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There are many ways to categorize advocacy and not all of them are mutually exclusive. One of the most common is along models that gauge a continuum—or progression—of influence and actions. For example, an individual or a coalition of individuals with the same predisposition may act to influence others with a differing predisposition. As an effect of this action, the inclination and decision making of the others becomes closer to the predisposition of the influencing individual or coalition than it was before. Advocacy is usually somewhere in the middle of the influence and action continuum, with protest at one end—usually the beginning—and lobbying at the other. Advocates may be paid professionals or they may be individuals who decide to represent or join others and advocate free of charge. They may also be organizations.

Two basic types of advocacy exist: case advocacy and cause or systemic advocacy. Case advocacy, known sometimes also as individual advocacy, refers to an individual or coalition of individuals who engage in case advocacy as self-advocates or by engaging other advocates who represent or support their case. Such advocates work defending the rights of another individual or group of individuals, as well as speaking for them or representing their interests. It may be because a particular group of people are not able to defend their rights or they may believe themselves better represented by somebody with more experience and connections. Occasions arise, also, in which an individual or an organization may decide to advocate for another individual or group. An example of case advocacy might be an organization deciding to take up the rights of a same-sex couple who are denied the right to marry and take their case to court.

Cause or systemic advocacy, also known as public advocacy, takes place when an individual or group advocates the necessity of bringing about systemic, structural, legislative, and policy changes. It can cover an issue at the local, regional, or national level. Rather than focus on the individual, this type of advocacy represents the rights and interests of a group with similar issues and concerns. For example, cause advocates represent the interests or defend the rights of the general public or a general category of people. Case advocacy focuses on a particular case, individual, or specific group. Cause advocacy, on the other hand, concentrates on advocating for a general category of people or the general public, for example, the advocacy of issues relating to public safety. Therefore, an organization working on cause advocacy could work on issues related to workers, children, the elderly, or the environment.

Quite often, advocate work takes place in the political arena. Political advocates understand complex structures of power and influence. In general, political advocacy is most effective when the advocate or advocate organization has influence in the locations of power. At the end of the continuum is the work of lobbyists, who focus on influencing government policy and legislation at the local and national levels.

There are other forms of advocacy, and it bears stressing that the boundaries between them are not mutually exclusive. All human beings have the right to their own advocates. For this reason, when individuals take responsibility for advocating on behalf of themselves, it is known as self-advocacy. Most cases of advocacy, however, involve an individual or organization representing someone else. Support or peer advocacy, for example, occurs when the individual providing advocate representation has shared experiences similar to the experience of the individual whom he or she represents.

When an individual has been given legal responsibility to represent and decide for others who cannot legally speak for themselves, such as a warden or a guardian of a minor or of an adult who has been deemed incompetent to self-represent, it is known as statutory advocacy. Decisions and representation by an organization or individual considered to have the necessary knowledge or expertise to make an informed decision on behalf of the public—or who have the best interests of the public in mind—are engaging in what is known as best interest advocacy. The public may not—and often does not—take part in this decision making process. Such is the case, for example, of consumer interest groups.

There are individuals and organizations that specialize in advocacy. Specialist or professional advocacy is also known as legal advocacy. These may work, for example, advocating on behalf of patients’ rights under health commissions. On the other hand, when advocacy refers to low-level community activism, it is often called grassroots advocacy. Coalitions of concerned parents, neighbors, or citizens often join forces in order to gain a position of strength when it comes to working for change. Such groups may become more established and turn into a political, education, or other sort of activist organization. Environmental organizations such as Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, born from the efforts of groups of environmentalists and conservationists, respectively, may serve as an example of this phenomenon. When a group becomes formalized, the advocacy has progressed beyond a grassroots advocacy into a more organized form, and arguably with more expertise, influence, and power.

One of the most important roles of contemporary advocacy is the empowerment of an individual or group. Advocacy aimed at empowerment supports or represents an individual or group who seeks redress or to file a complaint. Rather than taking over or acting for the people they represent, the goals of an empowering advocate include helping individuals to see themselves as proactive, that is, to see themselves as people with rights who have the skills and strengths to find solutions to their own problems. These advocates share their knowledge and skills so that the people they aim to assist can use them, and rather than consider themselves as leaders, they act as partners in finding solutions and driving transformation and sustainable change.