A new energy policy bill was an early priority of President Obama, but it quickly fell by the wayside after the then-Democratic controlled House of Representatives passed a bill with cap-and-trade provisions that coal industry states despise. With free-market Republicans now in control of the House and the White House having put energy on the back burner, political pundits give the odds of passing energy legislation a very low probability. As a result, companies with alternative energy as their focus are sitting on the sidelines in Washington. An energy lobbyist friend this week lamented that he was struggling to convince his clients that this is actually a time of great opportunity here in D.C.

That’s a big mistake, in my opinion, for several reasons. First and foremost, Washington is driven by events more than political agendas. When lawmakers return to their districts during the Congressional recesses, they are going to hear loud and clear about the high prices at the pump that are inching towards $5 dollar-a-gallon gas, and the impact that is having on middle-class Americans, especially in the mid-west and other regions where distances are large and public transportation non-existent. Forget that the U.S. government and policy makers have little to do with oil supplies and gas prices in the short term. Taxpayers and voters are going to want action, and members of Congress may easily decide that an energy bill might be a good thing for their reelection prospects going into 2012. In that sense, it may be the high price of gas that actually forces Congress and the Administration to take a new look at a comprehensive energy bill.

Second, a time of no-action in Washington is exactly the right time to begin laying the groundwork for when legislation is back on track. This is the best time to lay the foundation for a communications campaign to supplement retail lobbying by companies and trade associations with a good story to tell on energy alternatives. Once the panic sets in and legislation starts moving quickly, it is often too late to get a seat at the table. Building the key relationships beforehand is much easier and more effective than hoping to cut through the clutter in the midst of the political battles.

There are a number of strategies that can be easily implemented without a large commitment of resources that can begin to position an organization as one worthy of government-backed incentives, so that when the issue does heat up again, they won’t be starting from scratch. These can include:

• A dedicated web portal that serves as a repository of information on the issue and a link to resources that members of Congress, their staff, and other policy makers can readily find and use;
• Video content of executives and industry experts describing and explaining the challenges and solutions they can offer;
• Traditional media outreach including op-eds discussing energy alternatives;
• Social media to identity and build an audience with policy makers and engage in a conversation about the solutions; and
• Thought leadership events that bring specialists together in front of opinion leaders and policy makers.

The most effective communications campaign is not one that looks like marketing, but rather one that truly does bring thought leadership and new ideas to the debate. This is the best time to take those steps, build those relationships, and engage members of Congress, their staff, and the Washington energy ecosystem before the train leaves the station.

I’ve been involved in public opinion polling and research for 20 years and am a big believer in understanding where you stand in the public”s mind. When I was in the Clinton White House, we had polls in the field every week.  When I wanted to know what the biggest threat was during the campaign finance investigations following the 1996 elections, I knew within a week from our polling that the only theme that could do real damage to the President was if it were shown that foreign adversaries had funneled money illicitly to the campaign. That allowed me and my colleagues on the damage control team to spend our effort defending a much smaller field of play than if we had treated every allegation equally.

I don”t think I have ever seen a poll that didn”t contain at least one surprise, no matter what the organization, company or industry that has commissioned it.  And I firmly believe that the same is true with the revolution in on-line research and analytics that is now available. Knowing who your key audience is, what they think of you, and which messages compel : justin-bieber-news.info Bieber’s World Other highlights from the story:- The Canadian-born Bieber never plans on becoming an American citizen. them to take action is even more important when there are so many more ways for them to get information than even 15 years ago.

I have spent the last five years on the Advisory Board of the Marketing Research Association, the primary trade association representing the polling firms, focus group facilities, and the range of other industry suppliers. The Advisory Board has been sounding the alarm for some time that the industry is under siege, not because clients don”t believe it is important, but because technology has made it more readily available without the expense of traditional phone banks and focus groups.

The reality is that traditional ways of conducting market research are becoming less effective. Take traditional land lines. The only way that pollsters can reach target audiences when conducting telephone interviews. Changing demographics mean that fewer and fewer people actually own land lines at home, relying instead on their personal cell phones which are off-limits to polling firms. So by definition a traditional phone bank will not be able to reach a significant part of the population. And while the traditional methods still return a more statistically valid result with a smaller margin of error, the price of those results may be higher than their ultimate value to a company or organization.

Indeed, analytical tools as simple of those provided by Google offer a wealth of market intelligence even though the margin of error may not be as small as traditional phone banking. More sophisticated tools, like those provided by Adobe”s Omniture services, can parse through huge volumes of web traffic, for example, to provide valuable insights into who is coming to your web site and what they are doing there. Successful companies will take advantage of these analytical resources to understand their target audiences, leveraging technology for the best value and greatest insight.