Advocacy Tips for Advocates and Creators
This section is designed to provide advocates and creators with actionable strategies to navigate advocacy and storytelling with integrity and compassion.
Digital Advocacy Tools
Discover tools, resources, and strategies to amplify advocacy efforts online.
Creating a LinkTree to Centralize Resources
When supporting families of missing or murdered loved ones, one effective way to streamline their advocacy is by setting up a LinkTree. This tool consolidates essential links into a single, shareable page, making it easy to share resources and information about the case.
A LinkTree can include:
– Petitions and rally starters
– Donation pages
– Research documents
– Social media pages
– Dedicated case website
– Podcast episodes, YouTube episodes, and media coverage
By helping families create a LinkTree, you’re giving them a powerful resource to amplify their message and stay organized.
Advocates, let’s empower families with tools that make a difference. If you’re working with a family and need help setting this up, don’t hesitate to ask. Together, we can amplify their voices.
Setting Up a Dedicated Email for Their Loved One’s Case
As advocates, one meaningful way you can support families is by guiding them to set up a dedicated email address for their loved one’s case. Encourage them to create an email like JusticeForJohn@… or FindJohn@…. This becomes a vital tool—a central point of contact for everything related to their advocacy efforts.
Here’s how you can assist families in this process:
Explain its importance: Help them see how this email keeps communications organized, allows them to control the flow of information, and makes it easier for others to reach them with leads or offers of support.
Suggest uses: Show them how to include this email on flyers, social media posts, and outreach to media, podcasters, and organizations.
Additional suggestions:
Stress record-keeping: Advise families to keep a copy of every email sent or received, and to follow up phone calls with an email summary like: “Here’s what we talked about…” to ensure a written record exists. This empowers families to stay organized and informed while maintaining ownership of their advocacy journey.
As advocates, you play a crucial role in equipping families with tools to amplify their voice. Share this tip, walk them through the process if needed, and remind them to protect their own safety and well-being—it’s essential for sustaining their efforts.
By working together, we can help families take charge of their fight for justice, ensuring their loved one’s story is heard.
Improve Low-Quality Photos with Canva’s Image Upscaler
If you’re working with families who have lower-quality photos—whether due to age, wear, or resolution—Canva’s Image Upscaler app is a fantastic tool for improving clarity.
Here’s how to use it:
1. Upload the photo you want to enhance into Canva.
2. Click on the photo and select Edit.
3. Go to Apps and find the Image Upscaler (look for the butterfly icon with a magnifying glass).
4. Let the app work its magic to enhance the image quality!
This tool is especially helpful for older or low-resolution images, allowing you to create high-quality visuals while preserving the integrity of the original photo. It’s simple, effective, and absolutely worth trying.
If you haven’t used it yet, I highly recommend giving it a go—it’s a valuable resource for anyone working with photos in advocacy projects.
Protecting and Preserving Critical Documents
As an advocate working with families of missing or murdered loved ones, ensuring the safety and accessibility of critical documents is a vital part of supporting their journey. Police reports, court records, autopsy reports, and other important files should be carefully preserved—not just physically, but digitally as well.
Here are some key steps you can take to help families protect these essential records:
1. Digitize Paper Copies: If families have physical documents, encourage them to scan or take high-quality photos of these files. Digitizing ensures that records are easier to access and share when needed.
2. Use Multiple Secure Locations: Upload digitized files to multiple platforms like Google Drive and Dropbox. Redundancy provides an extra layer of protection in case one system fails.
Tip: Want to make your PDFs searchable so you can easily look up words or numbers within the document? Try PDF2Go, a free online tool. Simply go to the “Improve PDF Files” section and select “Make PDF searchable.”
3. Share with a Trusted Contact: Advise families to share backups of the files with a trusted friend or relative. This step ensures that critical documents are accessible, even in unexpected situations.
As an advocate, helping families organize and secure their documents not only protects vital information but also prepares them for interactions with law enforcement, media, or legal representatives.
Legal Advocacy
Find resources, tools, and guidance on understanding legal rights, and gain access to critical information through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
Finding Legal Resources
As advocates, one of the most impactful ways to support families navigating the aftermath of violent crimes is by helping them understand their legal rights and options. Legal advocacy can empower families to take meaningful steps toward justice while ensuring they aren’t navigating these challenges alone.
Examples of Resources to Share:
– VictimConnect Resource Center: A place for crime victims to learn about their rights and options confidentially and compassionately.
– Office for Victims of Crime (OVC): Offers programs and resources to support victims of crime, including funding for victim assistance and compensation programs, and provides training for professionals in the field.
– Directory of Crime Victim Services: Helps users locate victim services in the United States and other countries.
– FindLegalHelp.org: Online pro bono program that matches clients with volunteer lawyers.
By guiding families toward the right legal resources and empowering them with knowledge, you help ensure their voices are heard and their loved one’s case receives the attention it deserves. Together, we can make a lasting impact in the pursuit of justice.
How FOIA Requests Can Support Families
One of the most impactful ways we can give back to the true crime community is by helping families of victims—whether the case is solved, unsolved, or missing—to file FOIA requests. It’s a free and incredibly valuable way to support families as they seek more information, clarity, or justice in their loved one’s case.
