Businesses, small and large, bind our communities together in myriad ways. Today, the need to promote the rights of businesses is more important than ever, given the escalated attacks on capitalism and free enterprise. And if the tone and tenor from the campaign trail is any indication, it may only get worse for America’s job creators.
The toxic political climate is creating uncertainty and harming the business community’s ability to create jobs, especially in a still fragile, uneven economic recovery. From President Obama’s executive orders to legislative and regulatory overreach of government, businesses are uneasy about expansion.
In outlining the “2016 State of American Business,” Tom Donohue, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, accurately stated, “The current administration is on a regulatory tear — and this will continue until the day the moving van backs up to the White House next January.” Donohue’s observations beg the question: Can employers rely on the trade association model of yesterday to do the job of protecting business and industry tomorrow?
Increasingly, the business community will need stronger and more strategic voices advocating for them in Congress, in state capitols and in city halls. Advocacy organizations acting as the voices of America’s businesses must change by shedding their existing old school political models. For many of these trade associations that means they must adopt a new approach.
The heavy reliance on traditional shoe leather lobbying and its old-school tactics, while not unimportant, is not enough these days to fight new digital era battles. An organization’s strategy must now reflect the unique climate in which we work — a reactive digital social age with growing numbers of young entrepreneurs and diverse business owners well-versed in technology.
According to a recent survey by Heidrick & Struggles titled “Association CEOs: Leading through Change,” nearly half of the CEOs responded that it is harder to retain and grow membership, 41 percent said it was harder to define vision for the future, 32 percent cited fundraising ability as the number one challenging leadership trait. Thirty percent said it was harder to communicate effectively with key stakeholders to support the organization’s mission and goals. And to those of us who have run a trade association, it’s no surprise that 69 percent of survey respondents said their responsibilities and role as CEO had changed over the past three years.
In addition to bolstered technological, PR and membership efforts, it will be important for trade associations to create and sustain integrated communications and public affairs campaigns to impact a distracted, segmented and scattered influencer class at the federal, state and local levels, as well as millions of working Americans—who can ultimately move policymakers on their behalf.
To maximize effectiveness in this social digital age, trade associations will need tech savvy teams that produce creative content and innovative delivery methods that grab attention and create value — value defined by share-ability. More and more people depend on digital platforms to get news and form opinions through various mediums including infographics, interactive websites, and edgy videos that passionately convey an association’s mission and purpose.
Communicating effectively to a wide array of key constituencies, including association members, the media, consumers, policymakers and regulators in government, will be critical to success. But this strategy is bigger than sending emails, gaining publicity and traditional lobbying.
This endeavor contains many moving parts — media and public relations, advertising, social networking, crisis management and grassroots digital advocacy that will help a trade association to successfully protect and advance an industry through effective messaging in an unpredictable media world.
As an example of this integrated campaign-style approach, look no further than the American Petroleum Institute under CEO Jack Gerard. For years, API has viewed advocacy, public affairs and technology holistically to empower groups (including outside the energy industry) to take political action, effectively educating and influencing policymakers and the public to achieve good public policy outcomes.
Adopting a fast-paced, digital advocacy campaign will create more influential trade associations that will be more proactive, innovative and strategic in shaping public policy.
We can rely on industry trade associations to do the job of protecting business in the future if they are committed to the necessary changes to succeed in a new economy and a capricious political landscape. If trade associations forgo this opportunity to become a more effective voice in protecting against the relentless assaults being waged upon free enterprise, then they will pay the price of irrelevance.
Steve Caldeira is a Potomac, MD based communications and public affairs consultant and the former president and CEO of the International Franchise Association in Washington, DC. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
