Picking Your Coalition

In a divided world, targeted coalitions can create a bridge to success.

While the American political system is dominated by the two major parties, each is more fractured than ever. In addition to the establishment and populist wings one finds at the federal level, state legislatures can have even more divisions based upon certain industries or constituencies particular to that region.  

With that in mind, it’s important to identify and recruit partners that can speak to both sides of the aisle and their subsections. Most legislation will require a bipartisan approach, or at least be crafted in a way that avoids concentrated opposition. 

Building Your Narrative

Successful organizations start by determining which narrators will be the most effective for the groups you are trying to reach. 

Do you work in a state with a large agricultural industry? A coalition that has members that grow crops and buy crops will be able to tell your story from raw materials to finished products. If you are working on a bill to promote the tech or healthcare sectors, having members in the education space could help you detail how investments in training today will pay dividends in the future. No matter the goal, finding narrators that can keep your target audiences saying, “I hadn’t thought about it that way” are essential to remaining relevant to lawmakers and staff that are pulled in dozens of directions every day.  

An effective coalition needs a coherent and compelling narrative. That said, the narrative must be translatable across the various political dialects in the American system. The organization’s key messages need to have something that can speak to the right, advancing free enterprise for example, and the left, like upskilling workers to succeed in the new economy. 

Targeted Approach

This targeted approach allows you to segment communications to build a bipartisan base of support. A coalition’s greatest strength is that it can be extremely targeted. It’s not designed to speak to everyone all of the time. It doesn’t have to be designed to exist in perpetuity like a business. In fact, it’s common for a coalition to exist for a few years, achieve its goals and then fade away. 

This structure allows them to avoid being dragged into the political fight du jour. In a world where being politics’ main character of the day can be a career ender, staying low-profile and focused on the core issue is essential to doing the incremental work required to pass legislation.  

Picking Your Moment

Once you’ve found your narrator and narrative, it’s time to find the right moments in time. Some of these will be determined by the audiences you’re looking to influence: the start and end of a legislative session, key committee meetings or bills. Others will be determined by your industries: quarterly earnings or peak sales seasons. These are the times when you can ramp up all of your communications tactics, particularly earned media. We all know how essential having a “today peg” is to landing a story, so plan in advance what materials you will have ready for reporters when these moments arrive. 

In a world with dozens of streaming platforms, social media networks and even coffee brands that try to reach specific demographics, having segmented communications is essential. A coalition that is flexible enough to resonate with dissimilar audiences is the key to success in a divided nation.