For information access advocates organizing online, here's a great
resource for writing good action alerts. It is from the activist toolkit.
kelly
Writing Effective Action Alerts
Ten Easy Steps
Summary
This document describes how to write effective action alerts for
distribution over the Internet.
Activists have always searched for the most efficient and effective
way to publicize their issue. In the past few years, the Internet
has emerged as a primary vehicle for publishing "Action Alerts." An
action alert is a message that someone sends out on the net asking
for a specific action to be taken on a current political issue. For
your issue to be compelling enough for someone to act, your alert
must be geared to fit the Internet and its offspring, email and the
World Wide Web. Both offer amazing opportunities to you and your
issue for widespread exposure and action.
Action alerts on the Internet are modeled on alerts that have
historically been published on paper and lately via fax machines,
for a long time. The Internet's main advantages are 1) it is a lot
cheaper, and 2) the distribution is potentially global. A networked
alert can travel extremely far from its origin by being forwarded
from friend to friend and list to list, without any additional cost
being imposed on the original sender. This phenomenon of
chain-forwarding is important, and it behooves the would-be author
of an action alert, whether a single message or a whole campaign,
to think through its consequences.
When you are constructing your action alert, think about the
following:
1. Identify your issue. Put a good, clear headline on it. Make that
one line that everyone reads so compelling that the reader has to
continue to the body of the alert. This is sometimes the most
difficult part of the alert, as you try to condense your entire
issue into a few words. The headline should not be more than one
line long.
2. Put a date on it. Always include the time-frame in which your
action alert is valid. Action alerts can travel through the net
forever. Don't count on the message header to convey the date, as
people who forward net messages frequently strip off the header.
If your recommended action has a essential time-line, (e.g., write
your senator by March 21st, 1997), then state that clearly.
3. Make your alert self-contained. Don't assume your readers will
have any context for your issue. DO assume that your alert will be
read by people who have never heard of your or your cause. This is
one of the wonders of the Internet! Provide background or
historical information about the subject of your alert, but keep
it short and concise.
4. Be compelling! If you want to inspire someone to do something, be
inspirational! Speak from the heart about why this issue is
important, what could be lost, and what can be saved, with the
community's help. Be careful about being histrionic, though.
5. Check your facts. In the quest to inspire, however, don't
exaggerate the facts. Remember, your message may circle the earth,
and may be received by tens of thousands of people. When you make
mistakes, you can cause great disruption, as well as discrediting
yourself, your organization, and the whole idea of network action
alerts. Never fail to be accurate.
6. Provide action steps. Always include a "What You Can Do" section
in your alerts. People care more about an issue when they become
actively involved in its progress. Keep the steps clear and
concise.
7. Lead readers to further reading. Remember that your action alert
can compel people to want to learn more about your issue. Help
them find background information by providing a short bibliography
of sound references for them to pursue. Point to web sites that
can further understanding of your issue.
8. Include your organization's information. This helps establish
authenticity of your alert, making is more credible to the
activist community, and allows readers to know where to go for
more information or clarification.
9. Evaluate your action alert's success. Ask to be copied on emails,
letters, etc., so you will know when someone has taken action.
When the campaign is over, try to derive some lessons for others
to use. Take some time while the experience is still fresh to
measure the value of your efforts. What problems did you have?
What mistakes did you make? Who did you reach and why?
10. Email is just a part of a larger organizing strategy. An action
alert is not an organization; it's just an alert. If you want to
build a lasting political movement, at some point you'll have to
gather people to work together on an issue. Email is simply a
tool, albeit a very effective one, in an activist's toolbox.
Especially for email alerts:
* Include a phrase like "post where appropriate" so that people
aren't encouraged to send your alert to mailing lists where it
doesn't belong.
* Put clear beginning and ending markers on your alert, such as a
row of dashes at the top and bottom, so that any additions made by
people other than yourself will clearly be modifications to your
original.
* Use short paragraphs. Email will frequently be read in a document
window with scrollbars, making it harder to track long paragraphs.
Consider breaking up your paragraphs to only a few sentences a
piece. Inserting some blank space in your alert is also easier on
the readers' eyes.
* If your information is sensitive and you don't want the alert
forwarded to other lists, make sure you say so. Be aware of
security risks whenever you are transmitting information.
* Don't overdo it. Action alerts might become as unwelcome as
direct-mail advertising. Postpone that day by picking your fights
and including some useful, thought-provoking information in your
alert message.
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