allaboutadvocacy.com

Powered by Advocates

A January 6th New York Times op-ed from Mark Mellman and Michael Bloomfield addresses the power of advocacy in this year’s election. The authors describe how word-of-mouth is as potent if not more potent than TV ads on influencing what people think. The example is the Iowa showings by Huckabee and Edwards - a surprise given they were outspent by their rivals on a grand scale (in traditional ad dollars anyway). While their luck didn’t make it to New Hampshire, the op-ed raises a great issue, which is the importance of transforming “talkers” into advocates.  

The power of advocacy is no new news to us. Our New Wave of Advocacy research showed that personal sources (friends, family, coworkers) have more than 3 times the influence as political parties when it comes to triggering support for an issue or cause (60% vs. 18%, respectively). Here are some demographic nuances candidates who rely upon word-of-mouth might be interested in:

- Men are more influenced by political parties than women (22% vs. 13%) and so, presumably, party-sponsored TV spots.
- Women are more influenced by WOM than men (63% vs. 58%) and are also more influenced by charities than men (41% vs. 34%). Clearly, this is something the male candidates should be thinking about this year (and hopefully for many elections to come!).
 
Our study also showed that in the US, religious leaders hold less sway on triggering support for an issue or cause than political organizations (11% vs. 18%). Might be one of the reasons we’re not seeing the once-outspoken religious leaders of our day pounding the campaign trail (yet, anyway).

We all know that this election is like nothing we’ve ever seen before, a sea change has hit the way society communicates. It will be some time before the final analysis of the candidates’ campaign efforts is complete but without a doubt, no candidate should underestimate the power of his or her adovacates. Successfully tapping into that power will mean win or lose.