anyone been successful in meeting their Member of Parliament and lobbying them on the issue?
Are you asking your supporters if they have received any responses, and if so, what the response was?
Similarly, if not, then it’s an opportunity to send a follow-up email or letter to the elected official.
The subsequent follow-up could also bring supporters together to hold an online writing session. Walk your supporters through what makes an effective letter, and help them tailor a template to be more personalised.
5. Digital campaigns are the next layer of engagement
A less-employed technique in the UK and Europe than the US is using thoughtful social media and paid digital display advertising to target a small select group. I spoke about this method briefly in my recent piece on targeting, and it is another option for organisations and charities.
Platforms such as LinkedIn allow you to target people based on their place of employment and title, among other things. This means that the enterprising individual could target issue-based campaigns at elected officials specifically, and aim similar content at local political groups if they list them on their LinkedIn profile. Similarly, you can also focus on display advertisement on a niche website that is likely to see traffic from elected officials and their staff. I’ve frequently seen this on political gossip sites in the UK and US.
Interning and working in parliament has taught me that mobilising your advocates to lobby on your behalf is often more effective than individual meetings and roundtables with an endless number of MPs. (Oh, and that it’s more like The Thick Of It than The West Wing. But that’s a blog post for another day.) You should empower your advocates to engage with and lobby their local elected representatives, approaching each official with an understanding of who can access and influence them the best. When done right, you can empower your supporters to add their voices, stories and experiences to their letters and emails, and explain precisely why they care.