Last spring, I received a note from the National Retail Federation (NRF) that I had been nominated as a retail advocate champion. This was not on my radar. I was surprised, humbled, and honored. Over the next 
couple of months, there was an interview process followed by an invitation to attend the NRF’s America’s Retail Champion’s Summit as an honoree. The summit celebrates small retailers who are exceptional advocates for retailers and the communities they serve and gives honorees the opportunity to engage with national lawmakers to share our stories. I was all in.
Last month, I experienced the summit—not your typical D.C. fly-in. When I arrived in D.C., I immediately immersed myself in a group of 44 co-honorees. Over the next few hours, we discussed
key policy priorities and how these policies affect our businesses, from payment reforms to tariffs, privacy protection, and organized retail crime. We quickly agreed we were stronger advocates as a group.
We spent another half a day with the group creating a retail experience that was an interactive, educational showcase designed to take policymakers on a journey through the retail industry. We demonstrated retail’s role in driving the economy, providing jobs, and impacting lives and communities nationwide. It opened my eyes to how we each approach business from a different lens and create distinct brands within our communities.
Finally, we went to Capitol Hill and met with elected officials to discuss and advocate for our policy priorities. While personal and professional advocacy requires tenacity and patience, there is much more than oneself to consider when promoting the collective needs and outcomes of a much broader group. (Earlier this year, I wrote about an issue that affected me personally and the advocacy work I did to bring resolution.)
Strategies To Consider for Advocacy Programs
To help broaden your perspectives about advocating for collective outcomes, I’m sharing some of the strategies we used in fine-tuning our approach and messaging that helped us maximize our time with the lawmakers that you can consider to empower your team to contribute unique perspectives and drive innovation:
- Scope and complexity: The larger the collective, the broader and more complex the issues. The situation requires stealth navigation around a web of dynamics and potentially sensitive differences to uncover a solution that works for the majority of stakeholders.
- Stakeholder engagement: Finding common ground and building coalitions are critical for arriving at meaningful collective outcomes.
- Communication: Advocates using multiple communication methods (e-mail, old-fashioned letter sent through USPS, a phone call, a personal visit) ensure that messages are delivered to recipients from all directions to maximize the impact.
- Strategic approach: When each advocate’s communication plan is incorporated into the more comprehensive collective communication plan, the audience engages with advocates on multiple levels to strengthen results.
- Long-term impact: Collective outcomes typically have far-reaching effects, so consider how the advocacy position will be supported for the long term.
- Stay the course: collective outcomes often take time—sometimes years—to accomplish. Monitor progress, continue to build coalitions with new stakeholders, and keep in front of your target audience.
Advocacy Implementation Tactics For Success
- Data-Driven: Statistics that define the issue and project the benefits of change make a strong impact.
- Stakeholder Engagement Tools: Provide resources for those who will be advocating, highlighting the issue with clarity, with defined focus and objectives.
- Craft the narrative: Create a vision of the future that resonates with stakeholders and emphasizes shared values and common goals to present to your target audience.
- Consider breadth and phased implementation: When the issues are complex, mapping a path to success that includes a phased implementation enables a less intrusive, gradual change over a period of time that can be more appealing to a broad audience.
- Track progress: Set clear milestones in your collective advocacy; monitor, measure, and refine your tactics as appropriate.
Creating a Culture of Advocacy
Does creating a culture of advocacy in which all voices—employees, clients, and partners—are heard and valued sound interesting? Getting started can be the biggest challenge. Connect with us today to learn more about creating a strategy to build an advocacy program that can effectively engage stakeholders for your organization. Call 800-742-6800 or email me, so we can discuss how to take those first steps toward making it happen.
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