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Congress posted 628,998 times in 2024. Here’s what they’re talking about.

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WP_Query Object ( [query] => Array ( [name] => public-affairs-innovations [post_type] => resources [resource-type] => blog ) [query_vars] => Array ( [name] => public-affairs-innovations [post_type] => resources [resource-type] => blog [error] => [m] => [p] => 0 [post_parent] => [subpost] => [subpost_id] => [attachment] => [attachment_id] => 0 [pagename] => [page_id] => 0 [second] => [minute] => [hour] => [day] => 0 [monthnum] => 0 [year] => 0 [w] => 0 [category_name] => [tag] => [cat] => [tag_id] => [author] => [author_name] => [feed] => [tb] => [paged] => 0 [meta_key] => [meta_value] => [preview] => [s] => [sentence] => [title] => [fields] => [menu_order] => [embed] => [category__in] => Array ( ) [category__not_in] => Array ( ) [category__and] => Array ( ) [post__in] => Array ( ) [post__not_in] => Array ( ) [post_name__in] => Array ( ) [tag__in] => Array ( ) [tag__not_in] => Array ( ) [tag__and] => Array ( ) [tag_slug__in] => Array ( ) [tag_slug__and] => Array ( ) [post_parent__in] => Array ( ) [post_parent__not_in] => Array ( ) [author__in] => Array ( ) [author__not_in] => Array ( ) [search_columns] => Array ( ) [ignore_sticky_posts] => [suppress_filters] => [cache_results] => 1 [update_post_term_cache] => 1 [update_menu_item_cache] => [lazy_load_term_meta] => 1 [update_post_meta_cache] => 1 [posts_per_page] => 10 [nopaging] => [comments_per_page] => 50 [no_found_rows] => [order] => DESC ) [tax_query] => [meta_query] => WP_Meta_Query Object ( [queries] => Array ( ) [relation] => [meta_table] => [meta_id_column] => [primary_table] => [primary_id_column] => [table_aliases:protected] => Array ( ) [clauses:protected] => Array ( ) [has_or_relation:protected] => ) [date_query] => [queried_object] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 1460 [post_author] => 1 [post_date] => 2023-03-22 00:00:00 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-03-22 00:00:00 [post_content] => The public affairs industry is changing. Every year, new technology solutions make it easier than ever to perform routine tasks, like logging meetings, tracking legislation, or sending emails to stakeholders , leaving more time to focus on public affairs strategies and increasing impact. The truth is that the industry is seeing crossover from other disciplines, borrowing ideas from communications and marketing to increase efficacy. For example, sophisticated organizations now use marketing strategies like A/B testing to enhance the power of grassroots advocacy. By testing which subject lines perform better, a public affairs team can improve metrics for every communication and learn what resonates with their audience. At Quorum, we talk to professionals at hundreds of organizations every year, including companies, associations, nonprofits, public affairs firms, and lobbying shops. We’re always looking for organizations that take an innovative approach to public affairs strategy, invent new, high-impact tactics or harness new technology. Here are 10 innovations we have come across that can help your program:

1. A Formula for Success in Government Relations

Some organizations use an Excel model to determine the impact a bill or regulation may have, such as changes in units sold or the amount of taxes paid. That formula then allows the public affairs team to calculate revenue implications of engaging on a given bill. Based on those implications, the organization can set a target for how much it is willing to spend to fight or promote a given policy. This allows the team to understand their impact, and to qualify and communicate that impact within the organization.

2. A Hub for Engaging the Industry

Public affairs teams are constantly coming up with new and interactive ways of engaging lawmakers using site visits.  If a visit in the district won’t work, your Washington DC office can work well. Use it to immerse legislators in your industry with creative, interactive spaces that provide a hands-on look at your industry and an inspiring setting for policy discussion. Seeing the impact of your industry in person makes it more likely for a lawmaker to keep it top-of-mind, and when it comes time to vote, they’ll have a firsthand experience to inform their decision. Site visits are often followed up with materials sent to a congressional office. But social media can also be helpful, primarily because it is a very public medium. Engaging members of Congress on social media by posting photos and thanking them for the visit helps lawmakers. Politely and constructively engaging them on issues helps them keep track of constituent sentiment, which is important to every lawmaker.

