Communicating with Texas Legislators: Inside the Edelman 2010 Capital Staffers Index

By Danielle Allen, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs

Texas topped CNBC’s Top States for Business 2010 with 64 Fortune 500 companies claiming the Lone Star State as its headquarters. As these companies set about taking their products and services to the global marketplace, they face regulatory and legislative challenges. This begs the question: What are the most effective ways to communicate with policymakers to create the most conducive environment for doing business in Texas, the U.S. and abroad?

Over the years, some of Texas’ most influential policymakers have turned to strategic counselors for advice and direction related to policy matters—as one example, former President Lyndon Johnson looked to trusted advisor Bill Moyers. Similarly, Edelman tapped into this brain trust with our 2010 Capital Staffers Index to gain insight into the most impactful communications techniques for reaching legislators and their constituents.

Despite cultural differences, top aides—whether sitting in Washington, London, Brussels, Paris or Berlin—signaled that digital communications, like Twitter, blogs and Facebook, have made noteworthy gains as effective tools for reaching them and their bosses. In spite of these gains however, traditional outreach—face-to-face meetings, calls and letters—remain the most effective communications methods for reaching elected officials. Today, there are now more channels through which your messages must compete and resonate.

On the front line of policy battles, whether trying to capture the attention of media or legislators, one thing is certain: the effectiveness of your messages will pave the way for success or failure. With so many media channels available, it’s more important than ever for your messages to be simple, concise and compelling. Across the board, staff members say businesses should lead with succinct messages, backed by independent research. Messages resonate best when they align with your audiences’ priorities, particularly job creation (both direct and indirect) and benefits to local communities. In the recent mid-term elections in Texas and across the U.S., we saw just how important the jobs message is to voters. We anticipate that it will also be a key issue in upcoming the presidential election.

We also saw an explosion in the use of social media by legislators and constituents alike and the projections are this trend will only expand over the next three years. While we cannot directly extrapolate these numbers to our own state policy debates, the trends found in Edelman’s trans-Atlantic research certainly reflect what we’ve witnessed in Austin. Since the 81st legislative session in 2009, there has been a sharp rise in Members’ presence on Twitter and Facebook and an uptick in political and public affairs campaigns’ use of these tools to demonstrate grassroots muscle, as we’ve seen in the Speaker’s race. Additionally, policy-focused blogs, such as the Texas Tribune, have become key sources for inside information and smart analysis about political affairs.

As the 82nd legislature session begins, with initiatives vying to stay alive amid the threat of the state’s $20 billion-plus budget shortfall, we’ll undoubtedly see a continued emergence of these trends but with our unique Texas mark on them.

For more insights about our findings and unique perspectives from my colleagues in key world capitals, you can find them here.

Got the Message? It Can Define Your Company and Your Brand!

by Tony Shelton, President Shelton and Caudle, a division of Vollmer Public Relations

If you’re in business, you ARE your brand.

So are your employees.  What each of you says and how you interact with others is an important part of what people know about your company.

Your brand is the whole set of impressions and reactions – often emotions, too – that people have to your product or company.  And it’s more than your logo, although that’s important. Reputation plays a definite role. (How do you react to seeing the letters B and P and that green flower/sunburst right now?)   

Your brand is the intangible sum of your company’s and/or products’ attributes.

Here’s a test.  Ask yourself what you say when somebody says: Tell me about your company.  Can you do it in less than 30 seconds?   Now ask a few employees to answer the same question and see how closely their responses match yours – or don’t.

Your company message has a huge impact on your brand. You only have 30 seconds, remember.    A good message tells current and prospective clients how what you do provides value to them. 

To get yourself started on your messaging, fill in these blanks:  “At (your company), we (what you do) for (your clients) so they can (clients’ objectives).”  (That’s your elevator speech.)

For example:  “Here at Acme Fun Supply, we provide affordable cotton candy machines to the leaders in the carnival industry, so they can met their sales targets in providing treats for kids and their parents.”

Also, make sure your messaging is up to date. It could be time to refresh your brand. If your main business once was selling fax machines, you’ve probably changed your focus in the past few years. Your brand, including your messaging, should reflect that.  Just as important, you need to be telling people about that change every chance you get.

So should your employees, consistently.

Right now, go ask your employees what they’re saying about the company.  But first, be sure and ask yourself!