Persuasion advertising is a powerful tool for grassroots advocacy, helping organizations mobilize supporters, influence decision-makers, and shape public opinion. In a recent Quorum webinar, three digital advertising experts shared best practices for running effective advocacy campaigns. Here’s what they had to say.
Meet the Experts
🎙 Rose Elam – Partner, Swann Street Media | Specializes in persuasion advertising & paid media strategy
🎙 Riley Bechdel – VP of Digital, Rational360 | Expert in digital advocacy, audience targeting & message testing
🎙 Julienne Uhlich – Director of Customer Success, Statara Solutions | Focuses on data-driven outreach & grassroots mobilization
Start Early and Customize Your Approach
Advocacy campaigns aren’t one-size-fits-all. “You can’t have the same approach campaign to campaign even if it’s the same issue, state over state,” said Rose Elam, Partner at Swann Street Media. “A campaign in Texas is going to look very different than a campaign in Florida.”
One key takeaway? Don’t wait until the last minute. “It’s not a best practice to say you have a bill that is up for vote in Arizona on Thursday and you launch your paid media campaign on Wednesday,” Rose explained. “The more time, the better.”
The best advocacy campaigns follow three phases:
- Awareness – Introduce the issue to the right audience.
- Education – Provide more information on why the issue matters.
- Activation – Get people to take action — for example, calling lawmakers.
Starting early gives campaigns time to build momentum and develop engaged advocates rather than relying on last-minute outreach.
Video Advertising Works for Advocacy
Video is one of the most effective ways to deliver a message. “Advocacy needs emotion. This is something we all know,” Rose said. “Video really helps you tell your story and, again, pull at heartstrings.”
Digital video ads can run on multiple platforms, including social media, YouTube, and streaming services. The goal is to condition the environment before asking people to act. “You really need to get people to hear your message, to pull at their heartstrings, to get familiar with the talking points before you try to get them to become advocates,” Rose explained.
Be Data-Driven, But Don’t Ignore Storytelling
Persuasion advertising is most effective when campaigns combine targeted data with compelling messaging. “If we think about persuasive advertising as an effort to inform and mobilize a constituency… it’s obviously imperative that we’re engaging people who care about the issue and have activist potential,” said Julienne Uhlich, Director of Customer Success at Statara Solutions.
Julienne emphasized the importance of high-quality data when running grassroots campaigns. “We want to ensure that our clients get the most from their outreach budgets,” she said. “Resources are limited, and we want to make sure we’re engaging the right audience.”
That means focusing outreach on the people most likely to act. “We prioritize targeting by looking at super voters in municipal elections,” Julienne explained. “We also look at partisanship and ideology, among other things.”
📢 Leverage Quorum’s CRM for Smarter Targeting: Quorum’s grassroots CRM tools help you track supporter activity, generate engagement scores, and identify top advocates over time. Just like Julienne emphasized the power of targeting the right audience, Quorum lets you segment and mobilize your most engaged supporters for maximum impact.
At the same time, storytelling plays a critical role in engagement. “What people think and feel about an issue determines how likely they are to take action,” said Riley Bechdel, Vice President of Digital at Rational360. “You need to really focus on the content that’s going to stop their scroll and make them pause for a second.”
Key Metrics That Matter
To measure the success of a campaign, it’s essential to track more than just clicks.
✔ Reach & Frequency: Are the right people seeing the message enough times to make an impact? “Folks need to see an ad at least seven times a week for it to start to sink in,” Riley explained.
✔ Video Completion Rate: Are people watching the full ad?
✔ Cost per Advocate (CPA): Are the right people converting? (Note that while CPA is important, it’s best not to over-focus on it—“The more granular, the harder the audience is to reach, the smaller they are, the more niche the issue… the higher the CPA will be,” Rose said.)
The real test isn’t just about the numbers — it’s about impact. Did the campaign create meaningful action and bring in quality advocates who are ready to engage beyond a single moment?
Rose emphasized this point: “Are they [advocates] actually taking the action? Are they becoming champions for you who will go and, again, go on to that next legislative battle or take that next action as it comes to bat?” Rather than focusing solely on cost per advocate (CPA), the real success lies in building a committed base that will continue to drive advocacy efforts forward.
Where Should Your Ads Run?
Choosing the right platform depends on the audience.
✔ Facebook & Instagram: Best for engagement and lead generation.
✔ YouTube & Streaming TV (CTV/OTT): Ideal for storytelling and awareness.
✔ Programmatic Display & Video: Good for targeting key decision-makers.
🚨 Important note: Some platforms don’t allow political ads. “TikTok and LinkedIn don’t allow political or public affairs advertising,” Rose warned. “So don’t get too excited about advertising on TikTok if they don’t allow it.”
When to Pivot Mid-Campaign
Advocacy campaigns are always evolving. When the political landscape shifts, organizations need to adapt quickly.
“You have to understand what’s working and what isn’t so then you can run really smart campaigns,” Rose said. “It happens all the time, and you just gotta be in the weeds and know what’s going on.”
Riley shared an example from a federal advocacy campaign that had to adjust based on election results. “Our client was really confident that something was gonna happen in the last days of the Biden administration, and it didn’t,” she explained. “We had to pivot and start seeding messages with the incoming Trump administration.”
The lesson? Scenario planning is essential. “Try to plan for multiple situations,” Riley advised. “You can’t control everything, but you can put yourself in the best position to adjust when needed.”
Final Thoughts
Persuasion advertising is a must-have strategy for advocacy organizations looking to influence policy.
✔ Start early and build momentum over time.
✔ Use video to create an emotional connection.
✔ Combine data and storytelling for maximum impact.
✔ Track the right metrics – not just clicks.
✔ Be flexible and adjust as campaigns evolve.
