On our last look at the lobbying buffet I reviewed some tips on petitions and post cards.  Next up?

Lobbying with personal letters

Personal letters rank higher on the scale when it comes to having an impact, but they’re harder to come by. 

Letters can be very effective in helping you voice your concerns, as they let you get in more information than a post card.  The printed word also enables the legislator to better understand their constituents’ opinions and to gauge passion.  They flag important issues for the legislator in advance and provide a written record to review.  However, most people don’t take the time to write them. 

So in order to have the greatest impact, a personal letter project should begin early in the lobbying process.

If you use them, it’s best to provide people with a sample and/or fact sheet they can use as a guide, along with some basic instructions about “who” to send it to and “where”, (just remind them not to copy such information verbatim so everyone’s letter doesn’t look the same). 

When writing letters to federal officials use the following guidelines:

Addressing correspondence to a Senator:
The Honorable (Name)
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator:

Addressing correspondence to a U. S. Representative:
The Honorable (Name)
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative:

You can also address correspondence to their local offices in your area, or send it via fax.  (Due to enhanced security at the US Capitol after 9/11, local letters will usually reach them the quickest.)

Here are four tips for effective letter writing:

1. The main purpose should be in the first paragraph.  If you’re concerned about a specific item, (such as a bill), mention it by name.
2. Keep it short.  There is generally no reason to go beyond one page.
3. Keep it focused.  The fewer topics the better.  One is best.  Be concise.  Letters that ramble are discounted at best, (and thrown away at worst).
4. Be professional and courteous.  Be passionate, but never angry.  Include information that supports your position.

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Related entries:

• Grassroots lobbying methods (part 1): petitions and post cards
• Picking the right methods from the grassroots lobbying buffet
• Effective contact with elected officials

You can find more complete information on grassroots lobbying in my Grassroots Training Series!

Following up on the last entry reviewing the items on the Grassroots lobbying Buffet, we'll start looking at each of the methods you can use to bring pressure on elected officials.  Generally speaking, we'll start at the bottom in terms of impact and work our way up.

Petitions

Petitions have a one-time impact – when they are delivered.  The number of signatures tends to be discounted as just a “thick enclosure” that accompanies the cover letter you present along with them.  Petitions are generally better suited to building lists for your organization than for lobbying, (but list building is important too!). 

This is not to say that you don’t use petitions, it's just that when it comes to lobbying elected officials they are much more effective when coupled with other lobbying techniques. 

You can conduct petition drives “off-line” (in paper form), and/or online, (with services such as AktNow).

Pre-Printed Post Cards

The good thing about pre-printed post cards are that they're easy to get supporters to sign and mail in (since you've already printed a message to the elected official, and it's already addressed).  Much easier than getting people to write and send in their own personal letters.  Also, they're received over a period of time, which extends the effect.

The downside is that it's clear that it's an orchestrated effort, so it doesn't really give the official a good idea of whether the constituent is just casually interested in the issue or feels very passionately about it.

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Related entries:

• Picking the right methods from the grassroots lobbying buffet
• Effective contact with elected officials
• Basic grassroots lobbying

You can get more tips and details on these and other lobbying techniques in my Grassroots 101 series.

There are lots of ways to try and influence your government on issues you care about, but there are tradeoffs between different techniques that you should be aware of.

Generally, the more personal and spontaneous the lobbying, the harder it can be to to generate big numbers. For example, it's easier to get 30 people to sign a preprinted postcard than it is to get them to write their own letters.

The lobbying method you should choose depends on your own situation

Before deciding which methods you’ll use in your efforts, give some thought to the resources (current and likely) that you, your group or your cause can bring to bear.  Choose those that you’re best equipped for and that everyone is most comfortable with.  Don’t try to do everything.  Focus.  It's better to do a few things really well, than attempt a lot that you only mange to do half-way.

Again, remember that you can use online “groups” from services such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook or Ning to coordinate your activities, and/or create an online campaign around your issue with a service like AktNow.

As a guideline, here is a list of lobbying techniques in ascending order of effectiveness.

