by Katie Daigle, Senior Account Manager
When looking to advance a social, political, or business cause, establishing a coalition can be a useful and powerful tool for generating awareness, momentum, and support. While the stakeholders you wish to influence, tactics you intend to deploy, and goals you hope to achieve may differ from one campaign to the next, here are some key communications strategies that will set your effort up for success from the outset.
CRAFT MESSAGING THAT RESONATES AND WITHSTANDS OPPOSING ARGUMENTS.
To educate stakeholders, motivate supporters to take action, and push forward your agenda, it’s critical that you take the time to develop a clear, persuasive argument and strong core messaging.
Communicating your cause effectively requires an understanding of the audiences you hope to influence and the information that they will need to be persuaded by your cause. Be sure that the messaging you craft is backed up by relevant facts, statistics or proof points, anticipates and can respond to oppositional arguments, and is compelling enough to make people want to join or endorse your campaign.
IDENTIFY ALLIES THAT CAN BE PART OF THE MOVEMENT.
Once your coalition has a clear direction, it’s important to identify and contact thought leaders, businesses, organizations, politicians, and others within the community that may benefit, have a stake in, or be able to validate your movement.
As you secure interest from those who would like to learn more, it will be crucial to identify and leverage messaging that will resonate most with them and their own priorities. Describing how they may be impacted by or benefit from your efforts will increase the likelihood that they will join your campaign and participate meaningfully throughout its duration.
BE FLEXIBLE.
Coalition work has the potential to change at any moment. New information, legislative action, endorsements on either side of the campaign, and other developments may require you to undertake new strategies, build upon or pivot your messaging, or engage new audiences. When new circumstances arise, it’s best to draw attention back to why the coalition and its cause matters, and why others should care too.
Building a coalition takes a lot of passion, time, and savvy. You need to surround yourself with a team that can take your work across the finish line. If you have a campaign that you think could benefit from the support of a coalition, reach out to learn more about our Public Affairs work – we can help!