Appendix

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Mobile Advocacy Dos and Don’ts

(*)

Katrin Verclas

Why Use Mobile Phones for Advocacy?

The Internet has two distinct benefits over previous media: social interactivity and search. Mobile technology goes even further—not only can all elements of existing media be delivered via mobile, but there are also additional advantages of mobile that make it far superior to other media forms, including:

• Personal: We do not share our phones—they are highly personal devices;
• Always-carried: Our mobile devices go with us everywhere;
• Always-on: Mobiles are always on and as such are the ultimate news and alert media, faster by several magnitudes than any other media;
• Targeted: Mobile is the first mass media where every single consumer can be uniquely identified and content (and advertising) targeted to meet their interests;
• Donation and purchase channel: Mobile phones will become wallets offering alternatives to cash and credit cards;
• Creative input devices: With image and voice inputs users can create and share content via their mobile devices;
• Enhanced communications: On mobile devices, e-mail and instant messaging are complemented by SMS and MMS including visual communication.

The Dos: Effective Mobile Marketing

1. Mobile messaging should be about interaction, not just a sales pitch.  This can be a hard notion to learn for advocacy organizations used to pushing email messages by the millions. Mobiles offer a unique opportunity for interaction. Advocacy organizations need to think about mobile marketing as a conversation, a way to interact two-ways with their constituents.

2. Trust is key here as the mobile medium is so very personal. Gain permission and offer relevant and timely content that is valuable to the recipient. Tell me how to opt out regularly and never ever spam me.

3. Pull people to mobile interaction through other media—ads, billboards, the web—and offer, in turn, mobile interaction with those media.

4. Be careful about targeting your demographics and ask accordingly—asking an older constituency to upload mobile photos is probably not going to be very successful.

5. Be relevant. Offer timely news and functional updates that are of interest to your audience—and be clever. Just by way of an idea: The American Lung Association could offer air quality updates via SMS for where I live, for example. If you are engaged in a campaign where I am signing a mobile petition let me know how it’s going—how many signatures have been gathered. Remind me of events I have signed up for, or activities that are part of your organization’s campaign. Give me information I want and need.

6. Be action-oriented. Ask me to forward a note, ask me to make a call, ask me to express myself in some way in a poll, 160 character message, poem or statement. Ask me to do something. Chances are, I will.

7. Ask me how I want to engage and give me choices. If we are interacting via SMS, do not ask me for my email. Give me an option to get SMS reminders when I sign up for an event with you. Tell me how to disengage. Let me opt in to a mobile alert via the web, via an 800 number and via a short code/SMS (and then compare what is most popular and effective for your purposes!).

8. Mobile marketing works best by pull, not push, and there is an opportunity for people to express themselves—to ‘talk’ back, to suggest, to respond. Humor works here!

9. Be creative. In addition to text messaging campaigns, there are a lot of other ways in which an advocacy organization can use mobile campaign tactics. For example,

• Click-to-call: A constituent receives a message that places an outgoing call to a decision maker, pledge bank, or the organization itself (a member survey, for example). In a recent mobile advertising study by Nielson Reports, nine perent of those who were exposed to a mobile advertisement responded with a call.
• Click-to-locate: Help users find the nearest clinic, affiliate, meeting, organizer—you name it. While this may be a while away as location-based services are not very mature yet, keep an eye on it. Right now, there are too few handsets able to take advantage of click-to-locate services, and an SMS directory where users enter their zipcodes to get relevant information is still better.
• Click-to-enter: Create a competition, such as those often used in commercial advertising. Nielsen reports that 26 percent of those who viewed a mobile advertisement responded with a text message to enter a sweepstakes. While not many advocacy organizations routinely run sweepstakes, fun competitions (a celebrity voice for your voicemail) might be an exciting engagement strategy!

10. Be whole-media. Integrate your mobile marketing and messaging into your entire media and messaging campaign. Do not let mobile be an add-on—it shows, and it costs you if not done well.

For advocacy organizations, mobile marketing is effective for facilitating dialogue with their constituents. This ‘third screen’ can create extended conversation, creating connections across online and traditional media exposures.

 

The Don’ts of Mobile Advocacy

1. Don’t ask me to sign up with my mobile number and then never contact me with a text message until months later when I have long forgotten that I ever gave you my number. Opt me in right away with an immediate SMS reply and then start talking to me.

2. Don’t bombard me with messages either. Too many messages are obnoxious and a sure way for me to immediately opt out of any further communications. When in doubt, ask me how often I want to be contacted.

3. Don’t be quiet about how to opt out—I need to know that texting STOP, END, or OUT will get me out of further communications from you.

