No Association is Switzerland

A Geo-Political Guide to Communicating Beyond Your Borders

Associations are Little Nations

Associations Have Plenty of Internal Affairs to Tend to…

• Membership needs!

• Membership growth!

• Events!

• Domestic comms

Sometimes, External Business Takes Priority

• On the attack!

• Repelling a threat!

!

“The art of letting somebody else have your way.”!

- David Frost

Strategery

Defining Victory

• What do your members want?!• What is best for the association?!• How do we win a battle without

starting a larger war?

Strategery

The Ramp-up

• Identifying the right tools

Tools

Committed Populace• Messaging!• Allies: Like-minded individuals and

groups to take up the cause!!

“He who wishes to serve his country must have not only the power to think, but the will to act.” !

- Plato!

Tools

Ambassadors

• Well-prepared members!• Information

Tools

Aggressive Action

• Advertising!• Press!• Social Media!• Events

Tools

Press

Message: From self interest to public interest!• Polls!• Internal call to action writ large!• Anticipate counter messaging!!“Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.”!

- Sun Tzu

Tools

Press

Relationships: Build them!!• Reporters/editors: Gatekeepers en

route to your goal!• Relevant reporters should be in your

contact list!• An intn’l incident should not be the

first time you talk!

Tools

Press

Cannon fodder: Useable content!• Reporters need NEWS, steady drumbeat!

• Events!• Press releases!• Studies!

• Op-eds, letters!• Committed populace, other allies!

But, press loyal only to the ‘story’!• Be bulletproof in terms of your position!

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

- Winston Churchill

Tools

Advertising

Missile: expensive, targeted and makes a big boom!• Not in every association’s arsenal!• Very satisfying glow!

• Members!• Public awareness!

Tools

Advertising

Arsenal !• Print: Adjacent to news, attention of

influencers!• Mail: Expensive, but delivered to their

doorstep, tactile!• Online: Targeted demos, easily adjustable,

cost efficient!• Radio: Call to action; specific, engaged

demo!• TV: Prestige, memorable, budget

considerations & re-use potential

Tools

Advertising

Even a flashbang can be seen from far away!• Targeting!

• Metro targets!• I-85 echo chamber!

• Influencer targets!• Inflating a modest buy!

• Coordination with press!• Social media !

Tools

Social Media

Free, but requires someone to have their finger on the button!• A stagnant page becomes a dismissed page

by press and constituents!• Not as hard as you may think to maintain or

at least give the appearance!• Hootsuite!• Interns!

• Don’t overextend with multiple pages managed poorly!

Tools

Social Media

Battle plan!• Know your goals for posting!• Clear calls to action for members!• Making the most out of a hit!

• A study or poll can be broken into several smaller bites all worthy of an individual post

Dossier

Reframing Through PressNC Retail Merchants Association!• Tax Free Weekend!

• What the opponents said - This is going to cost the state $11m in lost revenue!

• What the association said - This is going to save the taxpayers $11m that they’ll spend elsewhere!

• Tactics!• Messaging and positioning!• Direct media relations!

Dossier

Call to Action

NC Association of Realtors!• Land transfer tax, 2007-2008!

• Mass outreach!• TV, radio, print!

• Micro-targeting!• Direct mail, chase calls, door to

door!• Call to action: Contact legislators!

• Generated 50,000 emails and calls!• 24 referenda = 100% victory

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.

- Margaret Thatcher