Financial PR can do more

Key takeaways:

• Public relations has a core, strategic role to play.
• PR teams excel when they’re at the table, helping to shape and support business strategy.
• Investing firms are embracing PR’s strategic contribution in shaping brand narratives, entering new markets, changing perceptions, and supporting M&A.

Is your PR department mainly charged with posting news releases? Are your PR pros merely gatekeepers who manage incoming requests from reporters and turn away any request that is in the least bit controversial?

That’s a shame. Because in our view, PR should be a strategic business function, especially at financial firms that are growing, exploring new markets, or trying to build a distinct and relevant brand.

How do new investment ideas get introduced to the market and catch hold? How do long-held opinions get changed? How have new brands broken out of nowhere?

Advertising? Sure, that’s part of it. Robust content outreach? Definitely. But don’t overlook the role of public relations in leading the communications and directions of these new strategies.

PR’s unique strategic contribution starts with direct access to company leadership. With an intimate knowledge of the business’ vision, the PR team can propose communications strategies tied to the core business objectives and—based on their external industry perspective and understanding—what it will take to achieve them. This lays the foundation for both alignment and accountability.

Below, we explore three recent examples of financial PR working—not in isolation but in close support of sales and business growth.

Entering new markets

The asset management industry is seeing a huge shift toward ETFs. Many managers have moved quickly to offer products that are still low cost but typically pursue active strategies whose benefits require a distinct communications strategy. While most PR teams are proficient at B2B marketing aimed at the intermediary distribution channel, entrants to the ETF space are learning to embrace a new, direct-to-consumer audience that is—by definition—larger, more diverse, and expensive to market to.

PR campaigns including earned media is cost-effective at reaching these markets, often in combination with paid strategies. What’s more, the collaboration of PR and digital marketing strategies can pay off as PR teams use real-time data to shape strategy. When the teams are aligned, they’re able to amplify earned media results through digital channels, measure the results, and fine-tune strategy in real time to optimize awareness and drive product usage.

But what if you’re bringing a truly differentiated strategy? Good for you—but that just raises the expectation that you’ll need to communicate in a thoughtful, deliberate way to get attention in this crowded market.

Changing product perceptions

The introduction of commission-free annuities years ago to RIAs and consumers faced significant headwinds given long-standing prejudices about the products, despite research showing their benefits in retirement portfolios. Annuities’ bad rap stemmed from high commissions that led to unsavory sales practices.

The leaders of one innovative platform offering annuities to both advisors and consumers believed that a PR effort could change the narrative, and the annuity platform undertook an extensive education effort for both media and advisors, including:

• The creation of annual Media Masterclasses to help reporters better understand the new landscape of low-cost annuities. The presentations featured academics and real-world stories to help demonstrate their value.
• A survey of advisors, helping to reveal how the products helped advisors build their practices.
• Development of content drawing on academic research and real-life examples of how retirees can improve long-term results by adding annuities to their portfolio.