Consulting Stakeholders

Communicating with these stakeholders to understand their perspectives, their strategic priorities, and what has and has not worked in the past will be invaluable to your impact campaign strategy. Remember that they’ve been working on the issue before you came along and will continue to after you’re gone. And those who are directly affected have a reason to be invested in the success of your efforts, particularly if you involve them in naming the solutions.

Create an initial list of the types of stakeholders you’ve already spoken to and whom it will be valuable to engage. Depending on your film and issue, they could include all or some of the following:

• Impacted community members
• NGOs – small and highly-aligned with your issue
• NGOs – large and well-resourced/broad reach
• Campaigners, activists, and advocates
• Experts and academics
• Politicians, policymakers and their staff
• Communication strategists/pollsters
• Relevant funders
• Press and other media
• Public figures who have aligned themselves with the issue
• Brands and companies

You can identify these people and individuals through the filmmaking process; earlier films made about the issue; referrals from existing relationships; conferences, talks, and other events; media coverage (i.e., who’s being quoted); and online research.

Speak to them to build your understanding of the change they would like to see — specific policies and actions — and the path they believe needs to be taken to arrive there. Always ask them to refer you to others with whom you should speak and if you can speak to them again if necessary. Diversify the people and organizations with whom you speak to ensure you’re getting the full picture.

Analyze your conversations to identify trends as well as tensions that may exist regarding goals and strategies that you may need to navigate in the impact campaign. As you speak to more people, you will be better able to see the opportunities and obstacles that you will likely face, and which will inform the goals, strategies, and tactics you undertake.

You do not need to commit to partnering with or including any of these groups in your impact campaign at this stage — before you have a full picture and have defined your strategy — but you should note how you can imagine they could be of help (and vice versa) based on their strengths and priorities — how they define them and how others do as well.

These conversations can occur one on one, or you can choose to create a more formal brain trust or advisory group. (A group is not an imperative — do not discount the time, energy, and resources required to manage the logistics and communication with the group.)