What responsibilities do financial service PRs have to their customers?

What responsibilities does financial services PR have to its customers?

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Disruption of traditional and long-established practices, the rise of digital currencies and an increasing demand for accountability – the financial services sector is undergoing rapid change.

With these changes comes new responsibilities for comms teams – how should the finance PR sector fulfil its increasing obligation to the public and its stakeholders?

In our webinar ‘The responsibility of PR in financial services,’ FS comms specialist Natalie Orringe, Habito VP Marketing Romney Taylor and Missive Account Director Erin Lovett discussed this new landscape of accessibility and accountability. Here’s how successful financial services brands and agencies are building trust and education into their comms.

Download the white paper Communicating the new immediacy of finance here.

Generalists are out-of-touch
In an ideal world, a sophisticated understanding of the possible risks of financial services would come alongside their increased accessibility to consumers. We are not in an ideal world. Communicating risk falls to the sector’s PR and comms pros, and we need to be ready with the knowledge required.

‘The pace of change has accelerated,’ said Erin. ‘Even during my career, training used to be very skewed to PR skills as opposed to industry knowledge – that’s not the case anymore. We’ve got to be able to explain sophisticated processes, like open banking and crypto transactions.’

‘We can’t be generalists in the financial PR sector anymore,’ added Natalie.

Agencies have a responsibility to their clients’ customers
The responsibility of communicating risk is great even when working on behalf of a client – perhaps even more so. Gut feel on this can be as important as knowledge of a potential client’s services – are possible risks to consumers ones you’re comfortable aligning with and communicating? If you wouldn’t recommend a service or product to your friends and family, think before signing them on as a client, advised Erin.
‘It’s just about being careful. You have to do due diligence and then make sure consumers fully understand the risks of that service, as well as the positives.’

Beware of ‘woke washing’
If your organisation, or client, has nothing of substance to add to an issue, think before releasing statements or planning campaigns around what’s happening in the wider world. Romney, whose organisation Habito has B Corp status, used brand responses to the war in Ukraine as an example:

‘A lot of businesses have responded in ways that are relevant, and not. When the Government came out with the Homes for Ukraine initiative – it was then that we spoke out on what’s going on. We shared how the scheme would impact renters and owners, whether you’d need to notify your lender if planning to open your home.

‘Woke washing would have been changing our logo to blue and yellow on LinkedIn in response to the war in Ukraine – we didn’t jump into that until we had something to say.’

Which finance brands are doing it right?
When it comes to blending education, awareness and approachability into campaigns, Erin mentioned the work of a financial services company you may have seen advertising on YouTube:

‘One brand doing really well with their comms is PensionBee,’ said Erin. ‘The ultimate goals haven’t changed in their sector – pensioners haven’t changed, nothing is new – but their technology is making managing pensions easier for customers. They’ve made this more accessible.’

How can brands and agencies fulfil their responsibilities to consumers?
Just as finance impacts almost every area of modern life, PR for financial services has to tie into wider world issues. No communication can happen in a vacuum – comms must speak to the realities potential clients are living with.

‘Be immediate and authentic and responsible,’ advised Natalie.

‘ESG is a big topic framing how comms is changing – what this means for financial services is a need for hyper-transparency. Organisations have to distil their brand narrative across various challenges.

‘Ethics have been merged into software and technology for a long time, but this increased blurring is really exciting. However, it comes with a heavy burden. PR can be operationalised into the wider business.’

With no firm regulations across modern financial options like crypto, PR and comms teams have to be their own regulators and fully accept their responsibility to the public:

‘It’s a really interesting role to be in,’ said Erin. ‘This has parallels with ESG because there are no formal global standards. The line for me is, what can we justify and prove? At Missive, we’re very careful with who we work with – that personal gut feeling is really useful.’

For more on the accessibility of financial services, download our white paper Communicating the new immediacy of finance.

Want to understand how your brand is being discussed in the media and impacting your clients? Check out Vuelio Media Monitoring. And for pitching to finance journalists, check out our guide.  

Emmanuel Ofosu-Appiah

Making change in our industry: Emmanuel Ofosu-Appiah, Vice Chair of PRCA’s Race & Ethnicity Equity Board (REEB)

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Since its launch in July 2020, the PRCA’s Race & Ethnicity Equity Board (REEB) has been working to make real change in the PR and communications industry for the progression of Black and ethnic minority professionals.

We caught up with its Vice Chair Emmanuel Ofosu-Appiah to talk about the challenges to true equity that still exist in our sector and the importance of mentoring and support.

Congratulations on your Vice Chair appointment – what are you most excited about?
Being able to work with our Chair Barbara Phillips and the rest of the Race & Ethnicity Equity Board (REEB) to create even greater change in our industry. We are also looking to make further progress with our PRISM mentoring scheme and continue to advocate for more diverse junior talent entering the industry. I am also excited to support the wider industry effort and I am keen to work with like-minded people and organisations.

What do you see as your main challenges to overcome in the role?
Not being a talking shop but actually taking action and pushing for results so we have some evidence to point back to in a few years’ time.

What are you most proud of having accomplished with REEB so far?
I am most proud of our Ethnicity Pay Gap Guide and how we have taken the lead of creating more noise around this. The guide is authored by a former Equalities and Human Rights Commission pay equality specialist – it is freely available exclusively to PRCA members. Our guide features advice on how to overcome challenges in ethnic pay reporting, including how to improve salary disclosure among Black, Asian and ethnically diverse professionals.

Can you give us an insight into some of the projects REEB are planning this year?
Well… we are working on a few initiatives and projects, but do watch this space! Ideas are in motion and hopefully things can come together on our end.

You’ve mentored others in their own PR careers – how would you advise practitioners wanting to get into mentoring to start?
Mentoring is a passion of mine and it is one of the most authentic ways to give back to new talent entering our industry. I would advise practitioners to not overload themselves with commitments and think about how to add value by nurturing just a few relationships rather than taking on lots of mentees.

There are also other ways to give back via partnering with organisations such as the Taylor Bennett Foundation and offering masterclasses to new trainees on the programme.

How should a person early in their career go about finding the right mentor for them?
Figure out which specific elements of communications you enjoy – that can always narrow it down a bit more. Lots of PR leaders are on LinkedIn, and many are looking for people to mentor, so it is about having the courage to be bold and approach someone that inspires you. I have always never been shy to ask for support or guidance – it is the best way to learn and build a network at the same time.

Who are some of your own heroes (in life and/or work)?
One of my heroes has to be my mentor Lord Dr Michael Hastings – he was in the communications industry as a senior public affairs leader for the BBC. Lord Hastings has always guided me in my career choices and supported me during difficult or challenging moments in my career.

Which other initiatives to improve equity within the industry should everyone be more aware of?
I am a big fan on the UK Black Comms Network and People Like Us and they are led by some inspirational individuals. I am also a part of the CIPR and Taylor Bennett Reverse mentorship programme and have been so impressed by the whole experience.

Last time we caught up, you shared your aims for the year ahead – are you happy with what you’ve achieved, and what will your aims be over the coming year?
I am proud of what I have achieved on a professional level, and I have learned a lot in my current role at Mercer as UK PR Manager. I have developed better working relationships with my key stakeholders and I am also grateful to my team and line managers over the years who have also shown confidence in my ability. I like to think of myself as a work in progress – there is still so much more to learn and achieve!

As you know, our goal is to see visible representation of Black and ethnic employees in the industry – we still have some way to go so in terms of our work we feel there is still more to be done.

For more on the work on PRCA’s REEB, check out our previous interview with Vice Chair Emmanuel Ofosu-Appiah as well as our interview with Chair Barbara Phillips.

Find out more about PRCA’s PRISM initiative, as well as other groups mentioned in this piece:

accessmatters with Melissa Lawrence, Taylor Bennett Foundation

UK Black Comms Network event: One Step Forward Two Steps Black

Earth Day 2022 COP26 comms

Earth Day 2022 – did COP26 comms make a change?

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This year’s Earth Day has a lot to live up to. Coming after the highly-anticipated and high-pressure COP26, today brings opportunity for those who made big promises in October 2021 to hold themselves to account. Did the global event make real change to how organisations operate and communicate their purpose to the public?

One impact COP26 made in the minds of those paying attention to its message of climate change was the installation of a growing impatience; a need for accountability from those with the power and influence to drive action.

‘COP26 and many other political events within the last six months have highlighted the public’s growing lack of tolerance for hypocrisy,’ says Propel Technology’s lead communications consultant Claire Dumbreck.

‘For many, COP26 will be remembered for the rich elite jamming up Prestwick Airport with their private jets and then preaching to the masses about how they should give things up for the greater good.’