3. Ranking Issues to Focus on What Matters

Many organizations have developed team-centric models for deciding which issues receive priority. For instance, a department executive might ask each team member to rank the organization’s policy issues on three scales: importance, influence, and urgency. Those scores are then averaged into a scorecard plotted out by tier. Tier 1 issues are those the organization feels fit each of these categories—they are vital to the organization’s bottom line, urgent and must be addressed in the short term. The lower tiers include issues that receive conflicting ratings of importance, influence, and urgency. For example, they may be of high importance to your organization’s bottom line, but not worth spending as much time on because the likelihood of impact is low. Using a model like this, leadership can set priorities and know how to effectively allocate time and money.

4. Mapping Your Stakeholder Priorities

Building a relationship with every lawmaker in the country is almost impossible, and prioritization helps. Teams can start by identifying the legislators they need to know in every state, including both allies and opponents. From there, you can map out key lawmakers and begin targeted outreach. Beyond key states, you can take an innovative approach by finding the legislators who talk about your issues on social media. While you can certainly approach lawmakers directly, and most organizations do, your organization’s stakeholders can also be helpful. These are people such as executives, board members, community leaders, local politicians, donors, and others who have a relationship with both your organization and the lawmaker you need to meet. Using a stakeholder matrix, your organization can map stakeholders by their interest, willingness to get involved with your organization, and potential influence to help you achieve your objective. More> How to Map Stakeholders

5. Time Your Messaging

Savvy organizations use a policy reputation calendar to time positive messaging to stakeholders around key events. For example, you might promote your organization’s scholarship programs in September to celebrate “back to school” or share your team’s veterans initiatives on Veteran’s Day. By sending these communications frequently — and without making an ask every time — legislators will be more up to speed on your organization’s impact when you need them to take a specific action on your behalf. It’s important to stay top-of-mind with stakeholders, so make sure your messaging is organized so they hear from you consistently on important subjects, without bombarding them with too many messages. Consider these six types of messages to share.

6. The Ground Game

There are 535 members of Congress, and large organizations often have grasstops advocacy programs that assign an employee or volunteer to each lawmaker. By developing a nationwide network of ambassadors, they can build personal relationships with each legislator’s office. Congressional staff then has a face and a name to connect to the organization, and the issue. These ambassadors are also able to lead the charge on hosting site visits and in-district meetings. According to Congressional Management Foundation President Brad Fitch, one meeting with a legislator isn’t enough to make an impact and advocates should aim for four meetings with an office each year. By having an employee or ambassador assigned to each district, this target becomes more feasible.

7. The Power of Storybanking

Many advocates have compelling stories. Your advocacy work should include collecting the stories your supporters have and sharing them with lawmakers and other decision makers. With Quorum’s grassroots advocacy tools, you can set up a campaign to collect advocate stories that your staff can then use when the time is right. Story banking is more than just a collection of sound bites. It is real-life experiences that show lawmakers how policy impacts constituents. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-10) said in an interview with Quorum that stories from advocates are especially effective when it comes to communicating a policy position.

8. Applying Marketing Strategies to Grassroots Advocacy, Like A/B Testing

Does your audience respond to panic or hope? Is the effort you’re putting into personalizing your email copy worth the squeeze, or could you get just as much out of other strategies? A/B test email with your audience and they will tell you themselves! Top public affairs teams use A/B testing on email to learn about what drives their audience to take action, whether that is getting advocates to join their grassroots network, legislators to sponsor a key bill, stakeholders to attend an event, or voters to register for the next election.

9. Incorporate Gamification Into Advocacy

Want to catch the attention of supporters and encourage them to keep participating in your advocacy program? Many companies have turned to gamification as a fun and interactive way to do exactly that. Gamification works by assigning rewards such as points, badges or prizes based on advocate actions. Supporters can attain ever higher levels, much like a video game. A robust program can use gamification to surprise and delight advocates, incentivize continued participation, encourage competition and drive much higher levels of engagement.

