Last week Jim DeMint wrapped up work in the U.S. Senate and embarked on a new mission as president-elect of The Heritage Foundation. After spending his professional career in research, advertising and marketing, DeMint is now setting out to more effectively communicate conservative ideas to the American people.

Today he writes in The Washington Post about an ambitious new project he will oversee at Heritage:

We must take our case to the people ourselves, and we must start where all good marketing starts: with research. Conservative policies have proved their worth time and time again. If we’re not communicating in a way that makes that clear, we are doing a disservice to our fellow citizens. We need to test the market and our message to communicate more effectively.

That’s why Heritage will start this year to help the conservative movement understand how Americans from all walks of life perceive public policy issues and how to communicate conservative ideas and solutions.

This research project into current public perceptions and how we change them will assist in the resurgence of the conservative movement in America.

Read the whole piece and watch DeMint’s comments on the future of conservatism in our recent three-part interview.