Some mistakes are easier to avoid than others. You can learn to avoid some through experience but when they do happen they can be costly and, frankly, embarrassing. Here are five mistakes that can be easily avoided if you get your planning right.
- Not offering a solution – if you can’t say what needs to be put right and how that should be achieved then pack up your bags and leave now. Any audience that you engage with will need to be advised on how they can help. If this crucial element is missing from your campaign then not only will it not get anywhere but you actually put the future relationship with that stakeholder at risk. You’ll look amateurish. That’s not good for personal or organisational reputations.
- Getting the timing wrong – approaching stakeholders at a time when they really can’t do anything to help is just bad planning. You need to understand the policy-making process. This includes when and where things are happening, when decisions are likely to be made and what the role of your stakeholder is in that. Understanding these processes will also prove valuable in deciding when to utilise resources. Does it need to be an intense, all guns blazing approach or something more subtle and longer-term?
- Talking to the wrong people – you may have Parliamentarians or others that you really want to meet but is your current campaign the best way to do that? Homework is the key. Know who might support and who might be against you. Use feedback from previous meetings, the knowledge of colleagues, information picked up through networking, trawl social media etc. to build up an accurate picture of relevant stakeholders. Critically anyone engaged with either has to have the ability to help your cause or needs to be persuaded of your case in case they might work against you.
- Cannot answer questions posed – before any engagement do not just think about the positive script that you want to deliver but how your case might be challenged as well. There is nothing worse than sitting in a meeting and being unable to respond with confidence to questions. Just as a ‘Q&A’ document is an essential document in preparing for encounters with the media, so too should it be for encounters with stakeholders. If you cannot answer the questions that opponents will rightly put to you then stop and think again.
- Won’t think again about tactics – politics can change day-to-day and Harold Wilson’s claim that ‘a week is a long time in politics’ is as true today as when he first said it in the early 1960s. So why would campaigns remain largely untouched for long periods of time? Campaigns needs to adopt and change not just with large set-piece decisions but day-to-day events as well. At least a thought process needs to be undertaken as to whether any changes or pivots are needed. Feedback from stakeholders and media reports also need to be part of that constant review process.
If you can avoid these mistakes then you are already on the path to a successful public affairs campaign.