10. The Moneyball Approach

Smart organizations embrace a powerful data-driven approach to identifying legislative champions. By using metrics and analytics alongside analysis from expert lobbyists, organizations can identify the lawmakers who are the most active, influential, and effective on an important issue. Quorum provides a variety of analytics that your organization can use. Combining that with the knowledge your lobbyists bring to the table can yield unique insight. From data on who legislators work with most to which hashtags they are using to message their policy plans, data can provide another layer of information to further the success of your public affairs work.

Execute Your Public Affairs Strategy with Quorum

Public Affairs is continuing to modernize and digitize. At Quorum, we believe that starts with the tools your team is using. See some of the ways Destinations International is innovating with Quorum and other examples of successful public affairs strategy, then tour Quorum solutions to see how your organization can adopt innovative approaches and increase impact.   [post_title] => 10 Innovations For Your Public Affairs Strategy [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => public-affairs-innovations [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-03-23 16:12:50 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-03-23 16:12:50 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://marketing-staging.quorum.us/resources/public-affairs-strategy-ten-innovations/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => resources [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [queried_object_id] => 1460 [request] => SELECT wp_posts.* FROM wp_posts WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.post_name = 'public-affairs-innovations' AND wp_posts.post_type = 'resources' ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC [posts] => Array ( [0] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 1460 [post_author] => 1 [post_date] => 2023-03-22 00:00:00 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-03-22 00:00:00 [post_content] => The public affairs industry is changing. Every year, new technology solutions make it easier than ever to perform routine tasks, like logging meetings, tracking legislation, or sending emails to stakeholders , leaving more time to focus on public affairs strategies and increasing impact. The truth is that the industry is seeing crossover from other disciplines, borrowing ideas from communications and marketing to increase efficacy. For example, sophisticated organizations now use marketing strategies like A/B testing to enhance the power of grassroots advocacy. By testing which subject lines perform better, a public affairs team can improve metrics for every communication and learn what resonates with their audience. At Quorum, we talk to professionals at hundreds of organizations every year, including companies, associations, nonprofits, public affairs firms, and lobbying shops. We’re always looking for organizations that take an innovative approach to public affairs strategy, invent new, high-impact tactics or harness new technology. Here are 10 innovations we have come across that can help your program:

1. A Formula for Success in Government Relations

Some organizations use an Excel model to determine the impact a bill or regulation may have, such as changes in units sold or the amount of taxes paid. That formula then allows the public affairs team to calculate revenue implications of engaging on a given bill. Based on those implications, the organization can set a target for how much it is willing to spend to fight or promote a given policy. This allows the team to understand their impact, and to qualify and communicate that impact within the organization.

2. A Hub for Engaging the Industry

Public affairs teams are constantly coming up with new and interactive ways of engaging lawmakers using site visits.  If a visit in the district won’t work, your Washington DC office can work well. Use it to immerse legislators in your industry with creative, interactive spaces that provide a hands-on look at your industry and an inspiring setting for policy discussion. Seeing the impact of your industry in person makes it more likely for a lawmaker to keep it top-of-mind, and when it comes time to vote, they’ll have a firsthand experience to inform their decision. Site visits are often followed up with materials sent to a congressional office. But social media can also be helpful, primarily because it is a very public medium. Engaging members of Congress on social media by posting photos and thanking them for the visit helps lawmakers. Politely and constructively engaging them on issues helps them keep track of constituent sentiment, which is important to every lawmaker.

3. Ranking Issues to Focus on What Matters

Many organizations have developed team-centric models for deciding which issues receive priority. For instance, a department executive might ask each team member to rank the organization’s policy issues on three scales: importance, influence, and urgency. Those scores are then averaged into a scorecard plotted out by tier. Tier 1 issues are those the organization feels fit each of these categories—they are vital to the organization’s bottom line, urgent and must be addressed in the short term. The lower tiers include issues that receive conflicting ratings of importance, influence, and urgency. For example, they may be of high importance to your organization’s bottom line, but not worth spending as much time on because the likelihood of impact is low. Using a model like this, leadership can set priorities and know how to effectively allocate time and money.