4. Don’t give me ambiguous information (160 characters is not a lot!) in a text message or information impossible to understand because it’s in texting gibberish. Test your messages to be sure that a recipient understands them and they are crystal clear.

5. Don’t let me guess what I have to DO, what you are asking me to act upon. Always ask me to do something in your message—forward, call, text back, sign, you name it. Text messages are highly actionable, but if you don’t ask, I won’t do anything.

6. Don’t give me any irrelevant information I don’t need or can’t use. Don’t give me information that is too late to use, or irrelevant to where I am (my favorite example is the event alert AFTER the event has already happened).

7. Don’t text me at 4:00 a.m.

8. Don’t use mobile as a stand-alone medium. When I go to your website, I should see a reference to the mobile portion of the campaign—a short code to text into, text messages from supporters, campaign results including those generated by mobile, a widget to sign up, or whatever else makes sense in the context of your campaign. When you ask me to give you my email address, ask for my mobile and opt me in right then. When you put an ad somewhere, add a short code to get more information. In short, integrate your mobile strategy with your overall campaign and communications strategy. Mobile is just another arrow in your quiver!

9. Don’t expect huge returns—at least not initially. Return on investment (ROI) will take time to materialize. Do measure the returns, though!

10. Don’t be dour. Use humor, be personable, engage me and make me smile. I will like you better.

11. And finally: Don’t wait to get your toes into the mobile campaign waters. This is the time to be ahead, to reach new constituencies, and to explore how a mobile strategy can advance your issue. 

(*) Excerpted from “Mobile Advocacy Do’s and Don’ts.” Online at  http://calderstrategies.com/wordpress/mobile-101/.Used with permission by the author. Cross-posted to http://www.mobileactive.org

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A Mobile Activism User’s Guide

Jed Alpert

In this guide, we’ll introduce you to the world of mobile activism and show you how you can take your organization mobile.

Mobile is a complex ecosystem, and it includes:

• Telecom Carriers. All mobile traffic is routed through telecom providers like Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. 
• Handset Manufacturers.  A wide variety of companies manufacture mobile devices, from Apple’s iPhone to boutique brands you haven’t heard of yet.
• The Internet.  A small number of mobile phones have web capability—users can check email and surf the web, though the experience can be uneven at times.
• Application Providers.  Mobile application providers allow you to create and manage your mobile programs, often from a web-based application.

We’ll mention a few pertinent facts about each of these areas, but we’ll focus mostly on application providers; good providers will serve as a one-stop shop, so you won’t have to deal with any complexity.

First, though, a short introduction to the various forms mobile programs can take….

Mobile Downloads
There’s a good deal of buzz surrounding mobile applications like ringtones and wallpapers.  There are some drawbacks, however:

• They don’t work on every phone.
• Ringtones and wallpapers require users to download content.
• Depending on your programming, mobile applications can require heavy customization and lengthy development time.

SMS Messaging & Voice Applications
Text messaging is becoming the most popular form of communication on Earth.  Mobile subscribers send more than one billion SMS messages per day in the U.S. alone.

Basics of SMS Messaging.  Text messaging, or SMS (Short Message Service), is everywhere.  In some parts of the world, text messaging is far more popular than traditional telephone calls.  Here in the U.S. text messaging isn’t just for the young anymore; SMS is popular among nearly every demographic, and the average age of a texter is over 30 years.

And why not?  After all, text messages are concise (up to 160 characters) and timely, and they can reach your supporters wherever they are (95% of mobile subscribers have their handsets within arm’s reach 24-7.)  Better yet, mobile is a non-SPAM, opt-in-only medium.  And for that reason, text message open and response rates are higher than in any other medium.  In other words, mobile is a great way to reach out and mobilize your supporters—anytime, anywhere.

Getting Started
I’m interested in mobile; what’s my first step? First, you’ll choose a mobile application provider—a software solution that will let you create and manage your mobile campaigns.  Using that software, you’ll create a text messaging program and encourage your supporters to opt in by either

a) texting a keyword to a short code, or
b) filling out a webform on your webpage.

When a user does so, he will receive an automatic response message welcoming him to your campaign. 

Short Codes. So what’s a short code?  A short code is just a 5- or 6-digit number that’s used for opt-in text messaging programs.  Mobile application providers will often provide you the use of a shared short code as part of their fee.  This means that you’ll be able to create keywords on that short code and then encourage your users to opt into your program. 

Your mobile application provider may have other clients using this short code as well—this is what’s called a “shared” short code.  Don’t worry—your data is secure, because your mobile programs are distinguished from other groups’ programs by your keywords.

