Planning a Campaign Strategy

Transcription

1 Planning a Campaign Strategy This is a brief write up of the How to Plan a Campaign Strategy workshop run in Friends of the Earth. It aims to represent the information given in the workshop but isn t a substitute for attending the workshop, which is by far the most useful way to gain the skills of campaign strategy planning. Every good campaign has a strategy. It s a simple process to go through the key thought processes needed to develop a strategy and by doing so you will move from a desire to get something done to a detailed, timed and well-planned idea of how you ll achieve it. If that s not reason enough to do it remember that organisations like Esso, Monsanto, Nestle, the local airport, the road building company or local power station all go though this process to ensure that they get what they want. So if you don t do it, you re already one step behind. Step 1. WHAT DO YOU WANT The Aim Before anything else, you need an aim. This should be a relatively short statement, probably just in one sentence, that states exactly what it is you are trying to achieve. It is the ultimate aim: a description of the place that, when you reach it, you know you have won. Examples of the sorts of things we are talking about are To permanently stop the road being built or To get doorstep recycling introduced to every home in the area. Are you SMART? The way to make sure your campaign is clarified to the detail you need it to be is to follow through this simple process. You may know your aim, but to really know how you re going to achieve it and recognise when you ve got there, you need to make it detailed. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timespecific. Look at the aim you are trying to achieve and decide if it really is specific enough if you can measure it in some way if it is actually possible if, whether or not it is possible, it is a realistic aim for you at the moment whether you ve put a time frame to it If you can cover these areas you should find your aim now makes a lot more sense to everyone. Step2. OBJECTIVES You have an aim. Now you need to work out how you ll get to that aim. Objectives are a nit like sub-aims. They are the small achievements you ll tick off on the way to getting your ultimate aim. As an example, if you want to stop a road being built then you might benefit from getting a majority of Councillors to adopt your position. So you could set an objective of getting this majority onside. If you can achieve this objective it would be a step towards achieving your ultimate aim. The group needs to discuss a set of objectives that will set you on a route to your aim. Are they SMART? Just like the aim, make sure these objectives are SMART, so you know exactly what you re trying to achieve, how you ll do it and by when. Step 3. SHOULD YOU DO IT? CAN YOU DO IT? You have an aim. You have a number of objectives that will, step by step, get you to your aim. But are you really in a position to do it? What would put your group in a stronger position to win? Are there skills, experience or knowledge that you are missing? And out there in the real world, are there things, like a biased media or public opinion, that may be for or against you? There is another simple process to go through that can answer these questions.

2 It s SWOT: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Strengths and weaknesses essentially refer to the internal nature of your group. What are the groups strengths in this campaign (eg experience or knowledge on the issue, skills in media or lobbying) and what are the weaknesses (eg. A small group, lack of knowledge, no money) Opportunities and Threats essentially refer to the outside world. Are there opportunities you could tie in to, to help you out (eg. A supportive media, a national story that s related, an international day on the issue, a local event) and are there any threats out there (an outspoken MP that disagrees with you, an unsupportive media, a strong local campaign against you). Go through the process listing these and then take time to discuss how you will overcome the weaknesses and threats and how you will maximise the opportunities and strengths. Not only does it mean you don t get caught out later on but it means you will probably end up building a stronger group as a result. Step 4. TARGET PRACTICE The ultimate target is the person or group you are aiming to influence. You may need the Council to make a decision one way or another, you may want the majority of the public to adopt a particular activity or you may need a company to do something. These would be your ultimate targets. By this point in the process you probably know who your ultimate target in your campaign is. However, there are other people to target too. You also want to target your efforts on to the people and groups that can add pressure on to your ultimate target. For example, if you want to influence your MP then it would make sense to target some of your efforts towards getting the local media, general public and local business onside as you would then have increased your pressure on the MP from one source to four sources. So when thinking through your targets think not just of the ultimate target but also the other pressure points on that target that you can also get on side. Step 5. TACTICS You know what your aim is and what steps you need to take to get there. You also know whose attention you re trying to get. But how will you get it? Tactics are the activities you get up to to win the campaign. They are everything from letter-writing, postcards or visiting the MP to the mass demonstration, direct action or media stunts. When building a campaign the group needs to look at the objectives its identified and the targets it s aiming for and then discuss what tactics would work best to influence these people to do what you want them to do. It s then a case of working out in more detail exactly how you ll do it. For example, a postcard campaign might influence an MP. So you also need to think about how to design and develop the postcards, how to run the stalls to get them signed and so on. It s at this stage that you need give some thought to the message of your campaign too. How do you want it to come across and what words work well to influence people. Step 6. BUILD IT You can t do it all at once. Because you have used SMART, you have timings for your objectives and through developing targets and tactics you know what you need to do to get there. Now you need to work out what order you need to do it in. The group needs to spend some time thinking through the order of external events and how you ll fit in what you plan to do. Fit in activities month by month and make sure you also put in time for planning and arranging them. Once you ve planned it out you need to look at it and see if you, as a group, are actually able to do it. Have you got too much going on in one month or have you just taken on too much overall. If so, review it. If not, then you re almost there!

3 Step 7. GO! You now have a campaign strategy. This is a really useful process to go through and will clarify the aims, techniques and style of your campaign. Of course, things change. Sometimes the campaign will need to react to a new and unpredicted event. Other times you ll find that the route you re taking isn t working and you need to reassess your plan. Flexibility is essential in campaigns. However, if you use this process to plan your campaign at the start, and use the techniques and thought processes throughout it, then you will be in as strong a position as you can be to win. SMART AIM SMART OBJECTIVES SWOT TARGETS TACTICS REVIEW GO!

4 Campaign Strategy Aim: Objectives: Targets: Tactics:

5 STRENGTHS Eg. Three of our group members are experts on this issue WEAKNESSES Eg. None of us know how to lobby the council on this issue OPPORTUNITIES Eg. The council plans to launch a consultation on this issue in a month s time THREATS Eg. A recent poll suggested that 90% of the public oppose our view.

6 AIM: Activity Jan Feb March April May June July August September October November December Beyond