Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs

Advocacy Tips - Writing to Opinion Leaders

These days everyone suffers from information overload.  Understanding the overwhelming amount of information facing opinion leaders every day is easy. Take all the communications coming through your mailbox, telephone and computer and multiply it by about 1,000.  To break through the chaos, your information must be brief and clear.

Stare with a Message that Everyone Can Agree

• Keep your reader tuned in. Will a 350% increase in Title V funds result in better access to preventive, acute and chronic care for pregnant women, infants and children, resulting in a 20% reduction in PTD, 10% reduction of PPD, 30% reduction of STDs, and a 40% increase in FTPs?  Yes, but that’s a lot of information to take in – and talking about increased funding may start objections before you’ve made your case.  Start with facts that everyone can agree with, such as:
• When our children are healthy, they are more likely to succeed.

• Use data.  Create brief highlights for decision makers. If your programs save spending on other programs, such as Medicaid, boldly proclaim it. Make the tie to children’s health and their success in school.  In addition to showing the status of your programs, presenting the success of another state’s programs is a powerful way to make your case.

• Share family stories. People want data – but they also want to hear about how programs can change lives for the better.  Conversely, if avoidable tragedies have occurred because of insufficient funds or services, they need to hear about it. 

• Select facts and stories that will resonate with the opinion leader.  Research the opinion leader.  Does he or she have a commitment or experience with a pertinent issue?  Is there a compelling story to share from his or her home town?  Does a personal friend work on a project? Try to strike a chord.

Make Every Word Count

• Avoid being redundant. Don’t say the same thing twice, in a slightly different way. (See the idea?)  Ideally, put your documents away for a day – or have someone who has never read your piece take a look – then go at it with a hatchet, chopping away extraneous ideas, examples and words.

• Show results.  Tell what happened or what will happen.  The intricacies of funding streams, program development or data collection can usually be left for future document or discussions, if needed. If an example doesn’t have a result (hard data or anecdotal) is it worth including?
• Make your headlines and subheads helpful. A subhead such as “Data Collection” doesn’t tell the story.  “Data Collection Improves Services,” that starts to tell the story.

• Be consistent. Headlines, subheads and, in most cases, bullets should all start the same way.  Verbs with verbs, nouns with nouns, etc.

• Stay active.  Passive writing, “Bob got hit by Jim,” takes up more space than active writing, “Jim hit Bob.”

• Describe things meaningfully. Don’t say a program is “innovative.” Show that it is. 

• Avoid jargon and lots of acronyms. 

Take Advantage of Your Computer and Format

• Use blank space and bullets to your advantage.  Bullets make information easy to find. Blank space gives the eyes a rest.

• Change fonts and use bold or italics to highlight information.  But beware, too many changes are distracting and unappealing.  Stick to two or three fonts in one document – and be consistent with how you use them.  For example, use Arial for heads and Times for body copy; bold for first sentences, italics or underline for emphasis. Keep the font size easily readable; a 12 point, serif font usually works well.

• Stick to one page.  Sometimes two – if absolutely necessary.  And the pages must have reasonable space for margins, headers and footers.  If you use more than one page, number your pages and use footers in case pages get separated.

Follow up

• Make sure you include easy reading contact information for your organization in your communication. Often a decision maker will want to get more information on what you have said.
• Give people a chance to receive and read your document and then follow up with them. Often a few days or even a week is enough time. After that call and ask politely if they received your document and if they have any further questions. Because people are so overwhelmed by communication this personal contact may get them to read something that has been filed or is sitting on their desk.