Perception of the global event – the success of which was predicted by Sir Vince Cable beforehand to be 60:40: ‘my heart is with the 60%; my head with the 40%’ – wasn’t 100% positive. While its failures ultimately fall on political promises that were short of expectations, the PR and comms sector had a part, too:

‘Some businesses and comms teams could have been more considered in their approaches – there were a lot of campaigns with fairly (very) loose connections to COP26!’ believes One Nine Nine managing director Barnaby Patchett.

‘The issue here was that the press was flooded with transparent attempts to ‘cash in’ on COP26 – with no real connection to the goals and aims of the conference. The best campaigns were underpinned with a clear, authentic link to COP26, from organisations making tangible, significant progress on sustainability.’

Consumers and stakeholders increasingly expect integrity from organisations, not greenwashing, and PR and comms teams are being tasked with the practicalities of that responsibility.

‘As an industry, comms was both part of the post-COP26 climate change discussion and has since had to respond to it,’ says senior PR consultant Katy Barney, who heads up Ambitious PR’s ESG & Sustainability PR services.

‘Agency-side, this has meant more clients coming to us and asking for advice on how to communicate around sustainability, meaning an imperative to upskill rapidly and get to grips with the issues.’

Accessibility of language around climate change is a must-have skill for PRs in the wake of COP26, but as an industry we’re not quite there yet, according to research conducted by the Hanover Group Strategy & Insights unit, which targeted the general public in the UK and Ireland, and business leaders across Europe:

‘Only 1 in 4 people (25%) were comfortable defining “net zero” and much less so with terms like “carbon trading” and “climate refugees”,’ says Hanover Group’s strategy & insights director Teodora Coste.

‘23% were uncomfortable defining any of the terms most often used at COP26.’

The obfuscating and grand-standing that reverberated around October’s summit isn’t necessary, or useful, for building climate considerations into campaign work. For Earth Day 2022, here are more practical steps:

‘Wind the sanctimoniousness right down!’ says Claire Dumbreck. ‘Address any perception of “us and them” before more scepticism takes hold. Demonstrate genuine short-term human benefits of acting with the environment in mind (beyond the luxury of just feeling good about it).’

‘Start at home and focus on reducing your own carbon emissions and environmental impacts,’ says Lexington’s director and head of responsible business Andrew Wilson. ‘Do you really need to fly to that client meeting? Second, be critical friends to clients, provide constructive challenge on their own operations. Do agencies have the in-house expertise to advise on Net Zero strategies and approaches to reduce environmental impacts? Third, work with brands to produce communications that help to change consumer attitudes and bring about a shift in behaviour.’

Ultimately, use your skill as a PR; if you’re part of the comms industry, you already have the tools to get the message out there:

‘Zero and environmental change are so much more than a single-issue topic – there are lots of opportunities for PR teams to get creative,’ says Katy Barney.

‘There will always be another story or angle if you’re committed to making change.’

For more on climate change and how the communications sector can help make a difference, check out this post on what PR and comms teams should know about sustainability, a reflection on the success of COP26 from the Vuelio political team, and this guest post from Sir Vince Cable featuring his predictions ahead of the summit. 

 

How to communicate in the metaverse

How to communicate in the metaverse… also, what is the metaverse?

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If you’re up on your PR and comms trends for 2022 and the years ahead, you will have read about the metaverse and just how important it is going to be for the industry. But… do you actually know what that word means? Do you understand how you and your team might use it for upcoming campaigns? How to talk about it to clients and other brands?

To help prevent you from any out-of-touch floundering in future stakeholder presentations and competitive pitches, here’s how the industry is already making great use of the metaverse and how you can join, too.

What is the metaverse?
To cut through all the jargon: it’s a virtual space for interacting. With other people, with places, with items.

‘The way I try to explain it to friends is, it’s like a hybrid of The Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon & GTA (without the crime),’ said The Playbook’s senior sport and brand communications executive Rob Baney.

‘Creating your own The Sims-like dream world, building your entertainment offering Rollercoaster Tycoon-style, and then having you and your mates explore this world in the best clothes and with the coolest car, like your character in GTA.’

If you aren’t a gamer, the concept of a metaverse has long been established in science fiction and regularly features in film (Ready Player One and The Matrix, for some dystopian examples), and even portrayed quite poorly in 90s thrillers you may have seen, like The Lawnmower Man and Disclosure. In the latter, for example, it’s shown as already being a part of work tech. Michael Douglas needs to hack a computer – instead of sitting down to type, he dons a VR headset and gloves for his search and walks through a Virtual Reality Database.

You could say that’s a prediction of how the metaverse may shape up in the next few years – full integration into our lives, even office documents. You could also say ‘why did Michael bother when Ctrl + F is right there – who has the time for that’. But that would be overlooking the allure of realistic interactions with surroundings otherwise closed off, and plenty of us want that.

Why is the metaverse so popular right now?
While a metaverse is not a new concept – not even to the comms industry, who had the opportunity to explore it in ‘Second Life Marketing Safaris’ as far back as 2007 – it’s resonating strongly now, particularly in the wake of Facebook’s widely-publicised rebrand to Meta and new strategy to build ‘the’ metaverse, as we search for new ways to connect in our day-to-day.

When people wanted to be with those they couldn’t see in the flesh in the early days of the pandemic, downloads of applications like Zoom, Teams and Houseparty boomed. Games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons broke records, with advertising from Nintendo showing family members and friends using their Switch consoles to fly out for quality time on each other’s virtual islands.

Conversations while fishing for bass couldn’t happen in reality during lockdown, but it could online. Connection is the value of digital spaces – that’s the value a presence in the metaverse can provide to your audience.

How are brands and businesses already using the metaverse?
Using Animal Crossing: New Horizons as an example, businesses, charities and even US politicians quickly realised its potential for engaging with consumers and integrated their branding and messages into the pre-existing world of the game. But many brands and agencies have since gone further into the metaverse – this isn’t something to get ready for in the future, this is happening now.

Recreating reality: VCCP built virtual offices in gaming and social platform Roblox, using its London Victoria office as a base design, but building in extras impossible in real life, such as an enclosure for meerkats.

Connection in virtual spaces: A Roblox-based ceremony and gig was held as part of the Brit Awards this year, with a virtual version of PinkPantheress booked to perform. Artists including Lil Nas X have also teamed up with the platform for performances.

In-metaverse living: Nike invested in the possibility of virtual footwear with its December 2021 purchase of digital collectable creators RTFKT. ‘This acquisition is another step that accelerates Nike’s digital transformation […] and extend[s] Nike’s digital footprint and capabilities,’ said Nike president and chief executive John Donahoe.

Comms and campaigns: To publicise the new series of I’m A Celebrity… late last year, ITV launched a virtual version of the show’s castle with Fortnite Creative for viewers to explore. In fact, ITV has created a number of new ways for viewers to connect with its programming via the metaverse in this way, including an in-game Fortnite version of its entertainment show The Void.

So, should you care?
In summary – yes. At its most simple, the metaverse can be a recreation of what we know, but it can also be a fantastic version of what we want, or an overlay of extras to make life easier.

While data from We Are Social’s latest Think Forward report found that 90% of social users were ‘clueless’ about the metaverse, its quick adoption across the industry in real ways is meaningful. Current excitement about these virtual spaces may dim, but applications of them will embed into our culture and lives, long-term.

Virtual influencers are already here, and NLP (Natural Language Processing)/virtual avatars are an accepted part of online customer service. For those who need other ways to access events and experiences beyond getting on a train to a crowded gathering at a city centre, the metaverse opens up a whole world of possibility and connection. For business, it offers new ways to engage consumers continuously bombarded with images and messages in ways that will stick.

In a real world that has become increasingly unpredictable, filled with situations we can’t control, it’s unsurprising that the possibility to create others we can is appealing. And at the very least, what’s on the way should be a lot cooler than that scene in Disclosure. The metaverse can be whatever we want to make it.

If you’re ready to enter the metaverse, visit our visit to those brands setting up in Animal Crossing: New Horizons and check out our look at the influence of virtual influencers. 

Want more on ways to engage the minds of  your audience? Here’s a write-up of our webinar on Neuro PR with Harvey & Hugo PR’s managing director and Leader of the Pack Charlotte Nichols 

The Value of Chartership Report

Just how important is chartership in marketing and PR?

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A study from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) – The Value of Chartership report – has found that while respect for chartership within the marketing and PR industries has improved over the last ten years, it is still significantly lower than in other professions.

Featuring the viewpoints and experiences of over 300 chartered members, the report finds that around two-fifths (39%) feel respect for chartership has increased, though? 72% believe it is higher in other sectors such as engineering or accountancy. However, respondents felt that the value that comes with being chartered in PR and marketing is worth it, regardless, giving them a competitive edge in their professional lives.

Other findings from the report:
• Over four in ten (43%) argue it is very important for careers to be chartered
• Three in ten (31%) believe being chartered provides them with an edge to win new business
• 15% have been able to achieve a higher salary or increase rates due to their chartership status

Just as important as chartership to the study respondents – Continuing Professional Development; 72% believe regular upskilling and knowledge refreshment is vital for progressing within the industries.

