Lobbying and public relations (PR) have become more enmeshed in recent years, with lines blurred between the two. While both lobbying and PR are activities that seek to influence others, there are distinct differences between the two. This article will explore the overlap while distinguishing between the two and outline objectives of both.
What Is Lobbying?
Political lobbying is generally defined as seeking to influence political decisions on behalf of an individual, organization, or group.
Lobbyists typically work with state and federal legislators and members of regulatory agencies to advocate for the proposal, passage, defeat, or amendment of laws or regulations—whether at the local, state, or federal level. Lobbyists are professionals who seek to understand the concerns, needs, and interests of their clients and use their knowledge of the legislative process to educate key decision-makers.
Lobbyists are sometimes unpaid volunteers who lobby because they feel strongly enough about an issue that they feel compelled to advocate for it.
Lobbyists are prohibited from paying elected officials for their vote on an issue. Those who meet three criteria must register as a lobbyist under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. The criteria include:
- Having earned more than $3,000 over three months from lobbying
- Having had more than one lobbying contact
- Having spent more than 20 of their time lobbying for a single client over a three-month period
Next, let’s look at public relations.
What Is Public Relations?
The definition of public relations (PR) is broad but generally describes using communication to achieve various goals on behalf of an individual, organization, or group. These goals can include:
- Promoting a product or service
- Internal communications (such as relaying the performance of a company to its employees)
- Communicating the performance of a publicly-traded company (investor relations)
PR has changed considerably in recent years due to the easy access to media that’s now possible thanks to technology. PR has become a critical consideration for pawnshops as legislative threats increase.
Here’s why: Pawnbroking is one of the most highly-regulated industries in the world. From your local city council to the US Congress, legislators at every government level are regularly asked to vote on laws and regulations that impact pawnbroking.
If they aren’t familiar with the pawn business, they do exactly what any of us do when we’re researching an unfamiliar topic—they google it.
The news stories and articles that they find during this online search can greatly influence their opinion before their vote. The online content that our industry shares are critical to shaping that opinion.
Public relations matters to pawnbrokers because public perception matters to lawmakers. The stakes are too high to ignore the job of promoting and protecting the industry.
Why the Pawn Industry Needs Both Lobbying and Public Relations
Lobbyists target Capitol Hill, but PR folks often swoop in first to “conditioning the legislative landscape”—in other words, shape public perception.
Another key difference between lobbying and PR is that lobbyists’ are required to disclose their activities (subject to the criteria mentioned earlier) and their behaviors are closely monitored and regulated, whereas PR professionals are not required to meet those same standards.
Both lobbyists and PR specialists play their own unique role in communicating information and furthering the interests of pawnbroking. We believe that the industry deserves a blend of lobbying, grassroots advocacy, and public relations. We’re doing our part to help with PR and media relations and encourage you to join your state and national associations and get involved in promoting and protecting pawn!
