Advocacy is the marketing of ideas
I used to hate marketing. But now I do think it is a powerful tool and a skill that all public affairs practitioners should develop. Here's why—and a bit of how.
Advocacy is like marketing.
The only difference is that you are selling ideas instead of products or services. Therefore, marketing is a skill that public affairs practitioners should get into.
I was trained in business management with a major in marketing. And quite frankly, I hated it. At the time, it seemed to me nothing but an elaborate and mischievous way to sell people things they didn’t need. But recently, I fell back in love with marketing. Here’s why.
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The marketing of trust and knowledge
First, the marketing that was taught to me is over. In the book The new rules of Marketing and PR David Meerman Scott tells that the main technique of traditional media is interruption. You book an ad in a magazine because you hope it will interrupt readers. You block a TV ad because you want to interrupt watchers during their favourite shows.
Today, with the advance of the internet—and because people are fed up with this kind of advertisement—, marketing changed to interruption to being here when people need you.
What you want to do is to have people find you when they look up your organisation’s name on Google, when they compare service providers, or, in our specific case, when stakeholders need information.
Therefore, we understand how important it is to develop your expertise and trustworthiness. You are not trying to interrupt policymakers anymore—they don’t like that. Instead, you want to bring, at the right moment—i.e. when a proposal, a report, is being drafted when a vote is about to be cast—your arguments.
And I would add: they are not merely arguments, but expertise. It is because you know many aspects of the specific file that you are valuable to policymakers. Try to cultivate that.
Market your ideas with a mission
Second, marketing is a necessity.
Marketing is a much more powerful tool when the organisation has a mission. Against the ecological and social damages of fast fashion, some businesses develop more virtuous clothing. Some relocate to Europe, others stop dangerous chemicals, and others craft sturdy clothes that stand the test of time.
When you have such an objective, marketing is useful. You are not in conflict for the customer’s attention and wallet. You are on a mission to save the world.
I’m not saying it out of cynicism. I am convinced that it is the way business should see itself now.
The best lobbyists are advocating on behalf of organisations and companies that change the world. Some use harmless chemicals. Some defend products that are necessary for the twin transition, others pledge to stop advertising to children, etc. In any of these cases, the organisation communicates on this mission and makes it a priority.
What can you do, then, at your level? First, you can advocate, within your organisation, to develop this kind of narrative. What practices are you the most proud of in your organisation? What is the company bringing to the world? What can it do better?
Then, you will have to defend this mission and make it your primary focus for all your outreach and advocacy activities. It will open the doors of policymakers wider than you think.
A passion for selling ideas
Third, marketing can be fun.
In the end, I have to admit, marketing is about increasing your sales number. For advocacy, your sales are ideas.
See it like a game: how did you perform last month? Did you sell many ideas to policymakers? Or are you waiting for this particular file to drop so you can start lobbying?
When your objective is indeed to put as many ideas as possible in front of as many people as possible, you are willing to discover and try new tactics. Will you write an op-ed in the newspapers? Or organise a demonstration? What about a public debate on an issue you are covering?
Furthermore, you have to stay on top of the competition, i.e. the other ideas. One tactic is to pack your ideas with something nice. Will policymakers buy your idea because it makes them feel good (intelligent, dutiful, concerned…), because it is most useful or because it is the most practical, the fairest, etc.?
This is the packaging. And like any marketeer, you have to think a great deal about packaging.
But don’t worry—it’s fun.
Alexandre Météreau is the author of The Beubble and a specialist in European policies and politics. Discover more about Alexandre at alexandre-metereau.eu.