THE ADVOCACY COMMUNICATION PLAN 101

Once the scope of the campaign is determined, a plan needs to be put together to figure out how to make it happen. It may be tempting to launch right into activities, but it is critical to think through details in advance. Advocacy campaigns are highly public and mistakes can be difficult to overcome. That is why it is important to go through the defining researching, audience targeting and stakeholder engaging processes . Once these initials steps have been taken, the planning of the Advocacy Campaign will begin to take shape, starting with a very key component: Communications

Communication Plan: At its essence, effective advocacy is persuasive communication. Accordingly, the communication plan is the heart of an advocacy campaign. Solid analysis backed up by research will make developing the plan easier and lead to more successful implementation.

A communication plan for an advocacy campaign is different from any other information campaigns because it aims to go beyond raising awareness and provide information to trying to encourage people to take action and sometimes change their minds.

Developing the communication plan starts with the audience list and deciding which of those people are the most critical to reach in order to achieve the advocacy objective. In order to determine which arguments are going to be most convincing, it is important to assess each audience’s current position and what they care most about. While assessing the target audience for the campaign it is important to identify the audience’s knowledge of the campaign’s target issue, and record it in an Audience Knowledge and Attitudes Chart. Then record each person’s opinion on the issue, divided into these categories: for, against, undecided, aware, uninterested. Also, record the issues that the audience cares most about, as this can help to target or leverage the message of your advocacy campaign using themes about the issues they care most about.

Audience members may need to be educated or convinced to change their minds. In some cases, it will be necessary to make it easier for them to act or to put pressure on to raise the urgency of the issue.

Message: Each audience may require a different message, which is the main idea that is going to be conveyed through the communications plan. The message is different from the advocacy objective because it consists of the arguments that will convince the audience rather than the reasons why the advocating organization is pursuing the campaign. The message needs to be customized for different audiences.

Effective messages are those that the audience needs to hear, not what the organization wants to say. The components of a message are: What change is being sought? Why is this change important? (the positive result of taking action or the negative consequences of not taking action), How should the change occur? What action is being requested of the audience?

A message should include the four components listed above and convey the issue in a straightforward and compelling way. The message should be easy to present and understand, and should clearly represent the issue the advocacy campaign is centered around.

Messages should be concise and persuasive. Economic arguments may have the most impact, but may not be the most important factor for all decision-makers. Some audiences may be more willing to back the proposal when they know who else is already supporting it.

If the message is going to be translated into other languages, it is useful to have the message translated into the target language and then translated back to the original again by a different person to make sure that it is conveyed correctly.

Methods of Communication: Once it is clear which audience needs to hear which message, the next step is to figure how best to reach the audience. Some factors to be considered when deciding which communication channels to use include : Reach (Which audiences does the channel target? Local grassroots channels are often more credible and personal when trying to mobilize target Audiences); Frequency (How often are audiences exposed to the channel?);  Cost (How much does it cost to utilize the channel? Advertising messages can be controlled but are often viewed as propaganda. Investing time in press relations or securing time on a radio or TV programme can be done in many cases without additional cost and can be more credible); Feasibility (Is it reasonable to expect that the organization could utilize this channel? Are there risks in doing so?); Effectiveness (How much effect on knowledge or behaviour could this channel produce?); Rapid Response (Which channels will allow for sending urgent messages that counter negative opinions or statements by opponents? It can be helpful to prepare “ready-to-go” editorial articles in advance in order to respond quickly to a negative news cycle); Repetition (How can communications through each channel be timed, sequenced and integrated to deliver a stronger message together? Consistent messages sent through multiple channels are most likely to reach target audiences.