CIPR CEO Alastair McCapra said: ‘Compared to other sectors, our industries have the advantage of low barriers of entry into the profession but a disadvantage in the number of qualified and professionally accredited professionals. We know what we do delivers value and so do our clients, but research shows a continued lack of collective confidence.

‘This research highlights how chartered status overcomes this by providing pride, status and confidence to individual practitioners. When compared to other professionals, or as seen by other professionals, our status is low but improving. Chartered status is an essential tool in increasing this further and faster.’

CIM chief executive Chris Daly added: ‘The past few years have underlined the critical role marketing and PR professionals have had in supporting and guiding businesses through a turbulent time. Rising consumer expectations for organisations to act ethically and communicate effectively, coupled with ‘the great resignation’ has put a greater emphasis than ever on the development of skilled PR and marketing practitioners.

‘There has always been a concern that investing in the development of staff may just accelerate their departure, but this joint research shows that chartered practitioners can provide a real financial boost for businesses – something that is crucial as we look to recover from the pandemic.’

Read ‘The Value of Chartership’ in full here.

For more on getting access to support and opportunities for upskilled in PR, comms and marketing, check out our round-up of six industry bodies to link up with.

Is the food and drink sector ready for HFSS restrictions

Is the food and drink sector ready for upcoming HFSS regulations?

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If asked to hum your favourite advertising jingles, how many of them would be for food and drink products that would likely fall foul of the Government’s upcoming restrictions on HFSS ads?

For those in comms in the food and drink sector, the rules on HFSS (foods High in Fat, Sugar and Salt) coming into place in October will change work drastically. The advertising landscape in the UK will be completely different. Those old mainstays of traditional TV advertising that are yoghurt, chocolate and spreadable cheese adverts featuring happy celebrities will be gone, and with them, the UK obesity crisis. At least, that’s the thinking laid out in the Government’s ‘Introducing a total online advertising restriction for products high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS)’ consultation findings.

‘While the evidence is not conclusive, it’s possible that restricting HFSS advertising exposure could […] influence adult purchases and consumption […] Further restrictions on HFSS advertising could therefore help reduce overconsumption and generate significant additional health benefits,’ say the Government’s conclusions.

Whether or not this will work to help people (and the companies they buy from) make ‘healthier’ choices, or draw criticism equal to that received by recent mandates on calorie inclusion in menus across England, change is coming. What this means in practice – a 9pm watershed on television for HFSS adverts and a complete ban on digital HFSS advertising from 22 October 2022.

Considering the impact these restrictions will have – potentially ‘the most significant in-store changes seen in decades,’ according to Barclays analyst James Anstead – are food and drink comms practioners ready?

There’s a lot of opportunity here. That 9pm watershed and the restrictions on HFSS paid-for ads online doesn’t explicitly include earned media. That means for HFSS brands and clients, the comms function potentially becomes much more valuable. But with that opportunity comes responsibility to share the right message, with the right people.

‘Being part of the discussion is key to getting your voice heard,’ says Vhari Russell, managing director at The Food Marketing Experts.

‘We’ve been working hard to drive collaborations to increase the following for the brands we work with and increase the data they have to enable them to sell directly to consumers. It is about ensuring all the bases are covered in terms of driving traffic to store, both online and bricks and mortar, and then creating standout to establish a brand of choice positioning.

‘Grow your tribe, so that you have a key and engaged customer base that will champion products outside of advertising. Working with influencers is critical to a brand’s success, however, you need to ensure you comply with best practice.’

One organisation that moved ahead of the regulations was TfL, whose policy on junk food advertising has been estimated to have decreased weekly junk food purchases by 1,000 calories. But which other companies are already approaching the regulations in the right way?

‘Dr Wills – we loved their campaign to help drive sales in Tesco to keep their listings,’ says Vhari. ‘Pip & Nut, too – many of the team now subscribe to get their nut butter deliveries since the pandemic.

‘TfL has already reported a significant change, and I think it is a great opportunity for brands to get creative and return to grassroots tactics. The guidelines have been put in place to help the nation eat better and make healthier choices. For brands that are high in salt and sugar, it is key to communicate in an honest and engaging way. Very few brands state you should eat their product all day every day, so it’s about consciously conveying the occasions to consume.’

With the cost of living crisis in the UK impacting purchasing decisions, and food High in Fat, Sugar and Salt often a cheaper and more convenient choice, HFSS products will continue to have a place on shelves.

PR teams working in the food and drink sector have an opportunity to make a difference with their campaigns, just as brands do with their approach – comms can help consumers mix HFSS foods into as balanced a lifestyle as they can manage within their means.

‘Brands need to drive the occasions when their products fit into the customer’s life so that they remain in the basket week in week out,’ says Vhari. ‘When consumers’ budgets are being hit harder it is vital that brands share the purpose, values, and credentials to retain customer loyalty.

‘I think that disruptive marketing combined with engaging and mouth-watering content is here to stay.’

For more on food and drink, check out these 10 top UK food bloggers. To track how the media is covering HFSS restrictions, try Vuelio’s Media Monitoring services – book a demo here. 

How to build your following on LinkedIn

How PR agencies can unlock the ‘Holy Grail’ of LinkedIn

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This is a guest post from Vicky Stoakes, communications director at Red Setter.

‘Can you double our followers in a year?’

As a PR company, we’re used to focusing all our efforts on building our clients’ reputations and profiles. Putting time aside to build your own company profile feels akin to a builder deciding to build their own house first – it’s simply not a priority – but it should be because we know it works. A focus on social media – especially LinkedIn – can support new business, recruitment and most importantly, boost company morale.

So, last year we took our own advice and put a proactive social media plan in place. And yes, we did double our followers in a year. This is how we did it.

Strategise to win

It’s so obvious it almost goes without saying, but you need a plan. You wouldn’t skip the strategy stage for your clients, so why would you skip it for your company page?

We mapped out three clear goals – to attract new business; engage talent; and to grow followers from our target audiences (design and PR).

The right kind of posts

With clear goals and a target audience in mind, next steps are deciding what to post. As a PR agency, it’s easy to fall back on sharing client news and coverage, but it’s a limiting – and dull – approach to social media.

Instead, ask yourself, what do your audiences want to see? Often, you’ll find there are two answers. They want to see more of your team and company culture, and evidence of your company’s expertise. Feed these insights into your content plan.

Share the love

CEOs beware! Content creation shouldn’t fall exclusively on your shoulders – though we know from experience it often does for smaller organisations – but neither should responsibility rest solely with your social media, marketing, or comms lead. It’s important to create a culture where everyone, from top to bottom, has a voice and feel they have something to say.

But make it easy. As a PR agency, words are almost second nature to us, but busy people, no matter the industry, can need help. Alongside ideas gathering as a team, we have a guide to our content, with clarity on the purpose of each piece and where it’s likely to appear, and covering basics, like word count.

A culture of content

When we began our new LinkedIn approach only a handful of team members had proactively written any blog posts for us. By the end of the first year, with the new campaign firmly in place, over 80 per cent of the team had written posts (some of these appearing beyond the blog in media titles).

Of course, it’s a big deal to have team members write blogs outside of their normal day jobs, so we’ve dialled up the value of this internally. It’s now so embedded in our culture that people regularly come up with ideas and offer to contribute. The joy of this as a comms director is immense.

With a steady stream of content agreed and forthcoming across the team, we can post around once a week, sometimes more. And even better, 90% of our posts work across LinkedIn and Instagram.

Is the plan working?

The only way to know if your strategy is working is checking analytics – and bracing yourself to play the long game. Social success doesn’t happen overnight. It was a slow burn that really seemed to catch fire around the 10–12-month phase.

We regularly check our engagement, allowing us to know what resonates with our audiences and, just as importantly, what doesn’t (stopping anything that’s falling into the virtual void).

Using LinkedIn itself as a barometer is helpful: it suggests that 2% is good engagement and anything above is smashing it out of the park. With our average at 10%, we’ll take that.

Use the ‘secret sauce’

As the admin to a company page, you have access to a feature that allows you to invite your personal connections to follow your company page. Use it and do it wisely. Get your agency leaders involved.

By doing this, we noticed a snowball effect. We got our connections following us by asking. Then by posting content with relevant hashtags – never forget the hashtags! – we noticed a regular stream of new followers from our target audiences following us because they were interested in our content. Start with those you know, and others will find you.

Find the fun

Finally, have fun with it. Make people want to read your posts. Tell your company story, empower the team and enjoy the journey. Remember, there’s no shame in asking people to engage with your posts, so don’t forget to ask your own team and thank them when they do engage!

Interested in building your organisation’s social media profile? Check out how Tiny Tickers and The Wildlife Trusts amplified their campaigns and message using their social channels (in the absence of bit budgets) here. 

