Do I really need a plan to raise awareness about an issue in my industry?

Yes. If your issue is significant enough to advance into the public domain you need a plan that forces you to consider what you want to achieve. Then you need to think about: target audiences, strategies and tactics that will help you achieve those goals. Simply tossing an idea out to a few people that you consider influencers rarely, if ever, accomplishes what you want to accomplish.

I keep hearing that grass roots campaigns are the only way to get anything done. Is that true?

No. A grass roots campaign is one tactic among many to help influence the outcome of a campaign or to manage an issue. When people talk about grass roots campaigns, they mean building a broad base of support over a period of time and within various target audiences. This may not be the most effective (in cost or time) way to achieve your goal. Grant Consulting will work with you to develop a strategy utilizing the most appropriate tactics to achieve what you want to achieve.

I get the terms confused—issues management, public affairs, grass tops advocacy. What’s the difference?

Well, quite simply, Issues Management is when you want to advance an issue to the public domain for a specific purpose, or to prevent an issue from becoming a full-blown crisis. Public Affairs is targeting advocacy to affect public policy. And Grass Tops Advocacy is a tactic that can be used in both. When you work with Grant Consulting, you won’t need to know what we call it in the business. You’ll just know that you’ve hired the experts in using all of the strategies and tactics necessary to achieve your goal.

If I already have a lobbyist, do I still need a firm like Grant Consulting?