Government relations is defined as the process of influencing public policy at all levels of governance: local, regional, national, and even global. An effective government relations strategy is critical to many organizations’ success, especially as the legislative landscape becomes increasingly crowded and complex.
Five Examples of Effective Government Relations Strategy
When planning your organization’s government relations strategy, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. You can look to established players at the federal and state level for examples of strategy to replicate within your team. Here are five examples of organizations who integrate elements of effective government relations strategy in their daily workflows:
1. Building (and Sustaining) Close Relationships with Elected Officials Through Consistent Communication – Walmart
When Walmart implements a change that has an impact on a particular community—such as opening a new store or plant—it makes sure that the legislator who works in that district is made aware of Walmart’s activity. This allows Walmart to remain front-of-mind for legislators and builds relationships beyond just requesting particular action on legislation.
Walmart takes its relationships with legislators a step further by frequently bringing them on site to Walmart facilities. This gives lawmakers a hands-on experience and understanding of the way that the company impacts the district. By using Federal tracking and outreach tools, teams can identify the right moments to engage and ensure no local impact goes unnoticed by key officials.
2. Manage Engagement with Officials and Staff – Consumer Technology Association
Engaging with elected officials is a significant part of CTA’s work, from regular events at the CTA Innovation House on Capitol Hill to the annual CES show in Las Vegas—the largest trade show in the country. With all these events in addition to regular meetings and site visits with legislators and staff, it could be challenging to keep track of who on the CTA team has met with which legislative offices.
With Quorum, CTA can log notes from each event or meeting and keep the team in the loop with where each relationship stands. Maintaining a single source of truth for these interactions is vital for long-term Stakeholder management, ensuring that every touchpoint with influencers and third-party partners is documented and strategic.
3. Tracking Mentions of Key Issues Across All 50 State Legislatures – Jackpocket
As a startup in the lottery industry, Jackpocket’s bottom line is dependent on regulatory changes happening across all 50 state legislatures. Jackpocket can’t risk missing a relevant mention of the lottery on any bill, press release, or social media post, so they use State legislative tracking software to follow all of these things in one centralized place.
While it is certainly important to know what legislators are discussing in official meetings and events, businesses that are impacted by state-level legislation need a government relations strategy that helps follow online conversations and emerging trends. This proactive approach allows teams to pivot quickly when new policy shifts occur.
4. Scaling Advocacy with Strategic Automation – City of Garland, TX
The City of Garland provides a blueprint for how small teams can manage high-volume legislative cycles. By moving from manual tracking to a centralized digital process, Garland’s two-person team now tracks nearly 1,700 bills simultaneously.
The city uses dashboards to visualize bill volume by issue area and interaction counts with legislators. This transparency allows department directors to stay informed via auto-updating reports, enabling Garland to move from a reactive posture to a proactive one—engaging bill authors early in the process to shape policy before it gains momentum.
5. Using AI to Prioritize High-Impact Legislation – Texas REALTORS®
Representing over 140,000 members, Texas REALTORS® transformed their advocacy by integrating AI into their bill review process. With thousands of bills filed every session, the organization reclaimed hundreds of hours previously spent on manual analysis.
By leveraging Quincy, the organization uses AI-generated bill summaries to triage the initial workload. This allows their 16-person legal team to bypass irrelevant bills and focus their expertise on legislation with significant fiscal or operational implications for property owners. This “paradigm shift” has freed field representatives to focus on their core mission: building relationships with lawmakers across the state.
Tips to Enhance Government Relations Tactics
Government relations requires adaptable teams to deal with the volume of legislation and policy issues that face organizations today. This is largely due to the increase in legislation and regulations at the state and local level, public policy issues spanning continents, and public perception reaching further and faster than ever before.
Use Legislative and Regulatory Analytics to Drive Decision-Making
The hardest challenge of running an effective government relations strategy is properly prioritizing the thousands of bills that may affect your organization. Targeting the right lawmakers to champion your organization’s issues can mean the difference between success and failure. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to strike a balance between qualitative and quantitative data.
Modern teams are now leveraging Quincy, Quorum’s AI assistant, to synthesize these mountains of data instantly. Quincy can summarize complex bills, assess their specific impact on your organization’s goals, and even draft personalized outreach. This allows your team to quantify relationships by vote count, analyze legislator effectiveness, and use real-time trends to devise winning strategies.
Target State and Local Policies
Legislative activity at the state level is moving at a record-setting pace. In the first half of 2025 alone, state lawmakers introduced 130,120 bills—a significant increase compared to previous sessions. For comparison, Congress introduced only 6,638 bills during the same period. To understand the full scope of this activity, you can explore the 2025 State Legislative Trends Report.
The sheer volume of passed legislation at the state level creates many more opportunities to affect change in your favor—or more threats that require a rapid defense. It is nearly impossible for any organization to escape the impact of state-level policy. By utilizing Local tracking tools, organizations can also keep an ear to the ground in cities and counties, where policy often moves even faster than at the state house.
Maintain Legacy Knowledge and In-House Resources
Companies are becoming more self-sufficient in regards to government relations but still require a team that can successfully pursue and maintain a cohesive strategy. Developing internal staff to understand and execute these strategies strengthens a company’s ability to sway legislation over time. It is also important to consider how your Grassroots advocacy efforts and PAC management align with your overall government relations goals.
As you develop your team, it is vital to utilize a platform that preserves institutional knowledge. For example, a system that allows team members to log every meeting and note ensures that if a key staffer leaves, their relationships and insights don’t leave with them. This continuity is what allows a government relations practice to grow from a reactive function into a proactive strategic powerhouse.
Best Practice
If your organization is looking for new ways to organize your government relations work or starting a new government relations practice, replicate the government relations strategies that established players in the space are using with success. Focus on consistent communication, integrated data, and AI-driven insights to lead the conversation rather than just following it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a government relations strategy?
A government relations strategy is a structured plan used by organizations to influence public policy and build productive relationships with government officials at the local, state, and federal levels. It involves monitoring legislation, engaging in advocacy, and communicating the organization’s impact to policymakers.
How does AI improve government relations?
AI tools like Quincy help government relations teams by instantly summarizing complex legislation, identifying the bills most relevant to an organization’s specific priorities, and drafting personalized communication for lawmakers. This allows teams to spend less time on manual research and more time on high-impact strategy.
Why is state-level tracking important for businesses?
State legislatures introduce significantly more legislation than Congress, often filling policy voids on issues like technology regulation and budget decisions. Tracking at the state level ensures that organizations can identify risks and opportunities in the jurisdictions where they operate before those bills become law.
What is the difference between government relations and lobbying?
While the terms are often used interchangeably, government relations is a broader term that encompasses all types of interaction with the government, including relationship building and monitoring. Lobbying is a specific subset of government relations that involves direct attempts to influence specific pieces of legislation.