4. Mapping Your Stakeholder Priorities

Building a relationship with every lawmaker in the country is almost impossible, and prioritization helps. Teams can start by identifying the legislators they need to know in every state, including both allies and opponents. From there, you can map out key lawmakers and begin targeted outreach. Beyond key states, you can take an innovative approach by finding the legislators who talk about your issues on social media. While you can certainly approach lawmakers directly, and most organizations do, your organization’s stakeholders can also be helpful. These are people such as executives, board members, community leaders, local politicians, donors, and others who have a relationship with both your organization and the lawmaker you need to meet. Using a stakeholder matrix, your organization can map stakeholders by their interest, willingness to get involved with your organization, and potential influence to help you achieve your objective. More> How to Map Stakeholders

5. Time Your Messaging

Savvy organizations use a policy reputation calendar to time positive messaging to stakeholders around key events. For example, you might promote your organization’s scholarship programs in September to celebrate “back to school” or share your team’s veterans initiatives on Veteran’s Day. By sending these communications frequently — and without making an ask every time — legislators will be more up to speed on your organization’s impact when you need them to take a specific action on your behalf. It’s important to stay top-of-mind with stakeholders, so make sure your messaging is organized so they hear from you consistently on important subjects, without bombarding them with too many messages. Consider these six types of messages to share.

6. The Ground Game

There are 535 members of Congress, and large organizations often have grasstops advocacy programs that assign an employee or volunteer to each lawmaker. By developing a nationwide network of ambassadors, they can build personal relationships with each legislator’s office. Congressional staff then has a face and a name to connect to the organization, and the issue. These ambassadors are also able to lead the charge on hosting site visits and in-district meetings. According to Congressional Management Foundation President Brad Fitch, one meeting with a legislator isn’t enough to make an impact and advocates should aim for four meetings with an office each year. By having an employee or ambassador assigned to each district, this target becomes more feasible.

7. The Power of Storybanking

Many advocates have compelling stories. Your advocacy work should include collecting the stories your supporters have and sharing them with lawmakers and other decision makers. With Quorum’s grassroots advocacy tools, you can set up a campaign to collect advocate stories that your staff can then use when the time is right. Story banking is more than just a collection of sound bites. It is real-life experiences that show lawmakers how policy impacts constituents. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-10) said in an interview with Quorum that stories from advocates are especially effective when it comes to communicating a policy position.

8. Applying Marketing Strategies to Grassroots Advocacy, Like A/B Testing

Does your audience respond to panic or hope? Is the effort you’re putting into personalizing your email copy worth the squeeze, or could you get just as much out of other strategies? A/B test email with your audience and they will tell you themselves! Top public affairs teams use A/B testing on email to learn about what drives their audience to take action, whether that is getting advocates to join their grassroots network, legislators to sponsor a key bill, stakeholders to attend an event, or voters to register for the next election.

9. Incorporate Gamification Into Advocacy

Want to catch the attention of supporters and encourage them to keep participating in your advocacy program? Many companies have turned to gamification as a fun and interactive way to do exactly that. Gamification works by assigning rewards such as points, badges or prizes based on advocate actions. Supporters can attain ever higher levels, much like a video game. A robust program can use gamification to surprise and delight advocates, incentivize continued participation, encourage competition and drive much higher levels of engagement.

10. The Moneyball Approach

Smart organizations embrace a powerful data-driven approach to identifying legislative champions. By using metrics and analytics alongside analysis from expert lobbyists, organizations can identify the lawmakers who are the most active, influential, and effective on an important issue. Quorum provides a variety of analytics that your organization can use. Combining that with the knowledge your lobbyists bring to the table can yield unique insight. From data on who legislators work with most to which hashtags they are using to message their policy plans, data can provide another layer of information to further the success of your public affairs work.

