Our Services
What We Do
Government Relations And Advocacy
Amendment I: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.“
Every citizen and organization has the Constitutional right to effective representation before their government for the purpose of advancing their interests.
Effective government affairs and lobbying is knowing the people, policies, processes, and politics required to successfully navigate Washington D.C. for the client.
Strategic Communications
The foundation of any effective advocacy campaign is strategic messaging and communications.
- Is your message compelling for the audience? Does it address the risk or opportunity that will affect the audience?
- Is it being delivered in a manner that is fully understood?
- Is the message being delivered at the right time?
- Was the message communicated effectively? How do you know/measure?
Phoenix Strategies works with clients to help shape and develop messaging that is focused, audience-specific, and designed to achieve definitive outcomes. Our team understands how interest groups, media commentary and political dynamics can shape public opinion, impacting your policy or business goal.
Phoenix Strategies take these factors into consideration to develop an integrated marketing, media, and government affairs strategy to protect and advance client interests.
Business Development and Growth Strategy
Successful companies and organizations seek continuous growth through entering new markets or growing market share. This requires strategic disruption of the status quo, creative ideas, and innovative solutions. Phoenix Strategies stands ready to assist.
Our professionals have experience in the public and private sector in the areas of procurement, IT modernization, supplier diversity, telecommunications, corporate communications, and identifying investment opportunities and commercial partnerships. This experience informs our work for clients facing commercial challenges from domestic and foreign governments, in identifying viable partners, or navigating political and economic minefields.
Our ability to assist clients in these areas spans all sectors covered by our practice areas, including the often-challenging world of US federal government procurement. Matching federal purchasers with clients’ goods, services and technologies is a natural corollary to the firm’s government affairs services.
The 4 Stages of Effective Lobbying
Engaging with a lobbyist at the earliest stages of the process is essential for success. The lobbying team needs a deep understanding of your organization, the issue, and desired outcomes to design an effective strategy in the context of how that particular issue fits in the overall environment. This process requires deep coordination between the lobbying team and the client to develop an effective campaign for the client.
In this stage, the team collects as much internal and external intelligence as needed to diagnose all the factors that could influence the outcome.
- What is the fundamental outcome or impact of the issue, policy, or contract in question?
- Who are the key supporters/opponents and why do they care about this particular issue?
- Who are the key decision-makers and influencers?
- What information/message can be presented to get their attention or inspire action? Why will they respond?
- How does the issue interplay with other policy or political issues being faced by legislators, regulators, or contractors?
This stage includes a deeper review of the policy, political, timeline, and analysis starts by building on the diagnosis and analyzing the situation that the lobbyist’s issue or bill will be going into. For example, if a lobbyist is sponsoring a bill, they have to find a legislator to be the author of the bill. To determine whom they should ask to carry the bill, an experienced lobbyist will want to consider a wide range of factors, such as:
- A potential author’s subject matter expertise,
- His/her relationship with the four legislative caucuses and the Governor,
- His/her committee and/or leadership roles,
- Which staff member or Members are likely to be assigned to the bill, and
- The potential to use working on this bill to build a beneficial future relationship with that elected official
When developing an effective strategy, the team will look at the full spectrum of forces potentially at play and how those forces may interrelate. Even with the best strategy, including planning for foreseeable contingencies, the government environment remains fluid. The plan needs to be nimble and the team must be able to quickly analyze and adapt to the changing environment, as warranted. Therefore, the strategy must include:
- in-depth knowledge of the legislative process, procedures, and rules of Congress – many robust strategies and ambitious policies have been derailed simply through administrative or legislative procedures;
- understanding of the legislative, regulatory, appropriations, and procurement calendar – timing is essential;
- awareness of the political climate (international, national, state, and within the congressional district of target Members) and any changes that could impact the strategic timeline for action;
- creative approaches to creating effective teams of interested parties (corporate, trade associations, non-profits and NGOs, community organizations, etc.) that can help drive messages and attain strategic outcomes; and
- a multi-faceted approach for how to best engage and build the essential relationships with key decision makers and influencers.
