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The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is a major small business advocacy association with an interest in state and federal legislation that affects its membership. The association approached Adfero in early 2006 to create an online advocacy plan in support of S. 1955, the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act, which would have created federally regulated small business health plans.
With S. 1955 facing a vote before the full Senate in a matter of weeks, Adfero set out to mobilize NFIB membership and coalition network subscribers through a series of email communications. To increase grassroots support of the legislation and reach out to pro-business activists, the firm also began an online advertising campaign on over 100 blogs and across various national web sites.
The other focus of the campaign was to directly reach influentials in Washington, particularly legislative staffers. To this end, Adfero placed ads on a number of key “inside the Beltway” web sites, expanding the effort to include the official online publications of the state capitols in a number of states represented by targeted Senators.
Adfero’s grassroots effort for NFIB had an undeniable impact in the days leading up to the vote, generating over 13,000 contacts to Senators in just three weeks. The vast majority of communications were received by Senators from the 10 states targeted by the campaign. The placement of ads on state capitol web sites, from which staffers routinely print out local material for distribution, resulted in the NFIB having a visible presence on Capitol Hill. |
The Challenge