For more from Red Setter, read this guest post from Alex Blyth on how to tackle the PR recruitment crisis by growing your team from the ground up.

How to become a journalist's favourite PR person

How to be a journalist’s favourite PR person

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If you follow enough of your fellow PR people on social media, you’ve probably seen the occasional gripe about rude responses they’ve received from journalists. If you follow journalists, complaints about irrelevant emails they’ve received from PRs might have shown up on your feed a time or two.

Nobody wants to be on either side of those media vs comms clashes, so how can you make sure yours is a name any journalist will be happy to see in their inbox?

Signing up the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service to receive media requests straight to your inbox is a good starting point, naturally, but for guidance on the next steps, we asked three more journalists regularly using the service what makes a good PR.

Rob Waugh, freelance journalist regularly writing for outlets including The Daily Telegraph, Metro and the Daily Mail
‘Ensure the name of your expert is kept very close to their comment if you’re sending text. Journalists using this service are often dealing with large amounts of text, and if the name isn’t right next to the comment, it’s easy to misattribute.

‘The best way to reply is in plain text NOT in a document headed with company logos. This just adds another stage to the work of a journalist who’s probably dealing with dozens, or even hundreds of comments and means that your comment is less likely to be used in any finished piece.’

Nick Booth, freelance writer currently covering mobile networking infrastructure for Mobile Europe
‘Keep your response short. The shorter your email, the easier it is to deal with! If it’s really short and sweet, the other person will act on it right away.

‘Try to make every technology-related contribution about one thing: how is this going to save anyone any time or money? After all, the only reason we use computers at work is to save time or money. So how does it do that?

‘Always use your own words when describing what your client does. Use short simple words. If you use jargon you don’t understand, it just sounds like you’re copying someone’s homework. Don’t assume the other person knows what all these acronyms mean!

‘And if you’re responding to Nick Booth, send him some sort of bribe…’

Martina Mercer, editor of Sunday Woman and The Consumer Voice, freelance journalist, PR and author
‘Always use the journalist’s name and make sure you get it right.

‘Another tip I have that is quite controversial (but is the way I run my business on the PR and marketing side of things, due to having insight from a journalist perspective) is DON’T copy and paste press releases, emails, etc. The journalist knows you’re doing this. They want someone to take the time to respond – to read the entire journalist alert and to construct a bespoke reply. Pasting may seem like a good idea, and a way to respond to many at a time, but for the bigger newspapers and magazines, it’ll just come across as a little insulting. I like to construct a bespoke pitch for every journalist I talk to. I know most of them now, and usually have conversations with them about life and events anyhow, so a copy paste affair would seem a little strange, too.

‘Always offer more, my one rule – go beyond the book. They’d like images, offer a sample, too.

‘Always be grateful. It astounds me how many PR companies will cut contact with the journalist once they have their client featured. Don’t have an attitude or think you have the power in this situation, as you don’t. The journalist holds all the cards and should be treated as such. They are the ones that will make sure you get paid and will make sure you get results. You don’t have to brown nose, but you do have to appreciate this fact. I once had a PR company who scolded me for writing just two lines about their product and for it being at the end of an article. I wasn’t even keen on the product but included it as she badgered. She saw the article then sent an email to say. “It’s not worth it, forget it, you just added it at the end.” I blocked her email, blocked the company and anyone she represented and made a point of never ever recommending them again.

‘I’d like to say try not to nag, but in all seriousness, I receive so many responses to journalist alerts, hundreds at a time, that sometimes I need a good nagging. The phone can ring while I’m reading a pitch and it’s lost forever, so do follow up with me; do ask.

‘If I can name names of great PRs, I’d like to say that those representing Ritter Sport (who sent me the most wonderful Christmas gift and didn’t expect anything in return), Haribo (who keep us stocked on their latest releases) and Lush do it right.’

Sign up for a demo of the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service here.

For more on forming lasting connections with the UK media, here is more advice on responding to enquiries, reasons to give the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service a try before delving into #JournoRequest on Twitter, and even more tips from journalists.

Rob Baney

PR Interview: Rob Baney, senior sport & brand communications executive for The Playbook

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One of Vuelio’s main objectives is to help comms professionals and teams streamline processes to allow them to focus their time and efforts on key priorities and projects. In a highly demanding industry, it’s not solely a case of time management that creates a successful environment but a line-up of multiple factors. We caught up with Rob Baney, senior sport & brand communications executive at The Playbook, a leading communications agency working with a range of global brands, to discuss life as an agency PR professional in 2022.

What have you been working on lately?

It’s been a busy start to 2022 at The Playbook… A couple of highlights: helping NFL UK fans celebrate Super Bowl the British way, including Greg James’ hilarious Superb Owl segment on Radio 1 with The NFL Show pundits Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora – nothing beats British humour. And heading out to Abu Dhabi in January to support the DP World Tour on the ground with local comms for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, where Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny swapped Warner Bros. World for the first Rolex Series event of the year.

Has this project been typical of the last 6-12 months?

In the past 12 months, I wouldn’t say anything has been ‘typical’ – projects have changed, and continually change… I felt like I became an expert on UK covid testing and entry requirements ahead of a LaLigaTV press trip to Barcelona last autumn, but that’s all redundant now. Since the turn of the year and even in the past month I’d say it’s become more ‘normal’ and its exciting to be doing events again. One good example of this was our Sunday with LaLiga where we packed out the Sports Bar & Grill for an ElClasico watch party – it was great to see the passions of fans back in person.

How important is maintaining a good work/outside-work balance for employee wellbeing?

It’s vital. I recently managed to get away to the Cheltenham Festival for a couple of days and had a great time. I went to university in Cheltenham and I always enjoy going back there to catch up with old mates. There are few better places than Cheltenham in race week.

I’d say a good work/life balance is now more important than ever, with everything work-related being an app click away. When you enjoy your work, checking emails and Teams can actually get quite addictive, so it’s very important to force yourself to switch off. Although you might trick yourself otherwise, you do need the break.

How has the pandemic impacted your work?

It’s impacted us massively. In all aspects of our job. Obviously, there were times where in-person activations weren’t feasible and while virtual calls served a purpose, there are some opportunities that are far more effective face-to-face, so we’ve had to adapt throughout to service our clients. Having said that, it’s also streamlined a lot of processes and there are a lot of benefits to Zoom (aside from the Hawaiian beach backgrounds).

As we look ahead to the rest of 2022, what trends do you see coming up?

The world is already opening up, and physical activations will come back in full. But it’s virtually we’ll see the most innovation. We recently had a workshop with an expert on all things Crypto, NFTs and the Metaverse. And it’s the latter of these I see real potential for brands activating in this year… Lots have already jumped in to the ‘Metaverse’ and I expect more and more to do the same. I’m no way the expert but the way I try to explain it to friends is it’s like a hybrid of The Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon & GTA (without the crime); creating your own The Sims-like dream world like, building your entertainment offering Rollercoaster Tycoon-style, and then having you and your mates explore this world in the best clothes and with the coolest car, like your character in GTA. Pardon the pun, but there’s literally a whole other world out there…

How do you plan to handle extra demand as business grows?

We’re an agile agency and we’ve got a wider group who can support immediate needs. We take pride in our very successful always-on internship programme where we give on-the-job training to anyone with a willingness to learn, no experience or degree needed. We often have exciting projects come in and have a whole roster of experienced and trusted freelancers to call upon. When we need someone senior in permanent role, we have a thorough recruitment process to choose through the talented applicants. We are always on the lookout for the best talent.

Within your specific role, what have been your major learnings over the last few years?

One of our core values at The Playbook is to ‘Never Settle’ and I think this is something I consider on a daily basis. There’s a lot of excellent projects we work on, but I’m always thinking: how could we make it better, could we have been more efficient, was the messaging strong enough, could we have had better imagery. There’s lots of different ways to tell a story, and our job is always to tell that in the most compelling way possible.

What are the greatest day-to-day challenges for agency PRs? 

Time – isn’t it for everyone? Managing your time is so important, we’re always working to tight deadlines, so you need to have a good handle on your time and your colleague’s time so we can achieve everything we want.

With such a large and varied client base, how do you manage multiple relationships and campaigns?

It sounds cheesy but communication is key. If we’ve got an event on for one client on a certain day and we’ve a clash with another client deadline, then being upfront and honest is the best approach. They trust us to do our job, and they know we have other clients to service.

PR is playing a more important role in the wider conversation around ESG and CSR – how will this impact your clients?

If there are compelling and interesting ESG or CSR stories to tell, then we’ll be the first to consult our clients and help tell them in the best way possible. I can’t stress enough the importance of doing something purposeful, without this it’s opening yourself up for criticism. Brands should want to help society, and without getting to deep, in a capitalist world where profits rule, there’s plenty of value for clients to put resources towards helping people.

