“If I knew what was going on, I might actually be able to help…”
Communications professionals often feel isolated within their organizations. At nonprofits and associations, it’s especially frustrating, because we, too, want our work to help advance the policy mission.
Good news! There are things your communications team can do right now to better drive the policy and government relations objectives. Here are just a few.
- Rescue event content. Staff and speakers spend many hours preparing decks, remarks and handouts for conferences, but much of it never leaves the room where it’s presented, making it a big source of untapped material. A solid writer can re-package it for months’ worth of news, action alerts, testimony, social media, one-pagers and more.
- Make your own friends. I spent 10 years doing press for a member of Congress and appreciated someone reaching out when their group would be in town or they had an op-ed idea. It didn’t always pan out, but I liked the peer outreach. Cut out the policy wonk middlemen (and women), and partner directly with press shops.
- Look local. Keep a list of the 10 states or districts your policy team is targeting. When you need content ideas, see what’s happening there. Then rely on social media, your colleagues or your association members to get it in front of the right people.
- Find the faces. Nobody has ever asked for a bedtime bar graph. We want stories. When I worked with the National Job Corps Association, we were proud of the 3 million people the federal Job Corps program had helped in 50 years. To communicate those big numbers, we did a national search for alumni whose stories could bring our economic analysis alive and celebrated them at a gala, with Hill visits and in a video series.
- Prep your fly-in participants. Even those who talk to lawmakers regularly can use reminders on the basics, like how to keep their stories brief, include messaging in social media posts and take high-res photos. (When you figure out how to break through to members on the last one, please let me know!)
This article originally appeared in the Public Relations Society of America’s Nonprofit/Association Section newsletter.
