As a leader at your association, you know that change happens fast and creating a sustainable organization that can keep up with those changes doesn’t just happen overnight. This is especially true for associations interested in launching advocacy initiatives.

Advocacy initiatives are typically marathons, not sprints. A successful, sustainable advocacy program requires seeing multiple individual campaigns through to their end—some of which might happen simultaneously with others. To keep your campaign going strong, you’ll need careful time and resource management, as well as a strong understanding of what makes an advocacy campaign successful.

To help your association launch an advocacy initiative that’s built to last and keeps member interest, consider these three best practices. These tips are designed for organizations interested in using a mix of traditional and digital advocacy strategies to reach the widest audience possible.

Consider Your Campaign Message

To reliably attract supporters, an advocacy campaign message needs to accomplish a few key tasks:

• Be specific. Your supporters need to know what the campaign’s overall goal. This is especially true for long-term advocacy initiatives that span multiple campaigns. Ensure your messages explain how each individual campaign helps accomplish that overall goal.
• Evoke emotion. Your messages will be more memorable and inspire greater action if they evoke an emotional response. Develop stories from those affected by the issues your campaign addresses to help advocates make an emotional connection. Be careful about what emotions you evoke, as you’ll need to walk a careful line between reassuring your supporters that each of your campaigns is progressing toward your goal, but that the problem is still urgent and needs immediate attention.
• Provide immediate next actions. Now that you’ve educated a potential advocate and made an emotional connection with them, ensure your campaign capitalizes on these moments by funneling supporters to action. Link to your advocacy action center, a donation page, petition, or relevant content they can share. The best advocacy campaigns understand supporters want to act fast when they feel a connection. These campaigns provide direct ways to connect supporters with their representatives at that moment through an advocacy action center.

Additionally, consider what channels you are using to reach your supporters. For example, if you’re conducting digital marketing through email or social media, you’ll need to consider how you can grab readers’ attention in just a few seconds so they’ll stick around to see the rest of your message.

Allocate Your Resources Strategically

As mentioned, advocacy campaigns require preparing for the long-haul, rather than just one or two major pushes. Your campaign will have moments of high activity, such as congressional fly-in days or digital calls to action, but many of your activities will revolve around continuously gathering support by promoting your cause and spreading awareness.

Even when you’re not actively campaigning, show supporters the advocacy work your association is still conducting by regularly messaging them.

This means you’ll need to be thoughtful about how you invest your time and resources, especially if you are running multiple campaigns at once. Ensure your software and other tools are flexible enough to allow you to host a variety of advocacy-related activities. Consider investing in low-cost communication methods such as social media. Of course, making regular social media posts will require a significant time investment, so be sure the platforms you’re spreading your message on are ones your supporters use regularly.

Stay in Touch Between Campaigns

Your association might experience a lull in advocacy-related activity between campaigns, so be sure to maintain contact with your supporters. Doing so will help you retain support from campaign to campaign, allowing you to focus on growing your advocacy initiatives rather than replacing lapsed supporters.

Even when you’re not actively campaigning, show supporters the advocacy work your association is still conducting by regularly messaging them. These messages can include general information about your cause, updates on your future activities, or even invitations to participate in your association’s other offerings.

Then, when it’s time to start your next advocacy initiative, you’ll still have a strong connection to your previous supporters and be able to call on them to rejoin your campaign.

Running a successful, sustainable advocacy campaign requires significant forethought and planning. Ensure you have a strong message that will keep your supporters invested for long haul and get creative about how you can reach out to them.