How are client strategies changing with regards to the current climate?

Usually I’d say strategies are often based off performance, so if performances are strong the strategy will remain similar but ‘let’s do that bigger and better’. Having said that, I’ve noticed a lot more clients including influencer activation in their briefs. Previously, this was always a proactive suggestion from PRs, and some clients didn’t have the capacity to truly consider how content creators could fit in to their existing strategies and help them achieve their business objectives. It’s refreshing that influencers are central to business strategy, and it’s good to see the agile influencer tool we’ve developed over several years getting more and more use. As the influencer space continues to morph and change with creators becoming established outlets our tool anticipates this, so we can identify the best creators for different projects, and we continue to grow relationships in this space to help us forge the strongest content and achieve the client’s desired outcomes.

And finally… there have been some mixed England performances out in the West Indies over the last few weeks. What do you think is the most important change that needs to be made to ensure the team are capable of regaining The Ashes next year?

Fundamentally, we need a team that’s going to bat for time (the runs will come), which they have in the West Indies, albeit on flat pitches. We need to learn to grit it out when the going gets tough… too often has that batting order folded like a pack of cards. I never thought two of the world’s all-time best Test bowlers in Broad and Anderson were the issue, but that’s a debate for another day. If we’re to regain the Ashes, we need four or five established batters to support Root, and if a quality spinner were to emerge, that would be the icing on the cake.

Connect with Rob Baney via Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 

Omkar Khot sits in Vuelio’s new business team, specialising in PR & Public Affairs across enterprises. Connect here. 

For more on trends in PR and comms this year, check out our round-up of insight from industry thought leaders to help with your content and campaign planning. 

How business comms can help fight fake news

How business comms can help with the fight against fake news

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This is a guest post from Laura Morelli, UK Head of media at Semrush.

Trust is rapidly becoming a vanishing commodity. So says this year’s Edelman Trust Barometer, a long running gauge of belief in government, media and other prominent societal markers. The decline in media trust in particular is especially striking, dropping 13 percentage points over the last year to just over one in five people believing in the credibility of media brands.

The survey cites a widespread and growing concern about the dissemination of fake news and false information as reasons for this shift. Despite major media outlets investing significantly in fact checking functions and seeking to redress the inaccurate spread of information, it seems the public feels this isn’t enough to stem the tide. Of course, if media outlets cannot address these concerns, public trust in their output may never recover.

Businesses face the same challenge. While few would expect corporate entities to hold impartial views, consumer purchase power rests increasingly in their ability to demonstrate a matching set of values. The same study found that some 52% of people in the UK buy or advocate for brands which mirror their values, a metric rooted in belief that those values are being translated into positive action.

Communications professionals are then placed into a similar situation as the media – how to keep their narratives rooted in fact. This is particularly key when targeting younger demographics who have grown up under the shadow of fake news and risk essentially being trained to question all information from sources, both official and otherwise. We live in a time where we will continue to see a flood of opinion, false theories and fake news spread so easily online. According to new research from Semrush, UK online searches for ‘fake news’ regularly occur an average of over 12,000 times per month. We are also seeing the wider public become increasingly aware of what they are consuming. The term ‘How to spot a fake news story’ increased by 50% over the last 4 years. Searches for ‘fake news examples’ are up by 60% during the same period.

While fake news is insidious, one of the best tools to fight its spread is clear and irrefutable proof points and sources. Indicators of online misinformation or disinformation are often discovered in poor, single source references, or unsubstantiated platforms. Fake news counts on time poor readers being unwilling (potentially because the content plays into their own beliefs or opinions) or unable to sense check efficiently. This is also why reputable news organisations have invested so significantly in data journalism – a technique which comms providers should highly encourage.

Businesses may not recognise that they have access to a bigger data toolkit now than ever before to help substantiate their claims. While citations about business efficiencies and product efficacy must come from within R&D departments and internal data, there are well known external sources on offer for building consumer confidences. The internet is one of the most powerful research tools ever, and just a peek into search data can lend greater insights into consumer motivations, trends, and opinions. This can not only be used strategically to support business direction and decision making, but tactically to support content marketing initiatives too.

Fake news and misinformation online may be hard to stop – but it’s not impossible to keep fighting. And the tools you use to do so may just help improve consumer perceptions of your business and its purpose still further. Trust may seem at times to be a vanishing commodity, but savvy businesses can stop the slide, and potentially boost their brands in the process. It is increasingly essential that businesses deploy similar journalistic rigour to their branded storytelling. This is just as applicable to citing reputable sources and using data to shape narratives as much as it is for gaining those backlinks.

For more on the impact comms can have on the fight against fake news, check out this guest post from Sidekick PR’s Charlotte Dimond on how PR can stop the spread of misinformation. and well as our previous ResponseSource webinar with Polis, FactCheckNI and The Ferret, Facts, fakes and fast news. 

PRCA LGBTQ+ Network

PRCA relaunches its LGBTQ+ Network

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The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) has relaunched its LGBTQ+ Network with a focus on supporting the PR and comms industry to ‘show up’ for the LGBTQ+ community.

Originally launched two and a half years ago in partnership with YouGov, the PRCA’s LGBTQ+ group has held events, conducted cross-industry research into how sexual identity can impact work and highlighted LGBTQ+ role models in PR and comms. The group’s relaunch as a network includes the introduction of volunteers to boost positive impact across the industry when it comes to inclusivity.

Plans for the network include the sharing of resources and learning materials for reference, accessible events, commentary and discussion of important LGBTQ+ matters and new Role Models blogs.

The LGBTQ+ Network is led by Hill+Knowlton Strategies senior associate director Emma Franklin-Wright and Good Vibes Only Talent founder Katie Traxton.

PRCA LGBTQ+ Network Co-Chair Emma Franklin-Wright said:

‘As communications professionals we can have so much influence on the public narratives around LGBTQ+ people. At a time when we are increasingly under attack from the media it is so important for us to give as many people in our industry as possible the tools to create positive representation in our work, and to give agency leaders the resources to create inclusive workplaces. Having a refreshed network to deliver on those goals is vital and having so many new volunteers coming together to deliver this important work is truly energising.’

PRCA LGBTQ+ Network Co-Chair Katie Traxton added:

‘Having the backing of the PRCA to relaunch the group means a lot. Over the last two and half years, we’ve learnt about the ongoing challenges of equality, opportunity and representation that the LGBTQ+ community still face both in workplaces and the work we do. Now it’s time for us to invest our energy in catalysing real change. We know that progress is likely to be gradual, but we have a great group of people working with us and we want PRCA members to get involved, share their thoughts, and ultimately join us on our mission. The more of us who work together, both members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies, the more impact we will make.’

Committee members for the PRCA LGBTQ+ Network are:

Gian Marco Candolo (Senior Account Executive, Cicero)
Nina Eadie (Head of Lifestyle PR, Keko London)
Stephanie Ensten (Partner Manager, Mercedes EQ Formula E Team)
Sinead McGeever (Account Director, FleishmanHillard)
Will Richardson (Associate Director, TEAM LEWIS)
Lex Rosenthal (Account Manager, TALA)
Michela Siuni (Marketing and Communications Manager, I.G. Advisors)
Myles Storey (Campaigns Manager – Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, O2)
Jonathan Sullivan (Account Executive, Brazil)
James Treacy (Senior PR and Communications Manager, Abercrombie & Kent)
Josh Wheeler (Broadcast PR Specialist)

For more information on the network and how to get in touch, check out the PRCA website.

Check out our previous accessmatters sessions on inclusion in the media, PR and comms industries with Proud FT’s Cassius Naylor, the Social Mobility Foundation’s Sarah Atkinson and The Unmistakable’s Asad Dhunna. 

Are PR and marketing a comms power couple?

Do PR and marketing make a perfect comms couple?

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Public relations and marketing – two interlinked comms functions whose connection has been under debate for years. Since at least the 1970s, in fact, according to Stephen Waddington, who led our latest webinar on the subject, ‘PR & Marketing: The Ultimate Power Couple?’.

Sign up to watch the webinar. 

‘In researching our ‘Trends in the integration of marketing and public relations’ white paper, I found a piece from 1978 highlighting how the two functions should work together. That relationship in the headline is always going to be situational depending on size and scale, but there’s one thing that’s certain; this debate has been going on for 50 years and will keep going.’

Download the white paper ‘Trends in the integration of marketing and public relations’.

If this is a conversation that hasn’t yet started at your organisation, whether you’re working in-house or agency-side, take advice from Stephen, Mastercard‘s Suman Hughes and Hotwire Global‘s Tara O’Donnell shared during the webinar to consider the benefits of bringing your PR and marketing functions closer together.