Execute Your Public Affairs Strategy with Quorum

Public Affairs is continuing to modernize and digitize. At Quorum, we believe that starts with the tools your team is using. See some of the ways Destinations International is innovating with Quorum and other examples of successful public affairs strategy, then tour Quorum solutions to see how your organization can adopt innovative approaches and increase impact.   [post_title] => 10 Innovations For Your Public Affairs Strategy [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => public-affairs-innovations [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-03-23 16:12:50 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-03-23 16:12:50 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://marketing-staging.quorum.us/resources/public-affairs-strategy-ten-innovations/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => resources [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) ) [post_count] => 1 [current_post] => -1 [before_loop] => 1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 1460 [post_author] => 1 [post_date] => 2023-03-22 00:00:00 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-03-22 00:00:00 [post_content] => The public affairs industry is changing. Every year, new technology solutions make it easier than ever to perform routine tasks, like logging meetings, tracking legislation, or sending emails to stakeholders , leaving more time to focus on public affairs strategies and increasing impact. The truth is that the industry is seeing crossover from other disciplines, borrowing ideas from communications and marketing to increase efficacy. For example, sophisticated organizations now use marketing strategies like A/B testing to enhance the power of grassroots advocacy. By testing which subject lines perform better, a public affairs team can improve metrics for every communication and learn what resonates with their audience. At Quorum, we talk to professionals at hundreds of organizations every year, including companies, associations, nonprofits, public affairs firms, and lobbying shops. We’re always looking for organizations that take an innovative approach to public affairs strategy, invent new, high-impact tactics or harness new technology. Here are 10 innovations we have come across that can help your program:

1. A Formula for Success in Government Relations

Some organizations use an Excel model to determine the impact a bill or regulation may have, such as changes in units sold or the amount of taxes paid. That formula then allows the public affairs team to calculate revenue implications of engaging on a given bill. Based on those implications, the organization can set a target for how much it is willing to spend to fight or promote a given policy. This allows the team to understand their impact, and to qualify and communicate that impact within the organization.

2. A Hub for Engaging the Industry

Public affairs teams are constantly coming up with new and interactive ways of engaging lawmakers using site visits.  If a visit in the district won’t work, your Washington DC office can work well. Use it to immerse legislators in your industry with creative, interactive spaces that provide a hands-on look at your industry and an inspiring setting for policy discussion. Seeing the impact of your industry in person makes it more likely for a lawmaker to keep it top-of-mind, and when it comes time to vote, they’ll have a firsthand experience to inform their decision. Site visits are often followed up with materials sent to a congressional office. But social media can also be helpful, primarily because it is a very public medium. Engaging members of Congress on social media by posting photos and thanking them for the visit helps lawmakers. Politely and constructively engaging them on issues helps them keep track of constituent sentiment, which is important to every lawmaker.

3. Ranking Issues to Focus on What Matters

Many organizations have developed team-centric models for deciding which issues receive priority. For instance, a department executive might ask each team member to rank the organization’s policy issues on three scales: importance, influence, and urgency. Those scores are then averaged into a scorecard plotted out by tier. Tier 1 issues are those the organization feels fit each of these categories—they are vital to the organization’s bottom line, urgent and must be addressed in the short term. The lower tiers include issues that receive conflicting ratings of importance, influence, and urgency. For example, they may be of high importance to your organization’s bottom line, but not worth spending as much time on because the likelihood of impact is low. Using a model like this, leadership can set priorities and know how to effectively allocate time and money.

