| We are amid a profound shift in purpose for companies and associations. The separations that used to exist between brand, reputation, social issues and public policy are fading. Stakeholders are aligning with organizations that earn their trust and reflect their values. Advocacy has become instrumental in transforming brands, building credibility, protecting stock value, increasing market share and navigating organizational perceptions tied to complex social issues. Direct advocacy to influence policy is as important as ever, but understanding how advocacy intersects with broader stakeholder engagement is crucial to success. DDC is Leading a New Era of Advocacy Engagement Understanding the habits and motivations of stakeholders has been key to DDC’s business for decades. - Advocates are more sophisticated than ever before.
- Social media has cultivated innate activism that brings incredible value—and responsibility—to organizations.
- How businesses relate to customers and employees directly impacts their advocacy potential.
Organizations that engage well—and often—establish a lasting trust that threads the needle between political advocacy and broader engagement. Beyond letters to legislators, smart advocacy now includes: | | “It is clear that being connected to stakeholders – establishing trust with them and acting with purpose – enables a company to understand and respond to the changes happening in the world. Companies ignore stakeholders at their peril – [companies that do not earn this trust will find it harder and harder to attract customers and talent, especially as young people increasingly expect companies to reflect their values.”] Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO,
BlackRock, 2021 Letter to CEOs |
- Leveraging employees to humanize the company’s story on social media
- Engagement with local community groups and influencers to establish better connections
- More proactive and targeted education of investors and other external stakeholders on an organization’s policy positions, values, and business vision
- Enhanced efforts to cultivate alliances with a diverse set of voices
- More hands-on media interaction across owned, shared, earned, and paid channels to shape the public narrative
We leverage technology to advance the advocacy experience. Advocates vary based on interests, values, capabilities, and priority issues, and understanding each advocate’s engagement history is critical to maximizing their potential. DDC’s technology platform helps clients validate their program’s effectiveness using granular quantitative metrics and KPIs, as well as assess the program from a more qualitative perspective: - Are advocates behaving as we would like them to?
- Are they increasingly responsive to engagement opportunities?
- Are they responding to program communications with relevant feedback and questions?
- Are we seeing organic program growth?
We understand the power of advocacy to influence policy and business goals. Our experts have pioneered the evolution of issue advocacy for 25 years. Advocacy is not just something we do; it’s who we are. Recognizing opportunities to expand traditional policy-focused advocacy to achieve broader organizational goals is foundational to our strategic approach. Advocacy is changing. Contact us to find out how DDC can help you stay ahead with stakeholder engagement that advances your policy priorities and broader business goals. |
