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Last week, Vice President, Paul Fulton, Jr. and I were on our way to Rome, Ga. for a meeting with community leaders to discuss a campaign Duffey recently developed and launched to stop sexual bullying among children and teens – Step Up. Step In.

While stopped at a gas station for our mandatory, pre-meeting caffeine kick, and sporting neon-green campaign T-shirts, a woman approached Paul and exclaimed, “Oh! Step Up. Step In. I’ve read about that.”

You can imagine the power this in-passing statement has on us. That’s our “ah-ha moment” – when you know you are reaching your target audience and efforts are beginning to pay off.

In this case, buzz was generated through a combination of traditional media relations, highly visible guerilla tactics (with permits, of course), social media – and perhaps most importantly – local community engagement. With law enforcement, public officials, school administrators, religious leaders, and business owners involved, the campaign’s message spread quickly through word-of-mouth, meaning all other tactics become that much more influential.

Often you’ll find community leaders are passionate about various social causes, and they can spark ideas unique to their followers. Your audience may even be more receptive when a campaign is endorsed by someone they trust.

Grassroots mobilization has been a popular strategy of heroes and villains alike for many years. The overarching reason? It works.