4. Mapping Your Stakeholder Priorities

Building a relationship with every lawmaker in the country is almost impossible, and prioritization helps. Teams can start by identifying the legislators they need to know in every state, including both allies and opponents. From there, you can map out key lawmakers and begin targeted outreach. Beyond key states, you can take an innovative approach by finding the legislators who talk about your issues on social media. While you can certainly approach lawmakers directly, and most organizations do, your organization’s stakeholders can also be helpful. These are people such as executives, board members, community leaders, local politicians, donors, and others who have a relationship with both your organization and the lawmaker you need to meet. Using a stakeholder matrix, your organization can map stakeholders by their interest, willingness to get involved with your organization, and potential influence to help you achieve your objective. More> How to Map Stakeholders

5. Time Your Messaging

Savvy organizations use a policy reputation calendar to time positive messaging to stakeholders around key events. For example, you might promote your organization’s scholarship programs in September to celebrate “back to school” or share your team’s veterans initiatives on Veteran’s Day. By sending these communications frequently — and without making an ask every time — legislators will be more up to speed on your organization’s impact when you need them to take a specific action on your behalf. It’s important to stay top-of-mind with stakeholders, so make sure your messaging is organized so they hear from you consistently on important subjects, without bombarding them with too many messages. Consider these six types of messages to share.

6. The Ground Game

There are 535 members of Congress, and large organizations often have grasstops advocacy programs that assign an employee or volunteer to each lawmaker. By developing a nationwide network of ambassadors, they can build personal relationships with each legislator’s office. Congressional staff then has a face and a name to connect to the organization, and the issue. These ambassadors are also able to lead the charge on hosting site visits and in-district meetings. According to Congressional Management Foundation President Brad Fitch, one meeting with a legislator isn’t enough to make an impact and advocates should aim for four meetings with an office each year. By having an employee or ambassador assigned to each district, this target becomes more feasible.

7. The Power of Storybanking

Many advocates have compelling stories. Your advocacy work should include collecting the stories your supporters have and sharing them with lawmakers and other decision makers. With Quorum’s grassroots advocacy tools, you can set up a campaign to collect advocate stories that your staff can then use when the time is right. Story banking is more than just a collection of sound bites. It is real-life experiences that show lawmakers how policy impacts constituents. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-10) said in an interview with Quorum that stories from advocates are especially effective when it comes to communicating a policy position.

8. Applying Marketing Strategies to Grassroots Advocacy, Like A/B Testing

Does your audience respond to panic or hope? Is the effort you’re putting into personalizing your email copy worth the squeeze, or could you get just as much out of other strategies? A/B test email with your audience and they will tell you themselves! Top public affairs teams use A/B testing on email to learn about what drives their audience to take action, whether that is getting advocates to join their grassroots network, legislators to sponsor a key bill, stakeholders to attend an event, or voters to register for the next election.

9. Incorporate Gamification Into Advocacy

Want to catch the attention of supporters and encourage them to keep participating in your advocacy program? Many companies have turned to gamification as a fun and interactive way to do exactly that. Gamification works by assigning rewards such as points, badges or prizes based on advocate actions. Supporters can attain ever higher levels, much like a video game. A robust program can use gamification to surprise and delight advocates, incentivize continued participation, encourage competition and drive much higher levels of engagement.

10. The Moneyball Approach

Smart organizations embrace a powerful data-driven approach to identifying legislative champions. By using metrics and analytics alongside analysis from expert lobbyists, organizations can identify the lawmakers who are the most active, influential, and effective on an important issue. Quorum provides a variety of analytics that your organization can use. Combining that with the knowledge your lobbyists bring to the table can yield unique insight. From data on who legislators work with most to which hashtags they are using to message their policy plans, data can provide another layer of information to further the success of your public affairs work.

