Archives for Drew McKissick

Informing Conservatives for Action

May 14, 2025 by Drew McKissick in Grassroots Tips | Leave a comment

informing conservativesIt is one thing to identify other people who care about the same things as you do, but an uninformed group of people, no matter what the size, isn’t well equipped to have much of an impact on anything.

They’ve got to be informed.

Here are some basic steps you can take to informing conservatives so that they’re better prepared for effective action.

Set up a Database

It doesn’t help your cause to have a large group of people who agree with you but that you can’t easily get in touch with. That’s why the most important element of any group of identified fellow malcontents is the actual LIST. Who are they? Where are they? How can you get in touch with them?

Make things easy on yourself from the start by settings things up in a simple database program. If nothing else, a simple Excel spreadsheet will do. Identify names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. You could even throw in links to Facebook or Twitter profiles.

Good contact information is critical. Start it off right and keep it up to date.

Communicate Regularly

Once you’ve identified people who have common concerns you need a way to communicate and keep them up to date with what’s going on with the issue at hand. Make sure they have access to basic information, talking points, key dates or meetings they need to be aware of or attend, what happened, and action alerts when specific critical action is needed.

Email is the cheapest format to use. But the larger your list becomes, the more you may want to set things up on a professional email service, (such as, Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, etc.). Many of these offer free service to lists with fewer than 2,000 contacts. It will make your communications look more professional and will be easier for you to manage in the long-run. Also, settle on a regular schedule, so people know what to expect and when, (such as a monthly update…excluding any action alerts you may need to distribute).

You could also take the next step and set up a simple place online where you can put more extensive information that you can link to in newsletters. Don’t let this intimidate you, as you can use any number of free services to create a “home base”, (from Facebook pages, to Google Groups to WordPress). It’s so simple a caveman could do it.

Have Regular Meetings

No one likes long, boring meetings. So don’t have any. But it does make a difference when like-minded people get together, so have a regular meeting for your “core” group to review priorities and make plans. You can always hold “informational” meetings for larger groups when it makes sense.

It’s important that people feel like they’re a part of the process. If they do, they “buy in” to the plan and are more likely to help out.

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An informed group is a group that can have more of an impact. So take some basic steps to make sure you’re all on the same page.

How to Cut through the Clutter and Communicate a Clear Message

April 18, 2025 by Drew McKissick in Grassroots Tips | Leave a comment

trespassWhen you’re trying to have an impact on pretty much anything in politics it usually involves a need to communicate a clear message, whether to a group of people or to the media – or sometimes both.

But in order to cut through the clutter of competing stories and messages and communicate a clear message that will make a difference, you need to do a few basic things.

Package Your Message

Make sure that you spend time early on developing your overall message, summarizing it and creating fact sheets and additional information to supplement it. If you don’t know your own message, then you’re not going to be able to communicate it very well – which means you’ll be wasting your time in trying.

Make sure that it’s easily available and digestible. Don’t write a treatise – cover the basic facts. Add some bullet points. Add some quotes that the media can use, either from you or other people supporting the effort. Then add the more in-depth details (or links to them) at the end, or in an additional document. Make it easy to share with others, (such as with a PDF that’s easy to link to, download, email, print, etc.).

The point is to make it easy for anyone – whether a supporter, potential supporter, or the media – to know what you’re doing and why it’s important.

Push Your Message

Be proactive in pushing your message. When a story breaks and the media needs information, you can help make sure that they’re not looking elsewhere if you’re actively working to make yourself available to them. Contact whoever is covering the story, tell them how you’re involved with the issue and ask if they would like a quote. Follow it up with a press release and/or a fact sheet.

The ideal situation is to get “into” the story, not just react to it after it has been run. The result is that you can get a free ride on a story that the media was already going to do anyway.

Focus on Your Message

Once you’re confident with what you want to say, remember to stay ON message. That means STAY FOCUSED. What good does it do for you to prepare a message and then get distracted from delivering it?

