How to Develop a Nimble Messaging Response to Executive Orders

As of this writing, President Donald Trump has signed 116 executive orders since the start of his second term in January. By the time you read this, the number will likely be even higher.

While every U.S. president has signed executive orders, the current Trump administration stands out for its volume and frequency. Government affairs professionals face a unique challenge not only in tracking these orders but also in developing an effective messaging strategy around them.

Crafting effective, responsive messaging is one of the most important factors in how well an organization manages the impacts of these executive orders. To do this, organizations need to marry communications best practices with a nimble workflow and the right tools.

The Challenges Posed by Executive Orders

Executive orders are directives from the president with the force of law, though they cannot override existing laws. In the areas where the Constitution allows broad presidential authority, they can be useful for quickly enacting policy without waiting for the legislative process.

This relative lack of process is one of the key ways executive orders differ from laws, explains Tiffany Gourley Carter, public policy director and counsel at the National Council of Nonprofits. “While legislation you can track through the legislative process, and you might have the ability to advocate for changes during that process, you don’t have the same ability to do that with executive orders. They just happen.”

As a result, organizations often find themselves saddled with the task of developing messaging around executive orders with little warning. Executive orders can also be changed or halted in an instant if they’re challenged in court, further complicating organizations’ efforts to communicate their implications.

Despite the difficulty, messaging about executive orders is as crucial as messaging about legislation. They have the potential to impact any sector or group, and when they do, people will look to government affairs professionals.

To do this, Gourley Carter says, “There’s a nimbleness that is required, knowing that these executive orders are happening very, very quickly, so everyone needs to work together to be able to respond in a timely way.”  

How Technology Can Help Organizations Keep Up

Even the most agile teams will lose valuable time if they have to manually comb through news sources and government websites to learn about new executive orders. The most prepared organizations instead use technology that alerts them to new policies they need to pay attention to.

PolicyNote helps you track policy developments as they happen and configure customized alerts for policy topics relevant to you. PolicyNote also has an executive order tracker to help you monitor the administration’s actions.

When an executive order that requires urgent attention comes through, you can use PolicyNote’s built-in AI to get your messaging strategy started. This AI assistant summarizes executive orders so you can rapidly determine their impact, and it answers any questions you have about it in real time.

The most time-consuming step is often developing and writing a messaging strategy around an order, and there, too, PolicyNote can help. It can generate preliminary position statements, fact sheets, and more in minutes. With these resources created, you can focus on refining and executing your strategy faster. 

5 Steps for Crafting Messaging About Executive Orders

In addition to software, organizations benefit from having a process in place that can be acted on the moment an executive order is signed. These steps can help you develop messaging about executive orders that is both timely and impactful.

1. Identify relevant orders

“If you try to track everything all at once, there’s so much you can get lost,” Gourley Carter says. Instead, she advises only tracking the executive orders that have a direct impact on your organization or sector and ignoring the rest.

Technologies like PolicyNote can help you maintain this focus by only surfacing alerts for policies relevant to you.

2. Understand the content and its implications

Before you craft messaging, Gourley Carter says, “Make sure to read the order very, very closely. These are legal documents. You have to read the words for what they say and not jump to conclusions.”

Joshua Habursky, chief executive officer and executive director of the Premier Cigar Association, echoes this sentiment. “Don’t be too hasty to jump to conclusions. I’ve seen trade groups have to walk [their communications] back a little bit” after speaking out before fully understanding an executive order.  

3. Assess organizational impact

After you’ve read the entire order, assess what it will mean for your organization or the people you advocate for.

You may need to work with third-party advisors or engage with stakeholders in the White House to get the full picture. Habursky encourages organizations to connect with stakeholders in the administration if they have questions about the full impact of an executive order.

4. Develop strategic messaging

In addition to common communications best practices, such as writing clearly and knowing your audience, Habursky recommends “being very general, especially in the beginning when you don’t know all the intricacies” of a new order.

Executive orders are prone to sudden changes due to judicial interventions, and Habursky advises a cautious approach when that happens. “If you’re constantly making changes to what you’re saying to your membership, that can be problematic. Being definitive is a sign of an effective association.” If definitive information isn’t available at the moment, it might be best to wait a day or two until the dust settles.

5. Create an action plan

If you want action from followers and advocates, your messaging must clearly convey this and be persuasive. In these communications, Gourley Carter says, “Lead with impact. Lead with the impact of your organization o the communities you serve and the importance of your mission every day.”

Maintaining this focus, she says, “is what’s cutting through the noise” in a chaotic policy environment.

Rising to the Challenge of Executive Order Messaging

In the current political climate, executive orders appear to be coming rapidly. But, Habursky says, “with government affairs, that’s part of the process — being able to respond effectively to what’s going on in Washington and 50 state capitols.”

A combination of messaging best practices and technologies, such as PolicyNote, can empower you to navigate the noise and communicate effectively each time a relevant executive order is issued from the White House.

“The biggest challenge and also the biggest opportunity for effective lobbyists and government affairs shops is getting the pulse and the pace of what’s going on,” Habursky says. Those who not only grasp the pulse and pace of this administration but also communicate about it effectively will set themselves apart.