Simplifying your Campaign Message

Introduction

How do you simplify your message and discourse for your target group when creating a campaign message?

As civil society organizations, we sometimes create our message in a format that is difficult to understand to create a rights-oriented language, which creates a barrier to access to our campaign target group. 

The above question was posed to members of the Global Grassroots Support Network (GGSN) and they have generously shared their insights with you below.

Answers

Use the Spectrum of Allies and Stakeholder Mapping

I’ll share a resource from an organization called United Vision Idaho, which formed a partnership with a few other organizations in the US, People’s Action and Showing Up for Racial Justice. They realize during the pandemic that deep canvassing, they weren’t able to do at the scale that they needed to. They set up a texting program and develop training that was geared towards texting. I don’t know if that’s something that is available in your context to have those kinds of lists and things. But they do free trainings every month on this, just in case it would be helpful: 

The other thing that I would say related to this is, we’ve been using a lot of spectrum of allies and opponents and stakeholder mapping to help segment our message.

We use the spectrum of allies and opponents to think about the specific groups of people, and what messages will resonate with them. Then we use stakeholder mapping to identify who are the credible messengers for those particular groups of people.

We have to be in relationship with people who are talking to other people. And if we’re speaking a similar language around values, we found that we’re able to cover more ground.

Further resources on spectrum of allies and opponents:

• Assess to Build Awareness and Better Strategy, SNAP: Synergizing Nonviolent Action and Peacebuilding
• Spectrum of Allies, Training for Change
• Know your Allies, your Opponents and Everyone in Between: The Spectrum of Allies

Recognize When Complexity is Helpful

I think one thing I’ve learned over time is that as a movement that complexifies things, it’s hard to to summarize your message into something very short, or it doesn’t even align with our values to simplify something. There are times when complexity is good.

I think, one example that I have is a post after October 7th, that my colleagues, wrote. It has a lot of layers, and got a positive response, because we managed in a way to complexify what was simplified in so many other spaces.

Reduce the Complexity, Length and Make it Actionable

I was skilled up on simplifying complex language. It takes practice when you’re used to writing academically or for policy. Here is a presentation on turning research into action for communities/activists: 

2 key takeaways, with tips explained in the above presentation, would be…

• To make the message actionable… Provide suggested uses, based on audience’s context and needs (what is the problem, and what can be done)
• To make knowledge accessible… Reduce information down in complexity and length.

For example…

While we want people to eventually understand language such as ‘abolish capitalism’, if that’s your main public-facing message, some people won’t understand it. Something like “tax the rich”, would be easier to comprehend, and it’s easier to understand what the action is to fight the problem. The latter also uses language that addresses things that might be more top of mind for the target audience; taxes, and the ultra wealthy.

You also don’t have to forgo rights-oriented language, you just need to create opportunities to explain it.

If you can draw people in with language that is more universally understood, you could then provide a handout, for example, explaining key information and terms about the issue. Slides 18-19 on the presentation linked above demonstrate this.

There’s also ‘readability’ tools that can be helpful when you’re starting to practice simplifying your language, more useful for longer texts probably, but if I type the above examples ‘abolish capitalism’ in the Hemingway App it comes up as post-graduate level wording.

Keep it Short and Use Visuals

Most of my communication is through social media; I’ve learned most people won’t read a lot.

Just state the who, what, where, why, how; keep it short. Visuals help to emphasize the message.

Depends on your context too; make it short, and emphasize the visuals. A short message, a link and visuals is good for social media.

Establishing a Human Bond is Key on Polarizing Issues

Another piece of this is that social media is great for for spreading quick messages and visuals, but it’s also a very polarized space. You can resist somebody’s message if you don’t like their identity. It makes me think of some campaigns on similar issues that were done.

I’m thinking of the right to marry campaign when gay marriage was being voted on in different states in the US before it became nationally accepted. Their approach was door-to-door conversations. Sending out people to talk about their identity and be human, face to face with people, and in their experience they overcame a lot of prejudice, and overcame a lot of resistance, just by establishing a human bond. Of course, that takes enormous amount of resources. There’s a certain security and personal safety aspect too if people are exposing themselves at a doorstep to potential hate and maybe even violence. There is a good write up we did of that on blueprints for change, a guide on persuasive conversation campaigns, but it’s centered on establishing longer conversations with individuals rather than trying to promote a message that would change minds, because on issues that are that polarizing, it’s very hard to change somebody’s mind with one quick message.

Further resources shared on deep canvassing:

• Deep Cavass Institute
• Deep Canvassing Scripts and Examples, Commons Library
• Deep Canvassing Primer, Gastivists
• Deep Canvassing for Climate Solutions Playbook Toolkit, Neighbours United

About Knowledge Round Ups

Knowledge roundups are created in response to questions raised by members of the Global Grassroots Support Network (GGSN). The GGSN is an initiative building upon the Blueprints for Change* project. The GGSN is building a community of practice that brings together projects supporting grassroots justice-oriented** activist groups in multiple regions and continents. The objective is to share knowledge around common challenges that these groups face, and how each project has solved for them. Questions are raised to other GGSN members to compile the knowledge and resources we have to respond. 

Explore Further

• Projecting Power: Visual Strategy for Movements
• Writing a Media Release
• Communications and Media: Start Here
• How to Change the Narrative / Story: Guides, Worksheets and Templates
• Persuasive Conversation Campaigns Guide
• Deep Canvassing to Shift Hearts, Mind and Votes
• Spectrum of Allies – Templates
• Stakeholder Mapping – Templates