“Commenting on political affairs does not always mean giving one’s opinion on whether the government is right or wrong in taking the actions it is taking.”
You shouldn’t talk politics at the dinner table. At least that’s what my mother used to say.
Politics is inherently divisive and remains taboo in certain situations, whether it’s a family meal, a first date or a business meeting. This attitude is often reflected in public relations as well, with many organisations feeling uncomfortable or reluctant to intervene on political issues.
Why? Typically, this attitude is born out of an organization’s fear of alienating an audience by advancing viewpoints that readers don’t agree with. When it comes to their external communications, however, many brands remain staunchly apolitical.
This is certainly the case in the lending sector. Having worked in financial services PR for a decade now, I know that financial and mortgage providers are often reluctant to comment on political affairs, preferring instead to use PR and communications strategies that are primarily driven by their own news – i.e. issuing press releases about their products and people.
This is a safe and understandable approach. But failing to engage in politics will also significantly hamper a lender’s ability to generate brand awareness, establish itself as a thought leader, and create content that resonates with its target audience (whether intermediaries or borrowers).
Why Lenders Need to Engage in Politics
In other words, because politics is so intertwined with everyday life and has such a profound influence on the behaviors and sentiments of consumers, investors, and businesses, by not engaging in this broad debate, a lender will severely limit the topics it can talk about. As noted earlier, the end result is a tendency to talk only about itself, as if the company’s products and services exist in a political vacuum.
Politics, regulation, legislation, taxation, investment: government decisions shape the property market, and lenders must consistently adapt their offerings accordingly. It makes sense, then, for lenders to be more forthcoming about relevant political trends and events, drawing a clearer distinction between what’s happening in Westminster and how they’re responding to better support their clients.
Furthermore, from a PR perspective, if a lender’s objective is to improve brand awareness and reputation (which, broadly speaking, is almost always the core objective of a PR strategy), then the company will struggle to achieve this if its external communications are devoid of any political interest. Politics dominates the media landscape, not just for national, regional and broadcast news, but also for the trade press; the Labour Party conference this week and its upcoming Autumn Budget (30 October) are prime examples of this, as they drive the media agenda.
Ultimately, politics is important to most people. It occupies their thoughts and makes up a large portion of the media they interact with. Therefore, discussing politics, whether by commenting on major news events or publishing articles on current topics, is a very effective method of ensuring that a lender’s name appears prominently in the media. And, more importantly, it is a very effective method of ensuring that a lender’s communications strategy – and the content it creates – will resonate with the people it wants to read (even if it is in a B2B context).
The question then is how best to integrate politics into a public relations and communications strategy.
How to walk the tightrope
The fear of alienating your audience is legitimate. A lender risks damaging its brand and, therefore, its chances of engaging with potential customers, if it displays its colours loud and clear.
It is important to note, however, that commenting on political affairs does not always mean giving one’s opinion on whether the government is right or wrong in taking the action it is taking. Sometimes there is a clear reason to do so, usually when there is consensus within a sector around a particular policy or reform. But more often, attitudes are divided and the best option is to avoid expressing strong political views.
This poses an interesting public relations challenge: how can lenders engage in politics without needing to express strong political views themselves?
Here are my top tips:
1. Preparation is key
One of the key challenges of policy-focused PR is the ability to react quickly. Consider this example: the Prime Minister takes the stage at the Labour Party conference at 11am and in his speech Keir Starmer highlights radical planning reforms to boost housebuilding and get more people into home ownership. Time is of the essence – to be relevant, a lender needs to react quickly. If the announcement is caught off guard, the opportunity could come and go while the lender considers how to respond to the news.
That’s why preparation is so important. This includes establishing a timeline of upcoming political events – from tax filings like the fall budget to new bills coming into force – so that you can devote enough time to discussing the message the lender wants to convey. This may include drafting various commentaries in advance, ready to share with journalists depending on the outcome of a speech or political event.
Being proactive is the best way to be responsive – and getting ahead of other lenders is the best way to get your comments published in the media.
2. Focus on educating the reader
Without getting caught up in particular opinions, lenders can focus on producing external communications (blogs, social media and guest posts) that inform their target audience about political events and their potential implications. After all, the natural reaction to a major government announcement is “what does this mean for me?” Lenders can help answer that question. Consider the much-anticipated introduction of the Tenant Reform Bill earlier this month; lenders would do well to have created content to explain the ramifications of the bill and how landlords will need to respond.
3. Allow for nuance
Politics is never black and white. It is therefore useful to add nuance to political discourse by showing that there are many grey areas. Reducing a policy issue – such as the U-turn on the introduction of EPC regulations for buy-to-let properties – to a question of right or wrong, good or bad, is an oversimplification. Instead, lenders should delve deeper into their external communications, taking the time to note the potential pros and cons of a new policy, or recognising that there are differing views within the property market on a particular issue.
4. Consider using search
One of the best ways for a lender to lead policy discussions without having to express a strong opinion is to conduct research on a particular topic. For example, potential changes to capital gains tax have generated a lot of debate this year. If a lender is hesitant to be overly critical of the policy, they could instead commission a survey of investors or homeowners on the topic, and present their sentiments to the media to inform discussions on the topic.
5. Make sure your brand is relevant
At City Road Comms, we have worked with a wide range of businesses across the mortgage and specialist lending markets and we know how common it is for lenders to shy away from talking about politics. Politics is excluded from any external communications, often to the detriment of the wider PR and brand development strategy.
If done sensitively, taking into account differing opinions and often very complex and nuanced topics, integrating politics into an external communications strategy is a very effective way for a brand to ensure it is relevant, interesting and fashionable. More generally, PR that talks about the trends and issues that define the real estate market is a much more effective approach for lenders than bragging about themselves and their latest rate change.