Can I get my own short code?  If your organization wants its own short code for branding purposes or any other reason, you can lease one from the Common Short Code Administration (typically, your mobile application provider will do this for you.)  There will be some extra costs involved—the carriers will need to review and approve your program, and you’ll have to pay to lease the code. (At time of press, it costs $500 per month to rent a randomly chosen short code, and $1000 per month for a vanity short code.)  It also takes six to 12 weeks to get a short code approved, aggregated, and provisioned across all of the carriers.

I’ve built a list of subscribers—now what?  Now you can do all kinds of things—mobile petitions, geo-targeted event notification, mobile town halls, rapid media response, text-to-call and text-to-screen campaigns, database-backed programs, or anything else you can think of.  Just remember, text messages are most effective when you convey timely, urgent, and/or action-oriented information to your users. 

A great example is GOTV; if your work involves turning people out to the polls, then you need to be using mobile.  Recent studies by Princeton and the University of Michigan have shown that users who receive a text message reminder to vote on the day before an election are four to five percent more likely to do so. 

CRM Integration. Depending on your mobile application provider, you can even integrate your mobile campaigns with your CRM data.  Doing so allows you to target your messaging more precisely and conduct better data analysis on the back-end.

The User Experience
Text-to-call. When people opt in (or at any point thereafter), you can choose to send them a text-to-call message.  This message will include a phone number; when the user connects to the number, they will hear a talking points audio message before being connected to the destination number you’ve specified.  The user can connect by just pressing a button or texting back ‘call.’

Text-to-screen. Messages can be pushed to Jumbotrons and screens, like the one in front of the California State House.  You can syndicate messages across the entire web with flash widgets or tools for developers.

The Client Experience
Text-to-call Campaign. Clients can create text-to-call programs by deciding where they want to direct calls.  They can upload an audio file or they can call in and record a message.

Text-to-screen Campaigns. Mobile clients push messages out by moderating incoming messages in a mobile vendor’s user interface.  Simple.

Data Applications. How Easy Are They?  Step 1: Make a Spreadsheet.  Step 2: Upload the Spreadsheet or use an API.  It takes less than 5 minutes! You’re done! 

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Competitive Representation and M-Governance

Charles M. Firestone

         As politicians look for a competitive edge, one quality that always has appeal is a track record of serving constituents.  Word of mouth and publicity along those lines adds to the politician’s name recognition.  If nothing else, those politicians higher up on the ladder of political office will have to keep up with the more visible constituent-pleasers below.

         Several trends in business, technology and politics suggest a new phenomenon in the workings of democratic governance.  I call it “competitive representation,” and it could lead the way to a new form of mobile government (m-government), or even mobile governance (m-governance).  Competitive representation can enhance the representative’s standing with his or her constituents, promote government efficiency, better satisfy citizen demands of government, and enhance the democratic process.

Very simply, competitive representation is the competition among representatives in a given area for the time and attention of the citizen-consumer of government services.  I contend that representatives from all jurisdictions and all levels of government (in the United States this would include representatives at the federal, state, county, city, township, school district and other local levels) will increasingly strive to become the “representative of first resort” for their constituents.  By vying with each other to represent the constituent “upstream” and across jurisdictions, representatives will bring about a more efficient delivery of governmental services at all levels and jurisdictions and foster a more democratic society in the process.

The Rise of E-Government
         The most visible aspect of electronic government, or “e-government,” is the potential for new technology to help citizens obtain governmental services and participate in governmental processes more efficiently.  In short, as in the private sphere, a direct connection between the citizen (customer) and governmental service agency (vendor) can make a transaction faster, cheaper, and more efficient.  For example, going online to obtain a driver’s license renewal from the division of motor vehicles, or to pay a parking ticket, can save time, money and aggravation.  Accordingly, governments around the world are exploring ways that new network and information technologies can improve services to the public.  They are also looking for ways that citizens can become more involved in the democratic process, from the act of voting to that of participating in public hearings, and interact and communicate more with government as an important part of the governmental process.

         Often, however, the typical citizen does not know what governmental services are available online, or if in need of a particular service, which agency offers it.  In many cases, the citizen does not even know which jurisdiction among federal, state and local governments offers the service in question.  For example, if there is a complaint about telephone service, to whom does one complain—the state Public Utilities Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the local consumer affairs office, or some other agency?  There does not appear to be an easily identifiable cross-jurisdictional citizens’ advocacy service available to help, or an incentive for one to be created at the private or governmental level.

