"Commenting on political affairs does not always mean offering an opinion on whether the government is right or wrong to be taking the action it is."
You shouldn’t talk about politics at the dinner table. At least, that’s what my mum used to say.
Divisive by nature, politics is still seen as taboo in certain situations, whether that’s a family meal, first date or business meeting. This attitude is often reflected in public relations, too, with many organisations uncomfortable or unwilling to weigh in on political matters.
Why? Typically, it’s born out of an organisation’s fear of alienating an audience by putting forward views that readers don’t agree with. Rather, when it comes to their external communications, a lot of brands will remain staunchly apolitical.
This is certainly true in the lending sector. Having worked in financial services PR for a decade now, I know that specialist finance and mortgage providers are often reticent to comment on political affairs, favouring instead PR and comms strategies that are driven primarily by their own news – that is to say, sharing press releases about their products and people.
It’s a safe approach, and understandable. But a failure to engage in politics will also significantly hinder a lender’s ability to generate brand awareness, establish itself as a thought leader and create content that resonates with their desired audience (whether that is the intermediaries or borrowers).
Why lenders must engage with politics
Quite simply, given politics is entirely interwoven with everyday life – and has such a bearing on the behaviours and sentiments of consumers, investors and businesses – by not engaging in this vast arena for debate, a lender will severely limit what they can talk about. As noted, the end result is a propensity to only talk about oneself, as if the business’ products and services exist in a politics-free vacuum.
Policy, regulation, legislation, tax, investment – the decisions taken by the government shape the property market, with lenders invariably having to adapt their offerings accordingly. So, it makes sense for lenders to talk more openly about pertinent political trends and events, drawing clearer lines between what happens in Westminster and how they are responding in order to best support their clients.
Moreover, from a PR perspective, if a lender’s objective is to improve the awareness and reputation of its brand – which, broadly speaking, is almost always the fundamental objective of a PR strategy – then the firm will be hard placed to achieve this if its external comms is devoid of political affairs. Politics dominates the media landscape, not just for national, regional and broadcast news, but for the trade press too; Labour’s party conference this week, and its upcoming Autumn Budget (30 October) are prime examples of this, driving as they do the media agenda.
Ultimately, politics matters to most people. It consumes their thoughts and accounts for a great deal of the media they interact with. Discussing politics, therefore, whether by commenting on the day’s major news stories or providing guest articles on topical issues, is a highly effective method of ensuring a lender’s name appears prominently in the media. And, more than that, it is a highly effective method of ensuring a lender’s comms strategy – and the content it creates – will actually resonate with the human beings they want to read it (even if that is within a B2B context).
The question, then, is how to best build politics into a PR and comms strategy.
How to walk the tightrope
Fear of alienating the audience is valid. A lender risks doing damage to its brand and, in turn, its prospects of engaging with potential customers, if it nails its colours to the proverbial mast.
Crucially, though, commenting on political affairs does not always mean offering an opinion on whether the government is right or wrong to be taking the action it is. Sometimes, there will be a clear case for doing so – usually when there is consensus within an industry around a specific policy or reform. But more often than not, attitudes are divided, and the best option is to avoid expressing staunch political views.
This poses an interesting PR challenge: how can lenders engage with politics without themselves needing to voice strong politics opinions?
These are my top tips:
1. Preparation is key
One of the key challenges involved in politically focused PR is the ability to respond at speed. Take this example: the prime minister takes to the stage at the Labour conference at 11am and, in his speech, Keir Starmer focuses on radical planning reforms to boost housebuilding and get more people on the property ladder. The clock is ticking – to be relevant, a lender needs to respond quickly. If blindsided by the announcement, the opportunity could come and go while the lender considers what its reaction to the news should be.
That’s why preparation is so important. Namely, having a calendar of upcoming political events – from fiscal statements like the Autumn Budget through to new bills coming into effect – so that sufficient time can be allocated to discussing what message a lender wants to put out. This might include various comments being drafted in advance, ready for the relevant one(s) to be shared with journalists based on the outcome of a political speech or event.
Being proactive is the best way to be reactive – and stealing a march on other lenders is the best way to have your comments published in the media.
2. Focus on educating the reader
Without getting drawn into specific opinions, lenders can focus on producing external comms (blogs, social medias and guest articles) that educate their desired audience about political events and the potential implications of them. After all, the natural reaction to a major government announcement is ‘what does this mean for me?’ Lenders can help answer that question. Take the long-awaited introduction of the Renter’s Reform Bill earlier this month; lenders would be wise to have created content to explain the ramifications of this bill and how landlords will need to respond.
3. Allow for nuance
Politics is never black and white, so in political commentary it’s valuable to allow for some nuance by illustrating that there a lot of grey areas. Boiling down a political issue – such as the flip-flopping on the introduction of EPC regulations for buy-to-let properties – to being right or wrong, good or bad, is to dangerously oversimplify the matter at hand. Instead, lenders should add depth to their external communications, taking time to note the potential upsides and downsides of a new policy, or acknowledging that there are split opinions across the property market towards a particular issue.
4. Consider using research
One of the best ways that a lender can lead on political discussions without having to voice a strong opinion is to conduct research on a particular topic. For instance, potential changes to capital gains tax have sparked a lot of debate this year. If a lender is wary of being overly critical of this policy, they could instead commission a survey investors or homeowners about it, presenting their sentiments back to the media to inform discussions on the subject.
5. Make sure your brand is relevant
At City Road Comms, we have worked with a wide range of businesses from across the mortgage and specialist lending markets, and we know how common it is for lenders to be hesitant to talk about politics. It’s excluded from any external communication, often to the detriment of the broader PR and brand-building strategy.
If done tactfully, with due consideration to differing opinions and often very complex, nuanced subjects, then weaving politics into an external comms strategy is such an effective way for a brand to ensure it’s relevant, interesting and on-trend. More generally, PR that talks about the trends and issues defining the property market is a far more effective approach for lenders than purely shouting about themselves and their latest rate-change.