Execute Your Public Affairs Strategy with Quorum

Public Affairs is continuing to modernize and digitize. At Quorum, we believe that starts with the tools your team is using. See some of the ways Destinations International is innovating with Quorum and other examples of successful public affairs strategy, then tour Quorum solutions to see how your organization can adopt innovative approaches and increase impact.   [post_title] => 10 Innovations For Your Public Affairs Strategy [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => public-affairs-innovations [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-03-23 16:12:50 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-03-23 16:12:50 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://marketing-staging.quorum.us/resources/public-affairs-strategy-ten-innovations/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => resources [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [comment_count] => 0 [current_comment] => -1 [found_posts] => 1 [max_num_pages] => 0 [max_num_comment_pages] => 0 [is_single] => 1 [is_preview] => [is_page] => [is_archive] => [is_date] => [is_year] => [is_month] => [is_day] => [is_time] => [is_author] => [is_category] => [is_tag] => [is_tax] => [is_search] => [is_feed] => [is_comment_feed] => [is_trackback] => [is_home] => [is_privacy_policy] => [is_404] => [is_embed] => [is_paged] => [is_admin] => [is_attachment] => [is_singular] => 1 [is_robots] => [is_favicon] => [is_posts_page] => [is_post_type_archive] => [query_vars_hash:WP_Query:private] => 44ef34604d4a87fae2f5b78ce30414de [query_vars_changed:WP_Query:private] => [thumbnails_cached] => [allow_query_attachment_by_filename:protected] => [stopwords:WP_Query:private] => [compat_fields:WP_Query:private] => Array ( [0] => query_vars_hash [1] => query_vars_changed ) [compat_methods:WP_Query:private] => Array ( [0] => init_query_flags [1] => parse_tax_query ) )
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10 Innovations For Your Public Affairs Strategy

10 Innovations For Your Public Affairs Strategy

The public affairs industry is changing. Every year, new technology solutions make it easier than ever to perform routine tasks, like logging meetings, tracking legislation, or sending emails to stakeholders , leaving more time to focus on public affairs strategies and increasing impact.

The truth is that the industry is seeing crossover from other disciplines, borrowing ideas from communications and marketing to increase efficacy. For example, sophisticated organizations now use marketing strategies like A/B testing to enhance the power of grassroots advocacy. By testing which subject lines perform better, a public affairs team can improve metrics for every communication and learn what resonates with their audience.

At Quorum, we talk to professionals at hundreds of organizations every year, including companies, associations, nonprofits, public affairs firms, and lobbying shops. We’re always looking for organizations that take an innovative approach to public affairs strategy, invent new, high-impact tactics or harness new technology. Here are 10 innovations we have come across that can help your program:

1. A Formula for Success in Government Relations

Some organizations use an Excel model to determine the impact a bill or regulation may have, such as changes in units sold or the amount of taxes paid. That formula then allows the public affairs team to calculate revenue implications of engaging on a given bill. Based on those implications, the organization can set a target for how much it is willing to spend to fight or promote a given policy. This allows the team to understand their impact, and to qualify and communicate that impact within the organization.

2. A Hub for Engaging the Industry

Public affairs teams are constantly coming up with new and interactive ways of engaging lawmakers using site visits.  If a visit in the district won’t work, your Washington DC office can work well. Use it to immerse legislators in your industry with creative, interactive spaces that provide a hands-on look at your industry and an inspiring setting for policy discussion. Seeing the impact of your industry in person makes it more likely for a lawmaker to keep it top-of-mind, and when it comes time to vote, they’ll have a firsthand experience to inform their decision.

Site visits are often followed up with materials sent to a congressional office. But social media can also be helpful, primarily because it is a very public medium. Engaging members of Congress on social media by posting photos and thanking them for the visit helps lawmakers. Politely and constructively engaging them on issues helps them keep track of constituent sentiment, which is important to every lawmaker.

3. Ranking Issues to Focus on What Matters

Many organizations have developed team-centric models for deciding which issues receive priority. For instance, a department executive might ask each team member to rank the organization’s policy issues on three scales: importance, influence, and urgency. Those scores are then averaged into a scorecard plotted out by tier. Tier 1 issues are those the organization feels fit each of these categories—they are vital to the organization’s bottom line, urgent and must be addressed in the short term. The lower tiers include issues that receive conflicting ratings of importance, influence, and urgency. For example, they may be of high importance to your organization’s bottom line, but not worth spending as much time on because the likelihood of impact is low. Using a model like this, leadership can set priorities and know how to effectively allocate time and money.