Is this a debate for everyone?
As pointed out by Stephen, the CEOs, customers and celebrities that PR and marketing teams serve won’t really care so much about what is integrated and what isn’t – what matters is that the results are good. Who it is important for is those working towards the results, who have had to weave key messaging and strategy, such as ESG, into every aspect of their planning and actions over the last few years.

‘The pandemic has led to a reappraisal of organisations,’ believes Stephen. ‘Teams need to work together to understand their business’ place in the market and in wider society.’

‘An idea can start from anywhere’ – Mastercard’s Suman Hughes on the in-house perspective
On taking on her current role as Mastercard’s director of communications, UK, Suman Hughes joined a comms team already integrated. PR and marketing work closely together to communicate the brand’s message to its global audience and worldwide workforce and this connection aids every part of their strategy and execution.

‘Working as one team means offering a single unified voice. Whether it’s marketing, comms, public policy, HR, accounts, it all comes back to our employees and them as brand ambassadors – we talk as one, as Mastercard.

‘Integration means we can pool our resources and break down silos to make the most of what we have, making the biggest impact for our stakeholder groups and audiences.

‘It’s a global model that we run – not just across our international team, but across all our agency groups, too – we approach every piece of work this way, from paid, owned and earned. An idea can start from anywhere and become a campaign that’s holistic. It’s a level playing field and it makes it super-interesting for me to do my job.’

‘It’s all about business impact’ – Hotwire Global’s Tara O’Donnell on the agency perspective
‘In teams that have integrated marketing and PR, it’s all about business impact and how you measure it. When companies work in this way, it is more efficient, but depends on the organisation.

‘When companies had to go into ‘protect revenue’ mode in 2020, we realised that many were struggling because traditional marketing channels had shut down. Our comms clients, maybe for the first time, were tasked with having business impact – everyone in their organisations were tasked with improving business results. That’s what led us to look at what we do and evolve it to impact reputation along with revenue.

‘We’ve found it’s an incredible marriage; reputation to revenue resonates across the board. If you’re talking to a comms client about thought leadership – you’ve based it on insight about an audience they’re trying to reach; you should do that with your marketing anyway. You can use that insight all the way through the pipeline.

Is integrating PR and marketing for you?
‘It’s a really natural progression of using what you’re already creating to have different impact,’ says Tara.

‘The value to clients is really simple to show; our comms clients will understand it and our marketing teams do, too. It’s not necessary that they always work together, but we can show that there will be business impact when they do.

‘From a comms point-of-view, to be able to go to the business and show how you’ve impacted revenue… that ability to show value is incredible.’

‘Give it a go!’ says Suman. ‘If you’re really clear on your business objectives, you’ll all be pulling in the same direction’.

Watch the fullPR & Marketing: The Ultimate Power Couple? webinar here for more on integrating your comms functions.

The white paper, ‘Trends in the integration of marketing and public relations’ , can be downloaded here.

PR & Marketing: The Ultimate Power Couple?

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It is a debate that has been raging for more than 50 years: how to integrate PR and Marketing. Successfully.

Vuelio’s latest white paper by Stephen Waddington explores the trends associated with integrating marketing and public relations. Gathering insight from industry professionals both in-house and from leading agencies, it uncovers a range of opportunities from ABM and community management to a changing media landscape and the reappraisal of brands.

In our latest webinar, PR & Marketing: The Ultimate Power Couple?, we bring you a discussion between Stephen Waddington; Suman Hughes, Director, Communications at Mastercard UK; and Tara O’Donnell, Managing Director UK at Hotwire Global, who will share their thoughts on how they see the integration of PR and marketing becoming a reality.

Fill in the form below to watch the webinar and learn:

  • The opportunities in PR and marketing integration
  • The impact Covid-19 has had on both functions
  • How to measure the success of integrated activities
The benefits of charity corporate partnerships

The benefits of charity corporate partnership for brands

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Red Nose Day is coming up this week, and while people across the country will be taking part in charitable endeavours for Friday 18 March (sometimes involving baked beans and bathtubs), big brands are taking part, too. It’s not just about handing over the giant cardboard cheques on the night; alongside the number one priority that is helping people in need, there are many other benefits to corporate partnerships with charities.

Sainsbury’s, Argos, Habitat, TK Maxx, British Airways, Walkers and the Premier League are just some of the big-name brands listed as partners this year on the Red Nose Day website – you may have already bought something from one of them that will result in a contribution to the charity. Want more warm and fuzzy feelings alongside bonus business boosts? Consider the added value for brands wanting to get involved in the charity sector.

As Kurt Geiger subsidiary Shoeholics’ head of brand marketing Angela Asiedua pointed out, regarding the brand’s charity partnership with Smart Works for its ‘Shoe Good’ charity arm, there’s no better time for businesses to do some good: ‘Shoe Good a key mission for us moving forward, especially after the challenges of covid. It seems more important than ever that we look after each other and help where we can’.

As part of the team-up between Shoeholics, Smart Works were able to give donated shoes and bags to the unemployed women they coach and support back into work. ‘With the support of partners, we can be ready to help any woman who needs our support with the tools she needs to succeed,’ said the charity’s CEO Kate Stephens.

Such team-ups can be light-hearted in tone, too. Prostate Cancer UK has a remit that requires sensitivity in its messaging – the charity has partnered with brands like Below the Belt Grooming for Men, which often use playful branding. Their partnership was a perfect fit – the brand pledged to raise £10,000 for the charity during 2018, with funds going to research into diagnosis and treatment, as well as support for those impacted by prostate cancer.

‘It is partners such as these that will help us make prostate cancer a disease that the next generation of men need not fear,’ said director of fundraising James Beeby.

Awareness-raising and starting conversations about frightening topics is a key element of these partnerships. Just as the reputation of a charity can help highlight the credence and kindness of a business, that brand can give the charities it works with the benefits of its own ‘personality’; sometimes humorous, blunt or straightforward.

As shared by Numan’s marketing manager Abbie Moujaes in her guest post on healthcare comms, a straightforward tone can be difficult to nail when your subject matter is so potentially serious and life-altering, but if you can nail it, it will pay off in awareness and engagement. A bold and no-nonsense tone in comms may not always come naturally for an established charity; it can for consumer brands who have it built into their brand DNA already.

If you’re part of a brand’s in-house team and want to work with charity initiatives like Red Nose Day beyond bathing in baked beans to raise money, there are plenty of possible partnerships that will fit your organisation’s existing values and add to its purpose. Brands like SalesForce have teamed up with Human Appeal and Hands On London’s UK Wrap Up event, which has had six years of success so far. In 2019 alone, the initiative helped get 5,219 warm coats to local charities.

Initiatives like The Charities Aid Foundation have resources for finding corporate partnerships.

As the past few years have shown us all, people expect more from the businesses they buy from. If you have found success with your brand’s comms plan, it is the perfect time to share the benefits of your skillset.

In need of PR and comms solutions for your charity? Take a look at how Vuelio’s services can help you manage vital relationships, reach influential figures and access the political landscape here.

For more on building a charity brand, catch up with our webinar on the subject with Scouts and Shape History.

Want info on helping a local charity with their PR strategy? Check out this previous guest post from Spike’s Andre Gwilliam.

And for charities doing great things with their digital content, check out these 10 Top UK Charity Blogs.

Fair recruitment in PR and comms

How can PR and comms teams make recruitment fair?

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It’s no secret that the creative industries have a long-established problem with hiring and promoting fairly and this needs to change. Don’t see an issue? If you haven’t experienced this yourself, you may need to pay attention to who exactly is working around you and then consider just how representative your team is of the wider society we serve.

You can take the time to consider the backgrounds the people you work with have come from. You can check out the data on the make-up of the PR industry, where 74% identify as white British (according to the 2021 PRCA Census). As Hotwire Global’s senior account director Natasha Gay warns – ‘We can’t yet consign to history the idea PR is only for young, white women’.

‘The good news is change is happening and progress is being made,’ says Melissa Lawrence, chief executive at the Taylor Bennett Foundation, which works to improve ethnic diversity in PR and comms. While initiatives like the Foundation, PRCA’s Race & Ethnicity Equity Board (REEB), the Social Mobility Foundation, Socially Mobile and A Leader Like Me are leading the change, organisations themselves have work to do.

‘The argument of not being able to find qualified Black candidates just doesn’t hold up in 2022,’ says Career Masterclass founder and CEO Bukola Adisa, who works to enable the progression of ethnically diverse professionals. ‘There are a plethora of resources available, from specialist talent sourcing organisations to AI solutions that are designed to help organisations to overcome individual and organisational biases in the recruitment process.’

The path to success starts with full understanding of what you’re up against, says Dr Femi Olu-Lafe, senior vice president, global inclusion at Kinesso: ‘The companies that have made the most meaningful progress took the time to firstly understand their current state and set a clear vision for the future state, before seeking input (internally and externally) about what was needed to make meaningful change. They also committed to short- and long-term goals on paper by building a roadmap with the steps to get there.’

