The business community in that case uses all the tools at their disposal to approach political and social stakeholders, influencing optimal decision making and public policy.

Lobbying refers to representing certain legitimate concerns of special interest groups before members and stakeholders of the political sphere or the legislative branch. It is also employed to influence public opinion. Lobbying is the effort to establish contacts and relationships with decision makers in various social fields, to ultimately present your case so they make informed decisions.

For lobbying to be successful, you need to determine what can be realistically achieved, and moreover, what goals are defined – goals which cannot go against the public interest.

THE GOALS OF LOBBYING

We will list the two most general goals of lobbying:

• To inform the public about (your) company’s or organization’s arguments, and likewise to gain insight into the stakeholders’ arguments
• To secure a level playing field for your entire industry segment, association or other subjects “level playing field”)za cjelokupni segment industrije, udruženje ili neke druge subjekte

However, for your lobbying goals to be successfully implemented, you need the help of top experts. Lobbying is by no means an easy task; the lobbying profession is a legitimate and integral part of the democratic political process. Lobbyists need to have strong communication skills and extensive knowledge of the industry they are representing, plus the legislative and regulatory processes involved.

TYPES OF LOBBYING

• Legislative Lobbying – targets law proposals or relevant procedures
• Business Lobbying – targets new business opportunities and markets
• Political Lobbying – targets stakeholders or institutions for support in various projects
• Image-Building Lobbying, by an institution, company or individual
• Other types of highly specialized lobbying – lobbying for special permits, etc.

*The Olsen lobbying matrix explains the situations where companies opt for individual or collective lobbying.

A company opts for individual lobbying if the challenge it faces is critical for their business and they do not have potential partners for coalition. On the other hand, when multiple companies are faced with the same challenge, some form of collective lobbying is usually more appropriate and effective.

Advocacy is often confused with lobbying or policy influencing. They are often used synonymously, even though they mean different things. There are no unified definitions of advocacy or lobbying. This is why it sometimes seems that their meanings and activities overlap, and why both concepts are usually defined through certain activities. For example, meeting stakeholders can categorized as lobbying, whereas holding press releases may be termed advocacy.

There is an important difference between policy influencing and advocacy – it has to do with the nature of the activity. Advocacy refers to less aggressive activities designed to influence policies, practices and behaviour. Advocacy includes activities which are not lobbying, are less aggressive and which are considered legal.

PUBLIC ADVOCACY

Public advocacy usually starts from a smaller group of people which shares a concern about a common issue. They are ready to devote their time, expertise and resources to accomplish desired change.

It consists of a series of activities undertaken to change policies, practices and opinions. These changes can refer to legislature, state strategy or something else. The goal of public advocacy is to enact change in society, shifting the positions of power and ways of thinking.

Advocacy is a tool we use to influence people, change their outlook on certain issues and create mutual understanding.

WHAT WE MEAN BY PUBLIC ADVOCACY?

We offer services related to usual procedures, counselling and mediation in specific cases or business relationships. We offer information and raise public awareness on various topics and issues.

Public advocacy is not about getting preferential treatment for an institution, NGO, company or group of companies – or an association of any sort. Public advocacy does not mean solving day‑to‑day issues troubling a specific group; on the contrary, public advocacy deals with systemic and fundamental challenges.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC ADVOCACY

• Public advocacy is a long-term process and an activity directed toward change.
• Public advocacy requires sacrifice, patience, involvement, but also being completely invested, teamwork, communication and open mindedness. Furthermore, it requires extensive knowledge about a given issue and the decision-making process.
• Having excellent communication skills is key. Knowing how to precisely express the interests and opinions we advocate for is critical for clear communication.
• Last but not least, every step needs to be legitimate and ethical.

Elements which need to be planned beforehand include goals, data, key audience, messages – presentations, securing funding, partnerships, coalitions, and finally, evaluation.

An important component of public policy is who is responsible for them, and who has the authority to decide. In actuality, it takes various interventions by the state to achieve publicly defined goals through governmental action, rather than individual decision making in the private sphere or the market.

Politics is multidimensional. These dimensions are best illustrated like this:

This is precisely why lobbying  and advocacy activities, done exclusively in accordance with legal norms and regulations, are an important part of decision making and influencing public policy in modern democratic societies.

If you have ever been concerned about of the impact potential regulatory changes or new public policy might have on your business, or wondered how you might protect your business interests, and actively prevent such great challenges, then you need quality advocacy and a systematic, developed lobbying/advocacy policy.

Advocacy assumes a variety of methods and strategies designed with a goal to legitimately influence public policy. Advocacy needs to be participatory and in line with the highest democratic standards. It also needs to be performed in the best interests of all stakeholders while also protecting the public interest.

ADVOCACY vs. LOBBYING

The terms public advocacy and lobbying are often used synonymously, even though they mean different things. In the widest possible sense, both terms refer to the process of trying to inform decisionmakers, in a legitimate and carefully argued way, so optimal decisions may be made.

There are no unified definitions of advocacy and lobbying. Each organization dealing with advocacy and/or lobbying activities defines the concepts according to their own area of expertise, to the needs of their clients, etc. However, advocacy may be defined as the practical application of knowledge with the aim to achieve social or any kind of change — this change being directed toward state policies, legal regulations, procedures, directives, etc.

On the other hand, lobbying may be defined as representing certain legitimate concerns of specific interest groups before members and stakeholders of the political sphere; before the legislative branch, but also as way to influence public opinion.

In practice, lobbying for the most part revolves around direct conversations and negotiations with decision makers. Advocacy is wider in scope and presupposes mobilizing support, building coalitions or partnerships with other like minded groups, communicating with the public, using the media and similar activities.

COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL LOBBYING

There are direct and indirect mechanisms companies use to establish communication channels with key stakeholders or to prepare their arguments.

In choosing the right opportunities and channels, companies must make a basic choice for each challenge that’s ahead of them: whether to “go at it” alone, to operate in coalition with a market or industry association, or in coalition with an energized social base. This also includes NGOs and other stakeholders, if it is a matter of improving political, social and economic interests.

Usually, collective lobbying is done only by a small percentage of firms; most opt for individual lobbying. Individual lobbying allows companies to lobby in favour of relevant, personally beneficial policies, or policies which their common interest groups benefit from as well.

The goal of advocacy, lobbying and activism activities is to raise awareness on a certain topic, which is the basic prerequisite for influencing policies and decisionmakers.