4. Mapping Your Stakeholder Priorities

Building a relationship with every lawmaker in the country is almost impossible, and prioritization helps. Teams can start by identifying the legislators they need to know in every state, including both allies and opponents. From there, you can map out key lawmakers and begin targeted outreach. Beyond key states, you can take an innovative approach by finding the legislators who talk about your issues on social media.

While you can certainly approach lawmakers directly, and most organizations do, your organization’s stakeholders can also be helpful. These are people such as executives, board members, community leaders, local politicians, donors, and others who have a relationship with both your organization and the lawmaker you need to meet. Using a stakeholder matrix, your organization can map stakeholders by their interest, willingness to get involved with your organization, and potential influence to help you achieve your objective. More> How to Map Stakeholders

5. Time Your Messaging

Savvy organizations use a policy reputation calendar to time positive messaging to stakeholders around key events. For example, you might promote your organization’s scholarship programs in September to celebrate “back to school” or share your team’s veterans initiatives on Veteran’s Day. By sending these communications frequently — and without making an ask every time — legislators will be more up to speed on your organization’s impact when you need them to take a specific action on your behalf.

It’s important to stay top-of-mind with stakeholders, so make sure your messaging is organized so they hear from you consistently on important subjects, without bombarding them with too many messages.

Consider these six types of messages to share.

6. The Ground Game

There are 535 members of Congress, and large organizations often have grasstops advocacy programs that assign an employee or volunteer to each lawmaker. By developing a nationwide network of ambassadors, they can build personal relationships with each legislator’s office. Congressional staff then has a face and a name to connect to the organization, and the issue. These ambassadors are also able to lead the charge on hosting site visits and in-district meetings. According to Congressional Management Foundation President Brad Fitch, one meeting with a legislator isn’t enough to make an impact and advocates should aim for four meetings with an office each year. By having an employee or ambassador assigned to each district, this target becomes more feasible.

7. The Power of Storybanking

Many advocates have compelling stories. Your advocacy work should include collecting the stories your supporters have and sharing them with lawmakers and other decision makers. With Quorum’s grassroots advocacy tools, you can set up a campaign to collect advocate stories that your staff can then use when the time is right.

Story banking is more than just a collection of sound bites. It is real-life experiences that show lawmakers how policy impacts constituents. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-10) said in an interview with Quorum that stories from advocates are especially effective when it comes to communicating a policy position.

8. Applying Marketing Strategies to Grassroots Advocacy, Like A/B Testing

Does your audience respond to panic or hope? Is the effort you’re putting into personalizing your email copy worth the squeeze, or could you get just as much out of other strategies? A/B test email with your audience and they will tell you themselves! Top public affairs teams use A/B testing on email to learn about what drives their audience to take action, whether that is getting advocates to join their grassroots network, legislators to sponsor a key bill, stakeholders to attend an event, or voters to register for the next election.

9. Incorporate Gamification Into Advocacy

Want to catch the attention of supporters and encourage them to keep participating in your advocacy program? Many companies have turned to gamification as a fun and interactive way to do exactly that. Gamification works by assigning rewards such as points, badges or prizes based on advocate actions. Supporters can attain ever higher levels, much like a video game. A robust program can use gamification to surprise and delight advocates, incentivize continued participation, encourage competition and drive much higher levels of engagement.

10. The Moneyball Approach

Smart organizations embrace a powerful data-driven approach to identifying legislative champions. By using metrics and analytics alongside analysis from expert lobbyists, organizations can identify the lawmakers who are the most active, influential, and effective on an important issue.

Quorum provides a variety of analytics that your organization can use. Combining that with the knowledge your lobbyists bring to the table can yield unique insight. From data on who legislators work with most to which hashtags they are using to message their policy plans, data can provide another layer of information to further the success of your public affairs work.

Execute Your Public Affairs Strategy with Quorum

Public Affairs is continuing to modernize and digitize. At Quorum, we believe that starts with the tools your team is using. See some of the ways Destinations International is innovating with Quorum and other examples of successful public affairs strategy, then tour Quorum solutions to see how your organization can adopt innovative approaches and increase impact.