We can’t find the talent – where should we be looking?
For a start, expand your aim.

‘Build strong partnerships with organisations and universities that have connections with people from historically excluded communities. When possible, this should be a two-way beneficial relationship; rather than companies just recruiting, companies could consider how they could also invest in the growth of these organisations, universities and communities,’ says Dr Femi.

‘And building your brand as a company that candidates seek out. Candidates want an inclusive culture where they can thrive. Being transparent about the long-term mission and short-term steps to get there will help enhance your credibility.’

‘Companies should be looking at a diverse range of places to advertise their roles, and attract talent,’ adds Melissa. ‘They can also engage with organisations who are actively working with the people they are trying to attract.’

And on the subject of such organisations…

Which initiatives can help with recruiting fairly?
‘Let’s start with the Taylor Bennett Foundation!’ says its chief exec Melissa.

‘We work really hard to engage people from ethnically diverse backgrounds at all levels. Our programmes are always oversubscribed and what we need are more opportunities for our candidate network to apply to. There are lots of other positive action initiatives out there, recruiters need to do a bit of work to find the right one for them.’

Bukola is also ready to connect businesses with talent: ‘Through our global community of professionals and access to our wide network of Black talent, at Career Masterclass, we are able to support organisations who want to recruit from a wide pipeline of diverse talent through our recruitment solutions including jobs board, executive searches and targeted outreach to our community and network.’

But before bringing in the experts, you may need to convince your hierarchy higher-ups that there is a problem that needs fixing…

How do I speak to my Board about this?
‘The tone from the top is critical to successfully building a diverse and inclusive culture in the workplace,’ says Bukola. ‘HR teams have to invest time in educating the board and senior management team on why diversity is not a ‘nice to have’ and how it is pivotal to building a sustainable and successful business as multiple studies have shown that diversity impacts businesses positively and contributes to the bottom line.’

‘There is so much information available on how important the contribution of diverse talent is to an organisation,’ says Melissa at Taylor Bennett.

‘There are multiple reports from the likes of McKinsey, Business in the Community and the PR/Comms industry bodies that highlight the moral, business and financial case that hiring managers can draw resources from to make their case to their boards.’

Some board members may need a short history lesson/update on how that impacts the present, warns Dr Femi:

‘Increase the awareness of those with the power to make decisions about what led us to where we are now (i.e. sharing context on the historical exclusion of some groups of individuals) and the current inequities that exist.

‘It’s also important to place emphasis on the benefits (e.g. increased employee engagement and retention, enhanced innovation, better understanding of customer base, stronger business results) and risks of not focusing on diversity and inclusion (e.g. gaps in decision making, clients and customers are being proactive about holding companies accountable around diversity and inclusion, lagging competitors).

Who is already doing recruitment right?
Melissa recommends TUC – ‘Antonia Bance, head of campaigns, communications and digital trade wrote a blog for the Taylor Bennett Foundation last year titled ‘Making your communications and PR recruitment more inclusive‘. In the blog she included six points on what she thought worked well from the attraction to conclusion stage – it’s a great read’.

Recruiting to put together fully representative teams is just the start of the journey for PR and comms – creating an environment where everyone feels safe and supported to do their best work is just as important.

‘Companies need to create an environment where people feel supported and encouraged to thrive,’ advises Melissa.

‘I personally feel an organisation that actively promotes equity and inclusion will ensure their team feels welcome, valued and safe in their roles.’

And if this all wasn’t enough to encourage you to ensure your recruitment processes are fair, it turns out that diverse and supported teams are better for everybody across a business, including their customers. Final word from Bukola:

‘A plethora of studies speak to the benefits of diversity for organisations. A 2017 McKinsey Study used a data set of 1,000 companies to determine that profitability and long-term valuation increased dramatically when teams were diverse. Diversity in People Management also advances better decisions: according to a study, researchers found that diverse teams outperformed individual decision-makers in making a business decision up to 87% of the time.

‘Diversity leads to a variety of perspectives, greater creativity, confidence in the team, fortifies loyalty, draws in talent, and even improves productivity. Diversity breeds innovation, and innovation breeds success. When leaders actively champion diversity in the workplace, the benefits become far-reaching, impacting not just employee engagement and satisfaction, but also the company’s bottom line’.

For more on building diversity into your team, watch our accessmatters sessions with Taylor Bennett Foundation’s Melissa Lawrence as well as the Social Mobility Foundation’s Sarah Atkinson and Proud FT’s Cassius Naylor. 

PR leaders celebrate International Women's Day

IWD 2022: PR and comms leaders support #BreakTheBias

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This is a guest post from the team at Hotwire Global. 

Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women’s equality. Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.

That’s the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day 2022. We spoke to a number of PR and communications professionals in the industry to ask about their experiences and shed light on how we can all play our part to spark lasting change.

Rebecca Taylor-Cottle, Head of Communications, EMEA at Citrix
Rebecca Taylor-Cottle‘As communications professionals, we have a significant amount of influence within our businesses. With the right planning and dedication, we can use this influence to elevate women’s stories, sponsor women, and raise their profiles both internally and externally. In a former role, I did an audit of the people who represent our business in the media and found them to be just 3% women. I then looked for ways to improve things, running more media training for women, introducing new narrative arcs, and simply elevating women’s voices on social media. A year later, 30% of our media coverage had a female spokesperson. By acting as a sponsor for women, I created a much more representative view of our business from a media standpoint, and helped some of those women develop and grow in their roles. We may not be in charge of who is hired, but Communications teams can still have a huge impact on women’s careers.’

Melanie Coffee, PR and Media Relations Director at Crayon
Melanie Coffee‘I’ve been a storyteller for over 20 years and am always on the hunt for a good story to share. We often hear about the lack of women in the IT space, but there’s certainly not a lack of stories about us. It’s just a matter of taking a brief moment to look and listen for them.

‘When I find out about a cool project, I like to talk to individual team members, not just the person leading it. In doing so, you will often get different insights that strengthen your story, and it is more inclusive for the whole team.

‘When it comes to working to #BreaktheBias, early in my career I was fortunate enough to work with some incredibly powerful women who showed me the different ways in which they “owned their space” and they were unafraid to stand up for what they thought was right. I carry those lessons with me and try to pay it forward through supporting women and young people in their careers.

‘This can happen through providing feedback 1:1 on their recent presentation, taking a few minutes to push them to “own their space,” combating feelings of imposter syndrome, and my personal favorite: Stop telling yourself no.

‘Sometimes we talk ourselves out of an idea before we even propose it. That’s telling ourselves “no.” We need to stop doing that and instead push forward. And if we “fail” then make sure we “fail” forward.

‘It’s also being transparent in my own work and life. How I have failed forward, how I struggle to balance family and work. I am hopeful that by being open and honest with others I can help them learn along the way.’

Natasha Gay, senior account director and UK Hotwire Ignite Possibilities Programme (HIPP) lead, at Hotwire Global
Natasha Gay‘As an industry, we must do more to restore the diversity balance through actions, in order to shift the narrative. It all starts with people, and it can’t be done in a tokenistic way.

‘We can’t yet consign to history the idea PR is only for young, white women. According to the most recent PRCA census, 74% of those working in the industry identify as white British and the average is 38.

‘We should be actively looking for ways to increase the diversity of our workforce. This extends beyond recruitment – it starts at an education level. It’s about recognising and understanding why the industry has not diversified like other sectors. This is something that we at Hotwire feel very passionate about and, as a start, we are working with organisations like 10000 Black Interns to help address this.’

Vic Miller, VP PR & Communications at GWI:
Vic Miller‘The term ‘PR girl’ should be banished for eternity. Now in my 40s I rarely get ‘girl’ but the concept is still the same – the presumption that there is a woman who does PR and she’s at your service. This completely removes the understanding that PR and comms is a strategic role that often needs to set the strategy as well as deliver on it.’

For more on how the UK PR industry is marking IWD 2022, check out our blog here.

International Women's Day 2022 in PR and comms

UK PR and comms industry celebrates International Women’s Day 2022

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Is International Women’s Day still necessary to acknowledge in PR in 2022? While the workforce that makes up the PR and communications industry in the UK is mainly female, our sector is not fully equal across the board on gender quite yet…

Because while we’re on the subject of Boards – they’re still mostly led by men. Balancing home life and work – a necessary consideration for many women; not always for their male counterparts – has been even harder for many because of the pandemic and unconscious (and occasionally conscious) bias continues to impact career success. Where gender intersects with race, class and sexuality, the inequality built into our industry becomes even more difficult to overcome.

Yes – International Women’s Day is still important to recognise and celebrate, even in a sector that may seem to outsiders like it’s getting it right. So, happy IWD to all women; here are just come of the events and initiatives happening across PR and comms today to mark the occasion.

