Due to tough macroeconomic, regulatory and resourcing challenges, professional services firms were under pressure to cut through the noise in an increasingly challenging marketplace. As Menzies LLP’s PR agency, it was our job to develop a media and content strategy that set the accountancy firm apart from its competitors, in order to both support its employer brand and position it as a thought leader in its field.   

Taking advantage of political moments, such as the Government changes or announcements including General Elections, or fiscal updates – such as the Spring Statement and Autumn Budget – formed a key part of our media strategy. It allowed the firm to really showcase just how much it had its finger on the pulse of the issues that really mattered to its target market.   

With nearly every accountancy, financial advisory and professional services firm in the country preparing commentary and reaction ahead of, during and after Budget Day, Menzies LLP’s needed their commentary to achieve cut through.  

Media outlets generally start covering the Budget a few weeks before, with experts giving their predictions. While this gives firms ample opportunity to comment, having a comprehensive strategy is needed to ensure that the opportunities that are secured are targeted and relevant.  

Achieving on the day Budget Day coverage in national and tier one media, requires a combination of speed and quality. The comments need to give unique insight and expert analysis but also be in journalists’ inboxes as soon as the Chancellor’s speech concluded.  

With literally hundreds of firms competing for Budget Day press coverage, the PR team needed to be able to digest the information quickly and use their sector knowledge to understand the impacts of the policy changes. Using our knowledge of the media, we are able to identify which of the expert’s insights are the most newsworthy and will pique a journalist’s interest.  

Our team aligned pre-Budget opportunities with the company’s key growth areas and commercial goals. This required identifying which of the firm’s specialist sectors would most likely be affected by the changes, and contacting the most relevant and reputable publications and journalists. As we work with Menzies LLP on a long-term, retained basis, we’ve built strong relationships with key journalists, making securing good opportunities during competitive periods, such as the Budget, much easier as the journalists know that they can rely on our team to provide them with quality analysis on tight deadlines.  

To achieve coverage on the day, we decided to split our team into two camps: our expert copywriting team were drafting comments, and based at Menzies’ offices, and the media pros focusing on media liaison, at Pearl Comms HQ.  

By having our designated writers immersed in the action, sitting with the tax experts and watching the speech together, we were able to curate the comments in real-time minimising the time needed for approvals. Being with the tax experts in person also allowed for discussion to help easily refine the comments and pull out interesting discussion points.  

As soon as the comments were drafted and approved, they were sent to the media team for issuing. Using a bespoke media list that was continuously updated to ensure that no stone was left unturned. After issuing the comment, the team then tirelessly followed up with the journalists throughout the day to maximise the chance of coverage.  

As well as securing high profile coverage for the comments they were also able to start securing post-Budget opportunities, such as interviews and long-form thought leadership articles analysing the policies in greater detail and giving advice on how Menzies LLP’s target audiences should respond.  

Our efficient processes and knowledge of the media led to 16 pieces of coverage, spread across regional, trade and national media publications across the Budget period. As well as quality and quantity of titles, we worked to ensure each piece of coverage was placed in a relevant title to better reach the firm’s target audiences.  

As well as media coverage, we were able to utilise experts’ insights across all the firm’s marketing channels. Once the coverage was published, we were able to post it on social media channels to increase its reach. We also drafted a series of LinkedIn blogs for key experts to amplify more detailed insights. We then re-worked the comments into web content to ensure that its value is maximised. 

The Budget Day media strategy was crucial to showing that the team at Menzies LLP are experts in their sector, and that the business was in touch with current political and economic factors that impact their clients. Thanks to our proactive media outreach, collaborative copywriting team and our comms knowledge, we secured fantastic results helping to position Menzies LLP as true thought leaders.