1. Find the right partners
Even if you have a really great idea, don’t go at it alone, Mortensen recommends. Build partnerships and find strength together with other stakeholders to the issue you’re working on. “It may take longer but it's going to be more successful,” she says.
2. Connect your state advocacy strategy to personal stories
The most powerful advocacy comes from people and their stories. As much as you can, inject personal stories into your state advocacy strategy to make it more meaningful and effective for the legislators you’re trying to sway.
“Building that base of people that are most directly impacted to be front and center and making the case for what you're working on,” Mortensen says. “Make sure that you're really connecting those stories and those people with legislators so they can see the real need and the reason why you're bringing forward this issue or this topic.”
3. Start early
“It’s extremely important for individuals who are advocating for something to begin early,” says Mick Bullock, director of public affairs at the National Conference of State Legislatures, and former communications director for Mississippi Governor, Phil Bryant. “Many state legislatures are 60- or 90-day sessions, so they’re cramming a lot of information very quickly. The more you can do out of session is key.”
Add to that the fact that several states allow for pre-filing, so you can already see the importance of getting ahead of the curve.
4. Do your stakeholder research
You know who the key legislators in a state are — but do you really? Look beyond past voting history when you’re doing your research and look at legislators’ occupations, previous employment, family composition, religious affiliation, volunteer work, what they’re passionate about… Any personal connection you can create between your state advocacy strategy and a state legislator can bring you closer to a win.
“Try to be strategic and find early champions for your issue is super helpful because then they're potentially able to bring others on board and be really excited and hopefully prioritize the issue,” Mortensen says. “Just doing a little bit of background consideration of who you're asking is pretty important.”
5. Build a year-round state advocacy schedule
While fly-ins or lobby days at the state capitol are a great strategy, think about state advocacy as a year-round activity to keep your issues, your organization, and your members top of mind for legislators.
“We had advocacy organizations and individuals that met with us both in and out of session. I know as a staffer it was extremely important and helpful when they came in and met with us,” says Bryant. “Like a lot of states, we really did not have a research staff, so basically they were helping us out because they had all this research we could tap into.”
Doing small meetings throughout the year is also easier from a logistics and capacity perspective.
6. Leverage technology to stay on top of your state issues
Beyond building and maintaining relationships, keeping up with developments in the fast-paced state legislatures can be a gargantuan task.
“Especially in the heat of the session, it can definitely be a lot and many of the bills aren't necessarily relevant to our priority so sifting through and finding out which ones are the ones that we should really pay attention to is important,” Mortensen says.
High-performing state advocacy teams of all sizes leverage legislative tracking technology to save time and automate this process. These tools can help you cut through the noise and never miss an important update.
7. Don’t Forget About the Press
Engaging and informing your supporters and lawmakers about your issues is advocacy’s number-one goal of course. However, getting attention from a broader audience can be very beneficial, especially at the state level, where issues feel more personal for constituents.
“Generate some additional interest in the topic,” Mortensen recommends. “Sometimes people are so focused on legislators but the media is right there as well.”
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