Category Archives: Research Commentary
How to Prevent Burnout of Your Most Valuable Advocates
If you have a non-stop stream of enthusiastic grassroots advocates who are willing to repeatedly contact lawmakers when you ask, read no further. If you have advocates who consistently leverage their personal legislator relationships for your cause, read no further.
If you don’t, there’s research that reveals what you need to do to keep them interested and motivated (and it has nothing to do with plaques and awards). The surprising results are based on The Showalter Group’s proprietary research with hundreds of quality grassroots advocates – the ones who attend your annual Lobby Day events, D.C. Fly-In’s, testify before legislative committees, write and meet with their lawmakers when asked, etc. They come from a variety of professions and interests, including, but…
Could Corporate New Voter-Drive Initiatives Backfire?
After shunning politics for years, Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, launched a voter registration and education campaign targeted at its 1.3 million employees.
Wal-Mart’s initiative is not without precedent. A growing number of corporations, including Nationwide, ExxonMobil and DaimlerChrysler, have organized in-house voter registration efforts, making it easy for workers to download voter-registration forms and apply for absentee ballots.
But it takes more than handing out a few forms to get people to the polls. Companies thinking that with a little help their employees will vote for candidates who support the corporation’s goals are being unrealistic. Creating an emotional allegiance to your issues so that employees know whom to vote for without being told whom to vote for is an entirely…
The Influence Tactics of Fortune’s “Power 25”
Background
It is our interest in excellent government relations programs and “best in class” organizations that inspired our second research project with Fortune magazine’s “Power 25.” The first project focused on how they recruit, retain, and motivate their most productive grassroots advocates.
This research seeks to answer a second vital question: “What influence tactics predict success when attempting to gain legislative support”? We believe the answers are vital, because there are competing mythologies about what works in the legislative influence arena.
For example, when a group wins a high-profile campaign, the campaign is usually dissected for strategies and tactics, disregarding the influence context or the influence target that helped those tactics succeed.
We were also intrigued that workshop audience members (government relations staff and…
How Your Audience Uses Media Can Impact Decisions about Grassroots and PAC Participation
I have found some outside research that should be of interest to anyone who needs to get the attention of their audience. Some of you may find yourself in this group.
Ketchum, a global PR company, conducted research with USC’s Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center regarding how consumers use media. Their findings have immediate applications to those of us in the government relations profession, which you will see in my commentary after I outline a couple of the findings.
TSG has been admonishing the profession for quite some time that people rely most on personal experiences, word of mouth, and friends when making decisions. They rely on it not only for what kind of shampoo to buy or where to vacation, but…
Amy in the News
I made some predictions in a February 2009 Politico article http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18915.html
on the sustainability of the Organizing for America movement. That led to an interview with In These Times magazine about my additional thoughts on the enthusiasm gap among Democratic voters in the 2010 election.
Bottom line? The new (first time voters) 2008 Obama voters want immediate gratification, and that’s not reality: http://inthesetimes.com/article/6535/minding_the_enthusiasm_gap
And now, the college students are admitting it: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44093.html