The nature of the activities of advocacy groups is highly dependent on the scope and extent on group aims and objectives. Motives for advocacy group action may be based on a shared political, religious, moral, health or commercial position. Groups use varied methods to try to achieve their aims including lobbying, media campaigns, publicity stunts, polls, research, and policy briefings. Some groups are supported or backed by powerful business or political interests and exert considerable influence on the political process, while others have few or no such resources.
Letter-writing, petitions and marches
Traditionally, the campaigns of pressure groups have included things such as letter-writing, petitions and marches. For example, in the mid-1980s, LIFE compiled a petition of more than 2,000,000 names opposed to abortion, organised a "Mail MPs a Mountain" campaign in 1987 and employed postcard campaigns in 1989 and 1990 against the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.
Marches and demonstrations organised by the Anti-Poll Tax Federation in 1990 were said to have contributed to Margaret Thatcher's resignation as Prime Minister in November that year, and led to the subsequent replacement of the 1989 Community Charge (poll tax) with council tax in 1993. In February 2003, millions took to the streets as part of the Stop the War Coalition's efforts to persuade the government not to deploy US forces in Iraq.
In countries such as the United States, petition-signing and letter-writing have been used to good effect at pride marches. These have been influential in the repeal of sodomy laws, support for civil unions and same-sex marriage, and on supporting anti-discrimination legislation. For example, in the 1998 Asbury Park pride march, the New Jersey Lesbian and Gay Coalition distributed postcards to Christine Todd Whitman and to two members of the state assembly asking them to oppose a state version of the Defense of Marriage Act. The Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force also distributed an "Update Call to Action", urging people to make telephone calls to state officials and write letters in support of education reform, revising state education policies and encouraging lawmakers to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected rights under the Pennsylvania Civil Rights Initiative.
Following concerns over a proposed ban on hunting with dogs and lack of concern for rural issues, in 2002 the Countryside Alliance organised "the march for Liberty and Livelihood", which allegedly attracted over 400,000 people (including the Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith) and attracted supporters from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States and across Europe.
Directly influencing the legislative process
In most liberal democracies, advocacy groups tend to use the bureaucracy as the main channel of influence – because, in liberal democracies, this is where the decision-making power lies. The aim of advocacy groups here is to attempt to influence a member of the legislature to support their cause by voting a certain way in the legislature. Access to this channel is generally restricted to groups with insider status such as large corporations and trade unions – groups with outsider status are unlikely to be able to meet with ministers or other members of the bureaucracy to discuss policy. What must be understood about groups exerting influence in the bureaucracy is; "the crucial relationship here [in the bureaucracy] is usually that between the senior bureaucrats and leading business or industrial interests". This supports the view that groups with greater financial resources at their disposal will generally be better able to influence the decision-making process of government. The advantages that large businesses have is mainly due to the fact that they are key producers within their countries economy and, therefore, their interests are important to the government as their contributions are important to the economy. According to George Monbiot, the influence of big business has been strengthened by "the greater ease with which corporations can relocate production and investment in a global economy". This suggests that in the ever modernising world, big business has an increasing role in influencing the bureaucracy and in turn, the decision-making process of government.