FROM TRADITIONAL LOBBYING TO COMMUNICATIONS AND PR

Of $3.4 billion in contracts reported by the 144 trade groups in the United States from 2008 through 2012, more than $1.2 billion, or 37 percent, went toward advertising, public relations and marketing services, more than any other category. The second-highest total, $682.2 million, or 20 percent of the total, was directed toward legal, lobbying and government affairs. By industry sector, the biggest clients of PR, marketing and ad services were energy and natural resources associations.

Trade associations hire outside contractors to provide a wide range of services, including everything from research to legal counsel.

The public relations industry is on a growth tear while the number of federally registered lobbyists is actually shrinking. Public relations work, unlike lobbying, is not subject to U.S. federal disclosure rules, and PR and advertising campaigns can potentially influence a broader group of people. It is clear why trade associations rely so heavily on PR and advertising. They certainly want to influence the general public because the general public will then influence the politicians, the lawmakers or the regulators in that particular industry.

Trade groups determined to fight regulations and boost profits of their members have spent heavily to influence how the public perceives policies that affect everything from the air we breathe to the beverages we drink. The strategy, public relations experts say, is not designed to replace lobbying so much as it is to enhance it. They leverage public relations work so lobbying is to a finer point, and lobbyists can better influence lawmakers by showing them polling gathered by grassroots PR campaigns. It provides air cover.

People and organizations are getting increasingly sophisticated with their communications strategies. They are more multi-dimensional. With any advocacy effort, the key is to create an echo chamber so people hear the message in numerous venues. There are some advantages to putting millions into PR rather than lobbying. For example, a trade association may be pushing a particular policy that is not so popular with the public. As long as it doesn’t directly contact a government official, it need not report who it has hired to do the PR work. Lobbying firms generally must report how much they are paid, who their clients are and what subject areas they are working on.

PR agencies may further obfuscate their role by creating so-called “front groups” that appear to be grassroots organizations, in an effort to push their clients’ messages. It is often difficult to discern who is behind these manufactured entities. While  grassroots mobilization is increasingly driven by an industry or paid consultants, it is only one piece of the growing demand for communications professionals, who specialize in everything from crisis management to social media advocacy.

The steady rise in public relations worldwide spending has been accompanied by an overall drop in lobbying spending, beyond the trade group sector. There a shift toward so-called 'soft lobbying' a strategy that enables industry groups and unions to influence public policy not only with public relations, but through think tanks, non-profit organizations and grassroots groups that aren’t subject to federal disclosure rules.

The gradual shift from a focus on traditional lobbying toward greater use of the outside game of politics, or communications like PR, has been going on for at least a decade, close observers say, but is now accelerating with advances in technology, social media and digital strategies. In the world we live in now if you have an issue that is visual and has a compelling narrative, it is better to spend more resources on trying to educate the public than relying on traditional lobbying.

The trade associations that rely most on PR and advertising campaigns are usually those representing industries facing the heaviest regulation and the most public contempt. And the campaigns are often tied to specific public policy crises. They usually launch when industries really feel threatened that they might actually lose a policy battle.