I was reading some articles today of various companies who have hired lobbyist groups to try and persuade government officials to change laws that will directly benefit them. Usually when I hear that term I am thinking of people who attempt to say bribe a politician to make decisions that are not necessarily in the best interest of the general public as it is more about a business becoming bigger.
Getting on the good side of government officials probably can give a company a huge boost. I was even reading recently how apparently there was some details that Uber used government officials to aid them in becoming the force that they are. So in that sense is it too far fetched to think that a lot of large corporations actually put money aside for lobbyists in the same manner as creating a marketing budget for ads or hiring a celebrity for endorsements?
It’s not something most small businesses would even think about I would imagine. The closest thing to it I often see when it comes to smaller companies is they create a sort of networking group where the hope is they grow big enough to the point where a government official will recognize them as say a key voice in a particular industry to take seriously. Afterwards, when they become big enough they then offers spiffs or say “bribes” to the officials to get favors similar to a stereotypical lobbyist.
It’s an interesting food for thought where if you solely just focus on traditional marketing and wondering why this one company seems to be getting all the breaks maybe this is why where you should consider a way to counter it per se. Does that mean everyone should start budgeting a lobbyist department as well? Probably not for everyone but at least you recognize it’s a thing where if you don’t do that then you ultimately need to do something else that is just as effective.