Writing an advocacy letter, in many cases, is the first step you must take when it comes to making real, long-lasting social change. It doesn’t matter what you want to change or what difference you want to make; there’s a process you need to go through to make it happen.
This means informing the courts or companies of your intention for change, which means writing a letter describing what you want to do and why. However, this action letter will be the first impression that the companies, organizations, or governments have of your cause, so you’ll want to make sure you’re doing it right.
Today, we’re going to explore everything you need to know in order to writing an effective advocacy/letter that starts your movement off on the right foot.
When Is a Good Time to Write On?
Firstly, you’ll want to make sure you’re using this type of letter in the right places and sending it to the right people. The best way to remember it is if you’re writing a letter demanding action for a certain situation or event to take place, or preventing an action taking place, in which cause the anti-action is the action you’re demanding.
For example, trying to encourage an outcome of mothers being able to feed their babies in public, or stopping the closure of a clinic of some kind, would demand a letter to be sent stating how you feel about it.
You may also want to write a letter to help remind your local government of how the people feel, and it’s important to remember that most governments will detail the letters that have been sent to them when it comes around to voting time.
How to Write an Effective Advocacy Letter
If you feel like your cause is the right one for an action letter to be written, then you’ll want to ensure you’re doing it in the right way. Here are some tips and advice on how to make the best impact with what you have to say.
Start with You
“The first thing you’ll want to do is start by identifying yourself and who you are. Maybe you’re an individual, maybe you’re a part of an organization, or maybe you represent a group of people. Whatever the case, make you or your movement’s organization known, so the government knows who they’re dealing with,” shares Nick Harper, a writer from UKWritings.
Keep Things Concise
It’s important to make sure you’re sticking to the point with what you’re writing, and you don’t detour around the valid points you’re making too much. Firstly, the more you write, the more chance there is of your letter miscommunicating and the message you want to send not being sent.
Secondly, not all government officials will simply have time to read pages and pages of content, meaning you’ll have much more of a chance to get your message heard and action taken by keeping things short and sweet.
Use Online Writing Tools
If you’re sending an action letter full of mistakes, typos, and errors, the people reading your letter simply won’t take it seriously, and you’ll have missed out on an opportunity to make real change. Fortunately, even if you’re not a professional writer, there are plenty of online writing tools that can help;
Use these online services as a grammar resource to make sure you’re using grammar properly in your letter.
Use these online proofreading tools, as recommended by Simple Grad, to help spot and correct any errors in your content.
These are two blogs full of online writing tips to help you perfect the message you’re trying to send.
As reviewed in Essay writing service reviews, these are two services designed to edit and format your action letter to perfection.
Use the writing guides on this website to help you write a structured letter where your points are displayed clearly and concisely.
Send Your Letter When Appropriate
It’s always best to make sure you’re sending your letter in a timely manner where it can then make the most impact. For example, if a decision to close down a much-needed service in your community is being made, it will be far too late to send the letter after the decision has already been made, so you should always be aware of the timing of your letter.
Always Tell the Truth
While this should be something you remember anyway, it’s important to remember that you should never exaggerate the facts or truths of a matter and should always stick to actual facts or your own personal experiences.
It’s easy to get caught in the trap of exaggerating something to try and help send your point, but if it turns out not to be true, you’ve then ruined the impact your letter will have.
Jenny Han is a writer and editor at Order Essay and Research Paper Writing Service. She writes about politics and social studies. Also, she is a tutor at OXEssays Reviews.