Lobbyists Do WHAT?

Many misunderstand what lobbyists do, and it suits some practitioners to keep it mysterious.

Here’s a list of some of the sort of things lobbying/Government relations consultants* do for clients.

• Government relations – devising, supervising and/or implementing client profile-building inside Government;
• Stakeholder relations – similarly, with non-Government stakeholders;
• Strategy – advising clients on the most effective and likely way to achieve their objectives;
• Tactics – advising clients how best to respond to events;
• Communications planning – devising, supervising and/or implementing client communications into Government and the broader community;
• Message delivery advice – advising clients how best to get their information and messages through to their audience;
• Lobbying/advocacy – directly conveying client representations to public sector influencers;
• Research – researching issues, their background, perceptions within Government, processes within Government, and so on; in particular, identifying possible barriers to success;
• Stakeholder mapping – a specialised kind of research, identifying and categorising stakeholders;
• Analyse – taking the results of research, and simplifying, summarising, clarifying and organising that material;
• Synthesising – taking research and analysis from multiple sources or perspectives;
• Recommending – using analysis to propose strategy, tactics or activities;
• Open doors – using your contacts and networks to ensure client issues get in front of the right people;
• Negotiation – directly liaising with public sector influencers to reach agreement on issues;
• Presentation – directly conveying client information to public sector influencers;
• Briefing – bringing stakeholders and/or client staff up to speed on issues;
• Marketing – persuading people in Government to “buy” client credibility or proposals;
• Public relations – devising, supervising and/or implementing communications programs about your client, in the broader community; and
• Consulting/reporting – engaging with clients to make sure they are happy with what you’re up to, and getting their take on changes.

Not every lobbyist/Government relations consultant does everything on that list, and in fact most do only some of them.

Have I missed anything?

 

*     I’m using the terms “lobbyist” and “Government relations consultant” somewhat interchangeably – in part, that’s because most lobbyists spend most of their time doing things other than lobbying, as you can see from the list above.