Outreach Strategy
How to build a strategy for outreach to maximize effectiveness.
Last updated
How to build a strategy for outreach to maximize effectiveness.
Last updated
How to Track & Prioritize Outreach
Plan to Begin Major Endorsements Outreach
Tracking outreach is key during efforts to obtain endorsements. This allows for a coordinated approach in identifying, performing outreach, and tracking conversations and commitments to a wide range of potential endorsers.
Building a spreadsheet for all involved to track their outreach efforts creates a log for the conversations being had, progress being made, and potential opportunities that still exist.
In the tracker, ranking potential endorsers by priority level helps guide outreach strategy.
Low-hanging fruit: Very likely to support our efforts.
Mid-tier: May present more of a challenge in getting their commitment.
Stretch goals: A long shot, but still worth trying.
Review list & assign priority. Each Pax Fauna partner goes through the Endorsements list. If you see an org where you have an active personal relationship with someone influential at that org, set the Priority/category to “low-hanging fruit.” Then, add your name to the “PAFer handling contact” column.
Even if we go for animal-motivated groups initially, we could reflect variety in their names and who they are. For example, we could get endorsed by vets, journalists, faith communities, and local businesses if we reached out to Our Honor Vets, Sentient Media, Jewish Veg, and Watercourse Foods.
Begin outreach. Once we’ve identified 5-20 good “low-hanging fruit”, make an initial contact. Ideally this is a text and/or phone call, unless your contact on the Endorsements list is someone you regularly see in person.
After your conversation, you can follow up by sending an email confirming the endorsement using the template in Outreach Messaging.
Sharpen your strategy and continue outreach. Once we have a handful of endorsements, we can send emails to several dozen more orgs on the list—other ”low-hanging fruit.” Later on, we can progress to “mid-tier” contacts whom we don’t necessarily have a warm personal “in” with.
While face-to-face is best, emails give us an efficient way of getting on lots of organizations’ radar and seeing who is interested in establishing deeper contact. The emails, as templated here, will be easy to customize and send.
Reach out to everyone else on the list. Eventually, as the endorsements grow, we can email all of the “mid-tier” entities and even many of the “stretch goals” ones, inviting a continued flow of calls and conversations that can lead to endorsements.
