The success of your campaign is inextricably linked to how it is perceived by your targets. To this end, the way you project, frame, and present your campaign is highly relevant. Articulate, reasoned, and polite yet insistent arguments are paramount. The way in which the issue was initially framed will influence whether the media, student body, and ultimate campaign targets are sympathetic or antagonistic to the campaign.
Begin by evaluating your audience—that is, the main target you are addressing. Speaking with administrators requires a
different approach than with your friends and overall student body (see the Media Mini-Toolkit in the Resources section for more guidance). For students, it is imperative to highlight the fact that the policies at our University—policies ostensibly implemented in our names as students, faculty, administrators—have significant ramifications on the lives of millions of men, women, and children around the world. Students have this ability, responsibility, and power.
Furthermore, as institutions of higher education, universities often have mission statements that pay homage to grandiose, cosmopolitan, humanistic, and noble goals. Incorporating these missions into your campaign is both powerful and persuasive, as attaching the university name to a good cause is a brilliant and cost-effective publicity decision for the administration.
Develop a few talking points for your campaign and issue that your members (especially leaders) are familiar with. Every handbill, banner, press release, and speech should have a consistent, coherent message tied together by these unifying themes that is reinforced through your messaging. Some reference questions to help think about and focus your message are:
- What exactly do we want? —one sentence, i.e. what is your ultimate goal?
- Why is this issue important (for students, the university, the community, the nation, the world)?
- Where does your group’s work fit into the big picture?