         In fact, however, there is a set of governmental employees who, in many cases, do see themselves as citizen advocates: the elected representative at the local, state and federal levels.  And there are incentives for all elected government officials to champion the plight of the voter, particularly as legislators view themselves as competitive with others representing those same citizens for the citizen’s attention and loyalty.  It is my contention that this concept of competitive representation will lead to greater constituency representation for the delivery of governmental services and, if nurtured, will ultimately lead to more active, direct democracy.

From E-Government to M-Government
         The next step in e-government is going mobile.  The “third screen” of the mobile telephone has reached a penetration level throughout the nation and the world much greater than that of any other media or communication device.  It is more personal and direct, as well, so many new applications are exploring mobile technology’s potential.  In short, moving to mobile technology increases the reach and potentially the ease of e-government.  European countries are at the forefront in this area.

Three current trends in business, technology and politics suggest that competitive representation for the citizen’s loyalty will soon be upon us.

Trend 1: Business
         Businesses reinvent themselves around the customer.  If a business were to reengineer or reinvent itself, it would start first with its customer base.  How can the business get close to its potential customer, gain his or her attention and loyalty, and maintain a continuing relationship with the customer for the goods or services being offered?  Certainly, the use of customer service representatives is now commonplace, and the use of the web to serve the customer through the creation of a virtual community is a well-accepted new business tactic.  John Hagel and Arthur Armstrong, in Net Gain, (Harvard Business School 1997, p. 17) describe “reverse markets” where “the customer, armed with a growing amount of information, uses that information to search out vendors offering the best combination of quality and price tailored to his or her individual needs.”  Indeed, in a 1999 Harvard Business Review article entitled, “Unbundling the Corporation,” Hagel and Marc Singer suggest that “customer relation management” is one of three core elements of every business.

         As the government looks at the use of technology in the delivery of government services, it would make sense to recognize the emergence of reverse markets and to center its processes on the customer, in this case, the recipient of government services.  The problem is that there is a reverse incentive in government to deliver services, namely that instead of additional “customers” bringing in additional revenues, they often bring additional costs.  To have citizen service representatives navigate various government services on behalf of a recipient of governmental services lacks a natural revenue source.  Financially, a government agency does not have an incentive to add to its costs in order to bring more recipients of services that will cost that agency even more to serve.  And the potential customers for these services are not anxious, and at times not able, to pay for these navigational needs. 

         Furthermore, the average citizen who wants services neither knows nor cares which jurisdiction—federal, state, regional or local—will be the right one for his or her needs.  In the above example, where does one go to complain about a telephone bill?  (Answer: it depends on the nature of the call and the nature of the complaint.)  On the other hand, jurisdiction is the key ingredient for the government agency.  If the complaint is not the responsibility of a given agency, the odds are the complaint will be rejected.  At best, the agency will tell the complainant where to go next.  In most cases, the citizen will be back to square one.

Trend 2: Technology
         Portals can help navigate upstream through a broad landscape.  As stated above, one significant issue in the delivery of government services is identifying the right place to go, finding the correct person and transacting the business.  Many government agencies (for example the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration) are looking to web solutions to become more efficient in the delivery of their services.  But if the citizen does not know where to go or what to ask, the need remains unfulfilled. 

         Certainly the new web portals offer some prospect for resolving this dilemma.  Portals and exchanges exist to bring to the consumer’s attention a choice of the products and services available in the marketplace.  Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com bring millions of book choices, Travelocity and Orbitz bring travel arrangements, and Yahoo! and Google find websites.  Theoretically, one could go on a website aimed at helping the citizen (e.g., www.egovt.com), navigate one’s way to the specific jurisdiction that could be of help, and connect for the needed service. 

         The technology and software are here, but who has the incentive to create such a portal?  As indicated above, a governmental agency portal has a jurisdictional issue: how and why direct the customer to a different jurisdiction or agency?  The agency may not even know what is available at other agencies or in the other jurisdictions.  If a private, commercial portal, e.g., GovWorks.com, what is the business model?  What is the financial incentive to create and maintain an all-encompassing citizen’s advocacy portal?  Where does the money come from? 

Trend 3: Politics
         Politicians increasingly find themselves facing challenges from other politicians for their elective office; constituent services are a way of retaining voter loyalty.   Enter the third trend, that of politics.  This trend is a long wave: over the past century, we have seen increasing challenges both within and among parties for elective office at all levels of government.  Politicians find that the ladder of political office often becomes clogged at the top, where the office is “better” and there are few offices “above” the one occupied.  Even with the recent trend toward noncompetitive congressional districts, there is still pressure within a party to move up the ladder.  Politicians are, after all, ambitious people.  Term limits add to the opportunities for movement within the party.

