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The Australian Federal Budget is the “silly season” of the financial services sector. It’s marked by a plethora of talking heads all offering their opinion. However, for the canny financial services marketer, it’s a time when all media, from mainstream to niche, are looking for relevant content and expert commentary.
So, with little time to predict, digest and respond to ScoMo’s announcement, how do you ensure your brand and its spokespeople are front and centre in Budget Night media coverage? That’s just the challenge we tackled with one of our clients for #Budget2017.
Background:
Our client’s recent rebrand has resulted in lower brand recognition amongst its target audience. As part of the new brand’s awareness build, they wanted to demonstrate thought leadership in the retirement/ financial planning space. Identifying that the Federal Budget was a key media opportunity for our client to gain brand exposure, BlueChip worked with them to create a plan that would get their analysis of what the budget means for Australians out there.
Our approach:
We developed a proactive PR action plan several months out from the Budget, covering the lead up to, the night of and the days after Budget night. The pre-Budget public leaks and surrounding discussions allowed us to develop key messages and talking points for our client to use throughout the period. We were proactively pitching our client to media in advance to ensure we had a spot in their line-up, and even pre-recorded radio grabs to distribute to media to maximise our reach.
Results:
Our client achieved over 300 media mentions reaching an estimated 19 million people, including interviews on the major free-to-air networks, syndicated commentary in News Corporation and Fairfax press, and across over 130 radio stations including 2UE and 3AW.
Or as our client put it:
“BlueChip really provided us with outcomes… the results we’ve seen from this are phenomenal.”
Key Learnings:
1. Start planning early
We were working with our client months before the Budget to develop an action plan and key messaging ahead of time, ensuring we spent less time developing their response on the night and more time talking to the Australian public via media.
2. Bring a human touch
Part of the reason we were able to achieve these results is we focused on real people by developing case studies of our client’s members. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of talking heads, but stories from real people cut through.
3. Get the right media mix
In the age of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other self-publishing platforms it can be tempting to disregard traditional media. However, to reach a mass audience, on a topic of national interest, broadcast media is still one of the most effective channels.
4. Know what you’re trying to achieve
We developed clear KPIs with the client from the start, ensuring our strategy was aligned with what they were trying to achieve. This allowed us to plan more effectively, and we were able to considerably exceed our target KPIs to get the best result for our client.
Results like this aren’t an accident. They take planning, partnering and disciplined execution, attributes any project plan (and indeed long-term professional relationship) requires to ensure success.
Whether you’re looking to get your message out there on budget night or ensuring your financial services brand gets the attention it should, we’d be delighted to help.
