More than 500 million tweets are sent every day. On its own, that volume is overwhelming. But when combined with information coming from other social media channels, a 24-hour news cycle, and billions of websites, blogs, and podcasts, consumers are being absolutely inundated with information.
The same is true for policymakers. Every day, countless issues, advocates, arguments, and ideas are competing for the attention of those that influence and impact the success of a government affairs campaign.
Yet, while brands are spending hundreds of billions of dollars annually to persuasively break through the noise to reach the right consumer on the right channel at the right time, government affairs initiatives often neglect a strategy to effectively message to lawmakers in the 21st century.
Recognizing that with change comes opportunity, two years ago this month, Cornerstone expanded its team-oriented approach and comprehensive counsel to include public affairs and strategic communications services.
With two years of growth, Cornerstone Public Affairs recently hired two additional public affairs professionals. By offering public relations services alongside both federal and state government affairs, Cornerstone gives a complete offering that fosters collaboration, creates a seamless messaging operation, and ultimately increases successes for our clients across all sectors.
This approach is yielding tremendous results.
In the defense industry, the Cornerstone Public Affairs and Government Affairs teams have worked together to collaboratively develop and strategically place compelling stories that have raised awareness with key legislators to supplement our government relations efforts. Ultimately, this strategy garnered new congressional champions to support additional annual appropriations priorities for our clients.
In the health care sector, our Government and Public Affairs teams have worked in unison to educate Members on a critical safety issue in their offices in Washington and echo the issue’s importance through local news outlets back home. As a result, this issue has become well-known throughout the Capitol.
These are just two examples. As the media environment continues to grow and change and the demand for lawmakers’ attention continues to increase, it is more important than ever to proactively develop a communications plan that ensures your issue is quickly reaching the eyes and ears of the lawmakers who can make a difference to it.
Rather than allowing intimidation of today’s media environment, Cornerstone employs our bipartisan political networks, community ties, and significant public affairs experience to ensure your story is told. Whether it’s pitching national news stories, placing local letters to the editor or using social media to mobilize grassroots supporters or professional validators, we can put together a communications plan that will amplify the impact of government affairs efforts.
We would love to talk to you about doing so.