Recharging
M&F Health is giving its entire agency a day off in honour of International Women’s Day, encouraging staff to book a doctor’s appointment, take an exercise class or use the time to reflect and recharge.

‘74% of our agency are women and working in health and wellbeing as we do every day, makes us especially aware of the importance of taking care of our own health,’ says James Hollaway, M&F Health owner and managing director.

Inspiration for the move – the agency’s client Organon, which will also be giving its 10,000 employees a day off to prioritise their health, or the health of the women in their lives.

Educating
Over at performance marketing agency Journey Further, 160 members of staff across all three office locations will have access to a full-day event focusing on the three pillars of inspiration, education and celebration.

‘It’s important that the day is not only actionable, but also relevant to our staff,’ says PR director Beth Nunnington.

‘To ensure we are covering topics that will make the most impact, we spoke to a diverse group of women across the business, plus heads of departments, to gather feedback about which topics they would like us to put a spotlight on. Our day will include internal speakers, third party speakers, and existing content, such as Ted Talks and roundtable discussions. We’ll continue to drive this action all year round, not just on 8 March.’

Celebrating changemakers
With local London charities, the Charities Aid Foundation will be taking part in a Statue Walk with the Charities Aid Foundation, aiming to draw attention to how much work there is still to do to raise awareness about women’s equality and accelerate gender parity across the world, while celebrating women who have left their marks on history.

International Women's Day walk

‘International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the achievements of women and efforts towards making the world a more balanced place,’ says CAF Bank CEO and leader of the IWD Statue Walk Initiative Alison Taylor.

‘This day also marks a timely call to action following two years of a pandemic during which women’s employment has fallen and inequalities involving childcare and unpaid labour have become more evident.’

Supporting with sports
Fourth Day has sponsored the Stockport Vikings Pumas U8s and U13s girls football teams – which play in the South Manchester Girls Football League and Cheshire Girls Football League.

The daughters of two members of the Fourth Day team play for Stockport Vikings Pumas, with one of the team, account manager Caroline Fletcher, also coaching the U8s.

U8s Pumas

Nikki Scrivener, co-founder of Fourth Day said: ‘Working with technology clients we still see lots of areas where women are under-represented. The same is true in football, so we can see obvious comparisons. But there are brilliant signs of change everywhere. IWD is a chance for everyone to celebrate this change and show that we are still striving for more.’

Keeping the conversation going
Vhari Russell and her team at The Food Marketing Experts are passionate about gender equality and will be weaving this into the way they work for 8 March and beyond.

Vhari said: ‘As a business we are part of a number of mentoring programs in which we have the opportunity to share and guide business owners and will be using this opportunity to help women in business thrive. We will be sharing blogs about women in the food industry that have bucked the norm and driven huge growth in their sectors. We’ll be sharing views and content for the whole of March, as it is important to keep the conversation going.’

For more on equality in comms, check out our accessmatters session with Melissa Lawrence about the Taylor Bennett Foundation as well as our interview Advita Patel about the work of A Leader Like Me.

For connecting with journalists writing about these issues, try the Journalist Enquiry Service to receive requests from them directly to your inbox, or get to know the writers covering your sector with Vuelio’s Media Database and Monitoring solutions.

Accessible Communications Guidelines for Spring 2022

PRCA releases updated guide to help PRs deliver accessible content

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The Spring update of the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA)’s Accessible Communications Guidelines is now available for download.

Following its original release in April 2021 and produced in partnership with Current Global, the guide aims to aid PR and comms practitioners ensure that their content is accessible for all audiences they’re hoping to engage.

PRs who want to learn more about accessibility and improve their current offering can find advice and information on creating video and animated graphics as well as the use of language and the importance of representation. In addition to advice on digital and print content, the guide also features best practice on hosting fully-accessible events, both virtual and physical.

PRCA Director General and Chief Executive of ICCO Francis Ingham said:

‘Our guidelines for accessible communications are designed to help every member of the PRCA and the wider industry create more inclusive content and campaigns. The technology and tools to help us do this are readily available. The key priority is to update the way we work to adhere to best practices laid out in the Spring Edition document.

‘I want to recognise Current Global for partnering with the PRCA to develop these guidelines and for helping us instigate change across the industry. I would also like to thank our Digital Inclusion Partner Texthelp for their invaluable contribution to the Spring Edition.’

Current Global co-founder and CEO George Coleman added:

‘Every day content is published that isn’t accessible to all. Over a billion people worldwide have some form of disability, a significant audience many are excluding by default or design. We must change this. Morally, and commercially, it’s the right thing to do. It’s been extremely encouraging to see how well the guidelines have been received to-date; but it’s dynamic space, so a year on it felt timely to do a refresh. We hope they continue to be a valuable practical resource that contributes to meaningful change across the industry.’

The Accessible Communications Guidelines can be downloaded in both PDF and Word format.

For more on accessibility in the public relations and communications industry, here are five ways to make your workplace more inclusive for dyslexic people as well as this interview with Mark Webb and Sudha Singh on fairer representations of disability in PR.

Statistics on four-day working week in comms

‘Yes’ to four-day working week say a third of comms leaders

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Three out of ten (29%) decision makers in the UK communications sector are seriously considering the move to a four-day working week, according to the latest UK Confidence Tracker from PRCA and ICCO.

A further 8% of comms leaders – a mix of CEOs, directors and heads of department – polled for the study carried out by Question & Retain have already adopted the working structure. This positive message for fans of the model reinforces a recent PRCA MENA study that found UAE professionals believe they work more efficiently under the new four and a half day working week adopted in UAE.

The quarterly Confidence Tracker from PRCA and ICCO tracks market confidence across the worldwide public relations industry. This year shows a boost in confidence and investment within the sector, as over two-thirds (72%) of in-house teams and PR agencies are hiring. In an increase of 3% from the last tracker update in October of last year, around nine in ten (87%) feel ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ about the future of their business.

‘The data from our latest Global Confidence Tracker is very encouraging,’ believes PRCA director general and ICCO chief executive Francis Ingham.

‘Market confidence around the world is now higher than at any point since the beginning of the pandemic and the growing confidence is reflected in the number of organisations hiring. The four-day working week is an interesting proposition for agencies and in-house teams, many of whom are looking for creative ways to attract and retain the most talented professionals. The model won’t work for everyone but there are clear benefits for those willing to embrace change.’

The full PRCA and ICCO Confidence Tracker results for this quarter can be downloaded here.

Previous tracker findings from May 2020 can be found here, as can this update from March 2021.

For more about the work of Question & Retain, check out this guest post from its founder and CEO Annabel Dunstan on the benefits of working from home and the difference it has made to her team.

CIPR Communicating in a Crisis

CIPR celebrates the value of PR with publication of ‘Communicating in a Crisis’

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The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is showcasing the strategic value of PR to organisations with the release of its new guide ‘Communicating in a Crisis’.

21 case studies – entries from the 2021 CIPR Excellence Awards’ Best COVID Response category – detail the way organisations utilised public relations to manage crisis and includes tips for businesses on making the most of their own PR teams.

The award-winning case studies featured include:

– King’s College London & ZOE (Giving scientists real-time data to fight COVID-19
– NHS in the North East and North Cumbria (The Great North NHS Comms Network
– Lloyds Banking Group (Helping Britain Recover)
– Scouts #TheGreatIndoors (The Scouts’ response to COVID-19)
– AstraZeneca (Emerging strong from the pandemic)
– Liberty Communications Limited (Tech for good – hacking for humanity)
– Ascenti (Using health and wellbeing to support staff returning to work after lockdown)
– University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (Communications: a critical role in an effective response

Examples of valuable work done by the featured comms teams include their fight against misinformation, uniting remote teams, vaccine rollout support, and adapting to a changing economic environment.

‘The breadth of case studies in this guide demonstrates how public relations enables organisations to confidently communicate through difficult times,’ said CIPR President Rachel Roberts.

‘This guide demonstrates the versatility of public relations and how irrespective of the challenge faced by organisations, communications consistently acts as the bridge to enable organisations to inform and reassure their stakeholders. This guide will act as a great resource for all PR professionals as they scenario plan for the future and is a welcome addition to our industry knowledge resource.’

CIPR’s Alastair McCapra said:

‘PR professionals have shown what can be achieved in the midst of an overwhelming crisis. Now, however, the world has shifted again. We [had] all believed that COVID-19 was something that would leave scars but something that as a society we would be able to put behind us and return to normal. From the vantage point of early 2022, perspectives are now shifting on this.

‘COVID-19 has taught the world many lessons, one of the lasting ones must be that the resilience and power of communications professionals should never be doubted.’

The full ‘Communicating in a Crisis’ report from CIPR can be downloaded here on the website.

For more on managing communications effectively during difficult times, read this guest post from Onyx Health’s managing director Karen Winterhalter on learning the lessons from the COVID-19 crisis.