Grassroots Influence

Grassroots influence

Vaseline's Clinical Therapy was launched via a campaign designed to track influence and its spread. In a sampling program each customer was asked who referred them. Since was done in Kodiak, Alaska it was easy to isolate the spread of influence and document it, which turned into a campaign around Petal Ruch - the epicenter. A tip to Andrew Re for spotting this.
Finding and motivating 'advocates' is the central element to a successful campaign. Since intentions are like food - eyes are bigger than your stomach - over recruit and constantly recruit. Messaging needs to be both ways to continue to motivate people -- feed them with information, success stories and results that show that their efforts are making a difference.
Grassroots campaigns, like their counter parts in social media, require constant care and feeding - and management. This means invest in the tools and skills to track and report on.
Develop a complete communication plan; not only about your objective but also about what the audience also cares about.
Use both facts and emotion - people make choices emotionally and defend them rationally.
Sierra Club uses a planning matrix of 9 elements:
- Campaign Goals and Issue Focus
- Story: How will you communicate via victim, villain, hero and plot.
- Message and Theme: short enough for a bumper sticker
- Strength and Weaknesses: what can realistically be done
- Primary Audience: it may not be the obvious, e.g. reducing the fishing of swordfish was much more successful when focused on chefs than it ever was when focused on legislatures.
- Allies/Opponents: not only with respect to purpose but also in terms of budget allocations; most programs operate in a zero-sum game
- Targets: always a person or set of people; not an entity. What motivates this person?
- Tactics and Timelines: when and how is the message communicated; tactics should be both fun and demonstrate real power
- Tie-in To National Campaigns to create leverage