From time to time, I am asked to produce a campaign plan to deal with an issue.
I have developed a simple checklist.
- Mirror the Commission’s Agenda. Mirroring back the agenda and language of the people in charge is a simple NLP technique. It works. Do it. It is likely that if you just talk about your agenda, the people making decisions don’t care. If you translate your agenda into their agenda, they will care.
- Work with Pat Dade for value communications with the political target market; or use his ideas.
- Map accurately the key decision-makers and influencers in Brussels and the Member States. It is around 250 people.
- Adapt your ‘value’ language for key decision makers-influencers; individualise the message. You would use the words of Pope John Paul II with devout Catholics, but it would likely go amiss with free-thinking liberals.
- Find trusted intermediaries to carry your case for you. There are going to be some people who won’t support you but will support your issue. Don’t give them the excuse to reject your agenda because they don’t like you.
- Run an NGO political campaign, not a corporate campaign; if you want to replicate their success you need to copy their model. Read Chris Rose.
- Avoid internal meetings. They are mainly therapy sessions and rarely help achieve the goal.
- Check-in every 3 months. Agree on the plan, finance the plan and execute the plan. Re-calibrate to see if it is working, and adjust.
- Be honest from the start. If you are the stage of a campaign, your chances of winning are low. Campaigns are there to turn around big problems. They are not there for easy things. Be very specific about what you want. Work out a feasible way to bring about change. If you are not, you will lose.
- It’s likely you are not the person to run a campaign. Step back and give it to someone who can.