January 06, 2015
Securing public support is the precursor to any successful development project in all industries from housing and retail to energy and transportation. Each year millions of dollars are lost in communities all over the world because companies neglect the education and mobilization campaigns needed to build public support, which promotes the political support necessary to win project approval. From the moment a project is announced, companies and developers should make grassroots outreach that will build the foundation for supportive letters and testimony to media and public officials as important hearings come about.
To begin identifying supporters, build a database of all voting households in a community and append any available political affiliations, demographics and contact information. This database should be coded for support as households are identified in favor of the proposal. Initially this database also serves as a mail file to send direct mail that introduces the project while highlighting community benefits to all households. For an interactive approach, this mailer can have a response postcard that gets torn off and returned with an indication of how supporters are willing to help (i.e. by writing a letter, attending a meeting, providing a quote, etc.). Next, call all households to identify hundreds of additional supporters, code them in the database and invite them to an in-person advocacy meeting. Regular meetings will instruct supporters on how to spread the word about the community benefits, keep them engaged, bolster letter writing drives and transmit new updates to messaging. This way, when hearings occur, supporters will be eager and prepared to come out in full force holding signs and providing testimony to convince public officials to approve the proposal. These strategic efforts, when organized both in person and through social media, are key to avoiding costly delays or defeats in any industry.