         As a member of Congress recently told me, quite plainly, certain people in his state legislature are gunning for his job.  This is nothing new to politics, as there is generally a progression for office-seeking: local, state and federal offices, with the wider jurisdiction of the office (e.g., statewide) taking precedence over smaller jurisdictions.  As a member of Congress spends longer time in office, the pathway to higher office gets clogged as popular politicians want to move up the ladder.  The pressure from below will rise in coming years, as the trend toward more confrontational politics will continue within parties, and of course across party lines.

         As intra-party competition intensifies, each candidate wants to be thought of as a household name, or at least retain a high level of name recognition among prospective voters—a sense of familiarity and loyalty.  Many find that maintaining a high level of service, even advocacy, for constituents—that is, representation of the constituent before the government—is an excellent way into the hearts and minds of voters.  We all know of legislators who are viewed as weak on policy but nevertheless are regularly reelected because of their attention to constituents’ needs.  The competitive process inherent in political campaigns for election is just the beginning.  Politicians are constantly running for reelection, and will find that their future opponents likely will come from within their own party’s ranks.

         Meanwhile, in a world of information abundance and “information overload,” there are two notable scarcities: knowledge and attention.  Commercial advertisers are finding that one way to overcome the clutter of information bombarding individuals everyday is either to customize and target specific information for that particular individual, or to create an attractive community that attracts the consumer.

         Politicians running for office find the same dilemmas and solutions.  They target information through direct mail campaigns and create websites intended to attract constituents and potential voters.  Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, for example, even had a section for young children (well below voting age) on his 1998 gubernatorial campaign website.  More and more, politicians and elected officials will want to rise above the crowd, to be the representative of first resort, by creating a web presence that attracts potential voters.

Competitive Representation: Issues and Incentives
         These three trends, then—reinvention of business services with the consumer at the center, upstream navigational software, and increased competition for the citizen’s attention and loyalty—lead to the conclusion that elected representatives should take it upon themselves to serve as the navigational intermediaries for citizens to interface with governments across jurisdictions.

         In their pursuit of citizen loyalty and support, elected representatives will recognize that representing the citizen-consumer upstream, across jurisdictional lines, brings benefits to the citizen, governments, and the representative.  The citizen finds the correct service, governments can avoid misdirected and unnecessary inquiries, and the representative is seen by his or her constituents as representing them in a time of need. 

         Accordingly, elected representatives should and will embrace navigational software that allows constituents to go upstream to access governmental benefits and services at all jurisdictional levels.  It is good politics and good government wrapped into one.  An intermediary with knowledge will find the right jurisdiction and agency for the problem at hand, and an intermediary with clout will help make sure the constituent is heard.  In addition to its good sense, however, it will become a competitive necessity for legislators as competition for citizen loyalty increases.

         Of course, the intermediary with clout in this realm is the one with budgetary responsibilities: the legislator.  Here the problem of jurisdiction again comes to the fore.  Whereas the federal legislator has clout with the federal agency, and the state legislator has clout with the state agency, this is not necessarily true across jurisdictions.  This could emerge as an issue.  But the more acute need is navigation and attention.  That can come from any legislator, or intermediary with an incentive to find the right solution for the citizen.  Where clout is actually needed, alliances will likely be formed among political office-holders.  As in the business world, one may be in competition one day and in an alliance the next.

         Accordingly, it would be good for citizens, for efficient government, and for democracy in general, if legislatures at all levels would increase appropriations to their own representatives’ offices for upstream constituent services.  At a time when allocation of funds to government is not popular, increasing budgets of legislative offices would seem counterintuitive.  But if used to advance citizen services, it would be a plus for democracy and, in the longer run, could lead to a reduction in the costs of the agencies providing services who are currently dealing with misdirected claims.

The Future of M-Governance
         As the mechanisms undergirding competitive representation evolve, the benefits will extend to governance in general, and to e-governance in particular.  And, with the utilization of mobile technology, it will now extend to m-governance as well.  That is, as representatives and constituents dialogue about having government work better for a particular problem, trust emerges.  Constituents will be more familiar with governmental services, and representatives will be more likely to listen to the constituent on issues relating to the functions of governance.  It becomes an online feedback mechanism for establishing a way for an office-holder to communicate with constituents.  As a by-product, the office-holder uses constituent services to gain name recognition and loyalty.

         Former House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill said that all politics is local.  The global forces of competition and technology will increasingly reach local politics, and that will be better for democracy, efficient government, and “m-governance.”

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