In early 2024, I had the pleasure of hosting a FOIA webinar with Jordan Taylor, a FOIA expert, where we covered everything you need to know about this powerful tool. In the webinar, Jordan explains what a FOIA is, how to file one, and tips for ensuring your request is as successful as possible. You’ll also gain access to Jordan’s FOIA template, which simplifies the process and helps get you started.
Whether it’s a solved case where families are looking for additional details, or an unsolved case that needs renewed attention, FOIA requests can be a powerful tool for uncovering information. Best of all, it’s something anyone can do to make a real difference for families seeking answers.
I encourage you to check out the webinar if you want to learn more about how you can use FOIAs to support families and contribute to their pursuit of justice.
Collaborating with Others
Strengthen your advocacy efforts by collaborating with the media, organizations, creators, and more.
Collaborating with Podcasts and YouTube Shows
Podcasts and YouTube shows are invaluable platforms for raising awareness and keeping cases in the public eye. As an advocate, you can play a key role in helping families collaborate with creators in a way that protects their loved one’s story while amplifying their voice.
I co-authored a guidebook to assist families in navigating these collaborations. It includes:
– Best practices for working with podcasters and YouTubers.
– Tips to ensure the story is shared with sensitivity and accuracy.
– Advice on maintaining control of the narrative while leveraging these platforms to support advocacy efforts.
Advocates, your guidance can make all the difference in ensuring families feel supported and empowered throughout this process. By working together, we can amplify their loved one’s voice and ensure their story reaches the right audiences with integrity.
Using Press Releases to Collaborate with the Media
Press releases are one of the most impactful tools for gaining media attention and keeping cases in the public eye. As an advocate, you can support families by guiding them through the process of writing a press release that amplifies their loved one’s story and garners meaningful coverage.
To help families and advocates learn how to write effective press releases, I partnered with Light the Way to host a webinar that offers step-by-step instructions and a customizable template.
In this webinar, you’ll learn:
– How to help families structure a press release that tells their loved one’s story with clarity and impact.
– Tips for identifying and reaching out to media contacts.
– How to use press releases as a foundation for ongoing advocacy efforts.
You can access the webinar and template here: Press Release Webinar.
Advocates, your support can empower families to share their loved one’s story effectively, ensuring their case remains visible and their voice is amplified. Together, we can make a meaningful difference.
Other Ways to Support Families Advocating for Their Loved One’s Case
Explore additional ways to stand alongside families navigating the advocacy journey.
Digital Advocacy Tools
Encourage sharing on social media: Work with families to post photos, podcasts, or news links that keep their loved one’s name and story visible.
Tip: Help families use tools like Canva to create professional graphics and videos.
Tip: Assist with setting up a LinkTree to centralize important links, and suggest adding QR codes to graphics and flyers for easy sharing. Example LinkTree
Suggest families post on significant dates: Suggest families share posts on significant dates to honor their loved one’s memory. Example of shared posts
Organize social media campaigns: Rally the online community to share posts and expand the case’s reach. Example social media campaign
Support Facebook group creation: Help families start or manage a group dedicated to the case. These groups can grow into powerful networks of support. Example Facebook Group
Collaborate on social media ads: Help families design and run ads to highlight the case using flyers or impactful graphics. Example social media ad
Coordinate online vigils: Work with the family to coordinate an online vigil to bring awareness to their loved one’s case. Example of vigil
Contact billboard companies: Help families draft outreach emails to inquire about donated billboard space. Click here to download a template email.
Creative Campaigns to Raise Awareness
Design and distribute awareness items: Create custom materials like shirts, stickers, friendship bracelets, coffee sleeves, or car magnets.
Design templates:
– Shirt template
– Sticker template
– Car magnet template
Examples of places to purchase items:
– Friendship bracelet letters and beads
– Coffee sleeves and labels
– Rubber bracelets
– Pens
– Stickers
Community Engagement
Help distribute materials: Work with families to distribute flyers, postcards, business cards, stickers, rubber bracelets, pens, or other materials at local events, community gatherings, and businesses.
Design templates:
– Flyer template
– Postcard template
– Business card template
Examples of places to purchase items:
– GotPrint
– UZ Marketing
Tip: If you have relationships with local businesses or organizations, offer to connect families to helpful resources.
Offer your expertise: Whether it’s graphic design, social media management, or organizing events, use your skills to amplify the family’s efforts.
Encourage families to lead the way while offering your support. Advocacy is deeply personal, and it’s essential to empower families to take charge of their efforts, ensuring their voice is heard. Always respect their wishes—never take any actions without their explicit permission, as they know best how to navigate their journey.
At the same time, remind them they are not alone—you’re part of their team in this fight for justice. Together, we can amplify the voices of families, ensure their loved one’s story is never forgotten, and make meaningful progress in the search for answers.
Get in Touch
I’d love to hear from you! Whether you’re interested in collaborating, have a question about my work, or want to share a story, feel free to reach out. Together, we can work toward raising awareness and supporting victims and their families.