No matter what the question is, or whatever the subject, either find a way to relate it back to your issue/message, or answer it quickly and then move back to what you want to talk about. Or just ignore it entirely, (“That’s an interesting question, but it’s not as important as XYZ…”)

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The easier that you make it for people (and the media) to get information, the more likely they are to use it. As a result, it increases the odds that your opinions can be shared with others and possibly help shape media coverage…or at least be represented.

Information or opinions that aren’t packaged, pushed and focused on are not likely to be represented – especially for conservatives.

So be sure to make the effort.

How to Target Your Grassroots Lobbying Efforts

January 10, 2025 by Drew McKissick in Grassroots Tips | Leave a comment

grassroots lobbyingOne of the most important questions to answer before starting any grassroots lobbying campaign is “who” are you going to lobby?  In pretty much every campaign there is a limited amount of time and resources available, and you want to get the most out them both.  That means targeting them where they can make the most difference.

It all starts with a list.  And that means some research, organization and coordination with your allies.

Use the following guidelines:

Start a Target List

Make a list of every elected official who has any bearing on the success of your effort.  Such as every member of a committee that is dealing with your issue, or every member of a full legislative body (or council) if you’re preparing for a final vote on something.  Make note of whatever you know about their position on the issue.  If necessary, find past votes on similar issues that can help predict their behavior. Add in any general impressions from lobbyists or legislative allies you may be working with.  Lastly, depending on whether legislators are up for reelection, the narrowness of their former election victories may be a factor in how they are likely to vote as well, (they all want to get re-elected!).  Make note of it.

Organize the List

Next up, you need to organize the list according to the initial information that you have on each official.  Some elected officials will definitely be with you, and some will definitely be against you, and – depending on your vote count – it’s not worth spending a lot of time on either group.  Rate them a scale of 1 to 5: (1 = absolutely with you, 2 = leaning with you, 3 = undecided/unknown, 4 = leaning against you, 5 definitely against you). Add the numbers up to gauge how you are doing, (the lower the total the better).

Your job is to focus on the votes in the middle – the potential “swing” votes. That means focusing your lobbying time and resources on the 2’s, 3’s and 4’s.

Update and Work the List

Successful grassroots lobbying on most any issue is a constantly evolving process right up until the final vote is cast. It’s not a one-time thing where you speak up and then go home.  It requires consistent follow up.

As you and your allies lobby the same target list, information will be coming from every direction if everyone is doing their job.  Of course some legislators have been known to tell one thing to one group of people and something different to others, (imagine!), so targets will move up and down the scale depending on the most up-to-date intelligence.  You have to keep things straight in order to gauge where you stand – and whether you might need to consider compromising if you think you will lose, or change direction and fight another day.

Consider using a notebook (or even a spreadsheet if you want to get sophisticated) with one page to keep track of each targeted official.

Key Information for Tracking Officials:

  • Who made each contact with them
  • When it was made
  • What the official said about their position
  • How it rated on the scale of 1 to 5

This will help you keep up with each official’s “evolving” position over time, and if someone needs shoring up.  It will also help you get a feel for which arguments are working and which ones aren’t – and what objections need to be overcome.  Remember, the argument that you might think is the most persuasive may not be the same one that actually works, (and it may be different for every elected official).  Pay attention to what they say actually moves them and adjust accordingly.

Since maintaining multiple lists will only breed confusion, one person should be designated as the “List Coordinator”.  All information should then be passed through them, and they should be touching base with allies on a regular basis to keep it up to date, as well as send out updates and let allies know who needs to be targeted and when.  Since everyone can’t be at city hall or the state capitol all the time, it’s better to pick a list coordinator who is close to the action and who has the time, (even a lobbyist, legislative staffer or friendly legislator if they’re on your team).

As General George Patton once put it, “Information is like eggs; the fresher the better”.  When it comes to lobbying, the information you gather is only as “fresh” as the degree everyone works to keep it up to date; and it’s only as useful as the degree that you actually put it to use.

Make sure that your grassroots lobbying strategy and tactics revolve around it.

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