My presentation for the SEATOA conference that presents tactics for building local political support for your broadband project, and influencing broadband-related legislation at the statehouse. Equally important, these same tactics enable you to develop and execute effective marketing campaigns that drives subscriptions to your network.

1. Winning the Political Game…
…and Winning Customers

2. Objectives for this workshop
• Understand how to win
• Politics is Marketing and vice versa
• Tactics you can use now

3. The Political Status Quo
• 2013 – Georgia, Colorado
• Kansas
• Utah (x 2)
• Tennessee

4. The National Picture
• Google Fiber raises consciousness
• Telcos abandoning services
• Comcast/Time Warner Merger

5. Broadband Political Realities
• 19 states with restrictions
• ALEC playbook for muni networks
• State legislatures
• Local politics and politicians

6. Readiness Is All
• Know your constituents
• Know the political process
• Create the message
• Execute the campaign, deliver
the message

7. Needs Assessment Key
• What do constituents have
• What do they want to do, but can’t
• What are the benefits of getting
what they want

8. Executing Needs Assessment
• Main stakeholders
• Meetings and more meetings
• Surveys

9. The Power of Needs Assessment
• Take away incumbents’ tactics
• Define technology requirements
• Paint picture of benefits
• Motivate the masses

10. Gotta Know Rules, the Playas
• Know how a bill becomes law
• Know your legislators
• Understand local process, who’s who
• Neither personal (most times) nor partisan

11. Understand How Lobbyists Work
• 15 minutes, 2-pages
• Staff vs legislators
• Educator
• Access

12. Working the process
• Preemptive is better
• Bring constituent pressure
• The art of the deal vs the hammer

13. The Message
• Consistent core points
• High impact, high emotion
• Tell a story, tell it well
• Go for the close

14. Messaging Rules
• Consensus on the goal
• Just the facts, ma’am
• You are the light
• Helps to have a villain
• You are constituents’ voice

15. Executing on the Message
• Keepers of the message
• Everything that moves, breathes,
faces the public
• Schedule, coordinate, execute,
gather feedback, repeat

16. Communicating with Politicians
• Consensus vs conflict
• Line up allies
• Two tiers of communication: you,
constituents
• Communication is relentless