• Petitions
• Pre-printed post cards
• Personal letters
• Phone calls
• Townhall meetings
• Personal meetings
• "Lobby day" at the legislature
• "Grasstops" lobbying

Also, don't forget one of the most often overlooked lobbying techniques: saying "thank-you".

All of these are important items on the lobbying buffet, and I'll give some details and tips on each of them next soon.

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Related entries:

• Effective contact with elected officials
• Basic grassroots lobbying
• Lobbying at the local level (fighting city hall)

 (You can find more tips and help with effective lobbying in the Intermediate Guide to Grassroots Politics)

Our form of government relies heavily on the feedback and involvement of its citizens in order to operate effectively, or least for the people it's meant to govern. 

That means you help government operate more effectively by contacting elected officials on a regular basis. - whether they like it or not.  But just remember that the old adage that “it’s not what you say, but how you say it” applies. 

How you say something can be just as important as what you say.  As Senator Hubert Humphrey once said, “The right to be speak does not necessarily include the right to be taken seriously”.  If you have something important to say about your government, take the time to say it in the most effective way possible.

How elected officials think

To understand how to lobby effectively, it helps to get inside the mind of an elected official, (despite how scary that may seem with some politicians).  Generally they’re overly concerned with their next election, which means they’re constantly trying to get a handle on what voters think.  That’s where you come in.

The Tip of the Iceberg

Many legislators get a sense of their district through what could be called the “iceberg phenomenon”. 

Legislators represent thousands of people and, since they can’t get to know them all, they tend to look at everyone they come in contact with as representing “the tip of the iceberg” – and they don’t want to be the Titanic.  For example, if 20 people write their office asking them to vote against a particular bill, they then think that there must be hundreds more who feel the same way but just didn’t write. 

As a grassroots activist, this gives you a tremendous opportunity.  By joining together with others in a combined effort, you can have impact that far exceeds your numbers.

Spontaneity Counts

A natural consequence of the iceberg phenomenon is that the more spontaneous the contact, the greater the impact. 

If a grassroots campaign looks orches¬trated, (such as a petition drive), it may tend to be discounted.  The town hall meeting and the grocery store illustrate the point. If three people ask a question about tax increases during the open-ended question and answer time at a town hall meeting, a legislator will think that a lot of people are concerned.  But if three people stop them in the grocery store to ask about tax increases, they think “everyone” must be talking about it.

Personal is Better

The more personal the contact is, the more effective it will be.  For example, a stack of thirty postcards can be viewed as just “pieces of paper’, but thirty people at a meeting, (or showing up at their office), creates a more vivid and lasting impression.  Make it personal, but be polite. 

Don’t make it easy for them to ignore or discount your views.

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Related entries:

• Basic grassroots lobbying
• Lobbying at the local level (fighting city hall)

Check out The Intermediate Guide to Grassroots Politics for more lobbying tips

No matter how involved you may become in the political process, every citizen (in the serious sense of the word) should know how to lobby their government. 

Knowing how to effectively lobby – and doing so – is what gives conservatives a voice in the development of public policy.  It’s not enough to show up at the ballot box every few years and elect some people to office.  You’ve got to keep an eye on them once they get in, (even the one’s you may be friends with).  Then let them hear from you when necessary.  That’s the essence of grassroots lobbying.

But how to be more effective in the process?

Lobbying as a team sport

There are some fundamentals when it comes to being effective in politics.  And on of them is to multiply and organize your efforts.  In other words, join a team, or start your own.

In any team sport, the players are supposed to work according to their individual responsibilities for the overall benefit of the team.  The better they work together, the more likely they are to reach their goal – winning.  And just as in any sport, you have to know the rules, the positions, and the key players. 

At the same time, a winning team needs to be strategic in its overall game plan and consider the strengths and weaknesses of the other team as well as their own.  The “game” of politics and lobbying is much the same. 

More than ever before, it is important that conservatives build winning teams of players at the local level to offer “ground support” to government officials in advancing public policy.

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Related entries:

•  Lobbying at the local level (fighting city hall)
•  Tips on lobbying at the state level

(You can find more tips on grassroots lobbying in the Intermediate Guide to Grassroots Politics)