Government relations is the practice of strategically managing an organization's interactions and communications with various levels of government to further the organization’s goals. It involves communication with politicians (elected officials) and government employees (bureaucrats) regarding public policy and advocacy for specific interests to better align the organization's needs and objectives with government decisions and regulations.
Advocacy involves the active support and promotion of a particular cause, interest, or issue through events, petitions, letter campaigns, social media, and press releases or other media work. Advocacy aims to raise awareness, educate the public, and engage with decision-makers to influence policy or regulations.
Lobbying is a specific subset of advocacy that focuses on direct and deliberate efforts to sway government officials, legislators, or policymakers by providing information, making persuasive arguments, and seeking their support or opposition to specific legislative or regulatory measures, often with the goal of affecting legal or policy outcomes.