DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A POLITICAL CONSULTANT AND A LOBBYIST

A political consultant provides advice and expertise in a specific area for businesses. On the other hand, a lobbyist often has the power and ability to implement these changes.

The three main differences between the two professions are:

• The way that a solution is reached
• The guidelines that regulate the professions
• The power that is held

As a business, it can therefore be extremely difficult to decide which professional help you require. For certain situations a political consultant, or even a junior political consultant, maybe able to offer the advice needed to solve the problem. However, if the problem is related to government policies, or more importantly a specific policy that is restricting business, then a lobbying agency would be best suited to address the problem. It is therefore crucial that the correct professional is chosen at the beginning to provide the business with the best outcome.

What is a lobbyist?

Lobbying is something that can be carried out for businesses, organisations, charities, political parties. Any organisation that is affected by policies or legislations that are passed by the government. It is then the job of the lobbyist to use their existing contacts and relationships in order to change or prevent laws from being passed which may have a negative effect on their clients business.

What is a political consultant?

A political consultant is someone that provides expert advice on a particular issue or sector. They are known for holding in depth knowledge about specific areas of politics, therefore being able to provide information to businesses. They are required to be up to date with the information that they provide and businesses often rely on their opinion to help inform decisions made.

A lobbying consultancy is often a popular choice with businesses that need both consulting and action. This is primarily because lobbyists are able to provide advice and have an in depth understanding of the ever changing legislation that can cause businesses serious political mishaps. Implementing a lobbying campaign can also provide businesses with the full support and action needed to be able to effectively change legislation or government policies. The lobbyist can build relationships between the business and those who are able to influence government decisions that are made. Therefore, it is often said that those business who hire lobbying companies receive more effective results.

Overall, whilst the work of political consultants and lobbyists are similar, the work that is carried out can receive extremely different results. As businesses require more specialist help, the world of consultants and lobbyists as become more and more distant. If advice and specific information is required then the work of a political consultant is necessary, however, if direct change is needed then a lobbyist often provides better results.

Political Consulting Services include actions in campaign management and political strategy services, including but not limited to:

1. advocacy and strategy;
2. political polling;
3. advising or assisting in voter contact strategies and services;
4. advising in media strategy,
5. buying and advertisement;
6. providing candidate development,
7. policy training,
8. political image consulting,
9. designing, implementing and analyzing polls and surveys;
10. performing issues research and opposition research;
11. developing, assisting in strategic communication such as news releases, talking points and speech writing; and
12. advising on negative information handling an political crisis management