Some day soon, some level of government will consider legislation or regulations that directly impact your industry. Like death and taxes, it's inevitable. While most
organizations have trade association staff or government affairs staff whose job it is to analyze government activity as it relates to your industry, fewer organizations have
programs in place to mobilize their stakeholders to help once a political crisis hits.
As communications professionals we know that dealing with a communications crisis without prior planning makes it a more difficult task. Yet most organizations frequently wait
until the eleventh hour to sound the rallying cry for political involvement from employees or members when a legislative or regulatory crisis looms on the horizon. By developing
a program that educates and empowers your supporters now, you can be assured of better results than the last-minute scramble to get some letters to the "The Hill" program.
Still not convinced that planning ahead for a potential political crisis makes sense or provides adequate ROI? Think about this. Organizations that do have programs in place
discover that they are often able to apply pressure earlier in the political process and so avert the "crisis" altogether.
So what should your organization do to develop a political action program or a member grassroots network? There are five basic questions you need to consider.
1) Who are your supporters?
The first step is audience identification. For most organizations your employees or members should be obvious targets for involvement in your political action program. Other
groups to consider might be shareholders, suppliers, or vendors - people with allied interests to your organization. You may even want to consider customers as potential
participants. The key is to identify folks who have a stake in the success of your organization.
2) Why do your identified supporters care?
This is perhaps the most difficult and important question you need to consider. The problem you'll need to overcome is that generally it is hard to get people really
interested in something that might happen in the future. Worse, as a society we tend to have an apathetic viewpoint toward getting politically involved - just look at voter
turnout. Just to make things even more difficult, getting people to take action when the issue at hand is a complex (read: boring) business regulation for your industry makes
the job of engaging and motivating your supporters to action even harder.
Generally, the right motivation is a combination of linking the issue to their wallet and making the issue simple to understand. For example, a Fortune 500 client I work with
is building an intranet site that allows employees to find out more about the political process, encourages employees to register to vote, and promotes and facilitates their
involvement with candidate campaigns in their local area. The concept is that as a first step in building the program, employees need to understand and appreciate the political
process before being asked to take action on behalf of the company. The point to understand is that besides educating your employees or members about your industry's issues, you
may want to step back and educate your potential supporters on why they should get involved in the political process at all.
3) How are they going to stay informed on the issues?
Communicate regularly (at least every two weeks) with supporters on what's going on. Sending regular communications to your identified supporters about program activities and
updates serves three important functions. First, it keeps the participants informed, so they understand what's at stake. Second, it empowers the users to feel that they are part
of a network of people that has power and can influence lawmakers. Third, it allows you to keep track of who is on your list. Most organizations find that e-mail is the most
effective means of communicating with participants. However, having paper communications, such as newsletters and/or posters is good ideas because they give the program a sense
of credibility and tangible permanence that electronic communications can lack.
4) How will the program empower participants to take action when needed?
What motivates most elected officials is putting a face on your issue and having direct constituent communications sent to targeted lawmakers. If possible, encouraging
employees to personalize the communication using their own words can make a big difference.
The solution most organization use is to develop a Web site that allows supporters to send faxes, e-mails, and even patch-through phone calls to targeted lawmakers using their
PC keyboard and a few mouse clicks. The specifics of what makes the most sense for your organization may be dictated by budget, the behavior of your supporters, and the urgency of
the issue.
5) How will success/failure of the program be measured?
In simple terms, the program's success or failure will be determined by whether the legislation passes or not. However, other benchmarks can be used to rate the success of
your program. Growth of numbers of participants, open rates for e-mail communications, attendance at meetings or rallies, surveys, and, of course, response rates and the number
of communications sent to lawmakers around an issue. Again, most organizations opt for an Internet-based communications and online action taking tools because of the Web's
ability to easily capture statistics that can be used for reporting.
While creating a political action or grassroots network program requires considerable effort and planning, the downside of not being prepared when a political crisis hits is
much worse. So don't wait, start planning for this potential crisis now.
Contact: Mark Reilly, a senior consultant with Issue Dynamics Inc., advises corporations, national trade associations, and non-profits on public affairs campaigns with a focus
on using the Internet. He can be reached at [email protected]; 202.263.2932.