The government’s Autumn Budget gives accountants and lawyers the chance to be “rock stars” for the day. But what, asks Matt Baldwin, does a good Budget communications strategy look like?
Budget Day, the annual fiscal set piece for the government, was greeted this year by professional services PR and communications teams with anticipation. It is the one day of the year when everyone wants to know what accountants and lawyers think, and no more so following the first Labour Budget in 14 years.
Yes, it is a lot of work, increasingly difficult to cut through the noise and involves considerable firm resource. But it is a chance for firms – and their marketing and communications teams – to shine with clients and in the media.
“Budget Day starts at 12.30 when the Chancellor opens her speech, and we wrap up at around 10pm that evening,” explains Dan Gray, Head of Marketing at the accountants Blick Rothenberg. “But really, for us, Budget Day this time around started immediately after the General Election in July.”
With the Budget announced immediately after the election and followed by a series of headline policies, speculation and opportunity for media engagement became increasingly frenzied and client guidance urgent.
Yet with rumour and speculation running high, there was a risk that communications strategies lose focus with firms tempted to chase headlines and press coverage.
So what does a good Budget Day communications strategy look like, and what might firms learn before Rachel Reeves’ second Labour Budget in 2025?
“Start planning now,” says Will White, a director at the communications advisers Omnia and past Global Director of Communications & Marketing at Baker McKenzie and Director of Global Media Relations at EY.
“There are now more people than ever sharing comment and their opinions,” he says, “and journalists look to those they already have a relationship with. That means building your PR presence throughout the year.”
Dan agrees. “We are bullish in our PR and comms throughout the year, meaning media outlets know what to expect when speaking to Blick Rothenberg. It’s factual, but we don’t pull any punches.”
It is, they both agree, the relationships that you build with press throughout the year that will pay dividends on Budget Day. In a world where soundbites rule, short, pithy commentaries that focus on impact rather than technical detail matter.
Prepare, prepare, prepare
As the big day approaches, activity ramps up. Increasingly, the government announces much of the Budget headlines weeks in advance, giving PR and communications teams opportunity to shape activity.
“Activity accelerates around six weeks before the Budget,” says Fiona McCartney, the Public Relations Manager at professional services consultancy Barnett Waddingham. “We comment on the rumours, providing insights and advice, along with our predictions on what the Chancellor might add to the Budget.”
With a week or two to go, the focus will turn to Budget Day itself.
“We begin to reach out to specific journalists and plan as much as we can in advance,” says Fiona. “We want key journalists expecting and waiting for our contributions on the day.”
Will, working this year with MHA, identified 20 or so big issues that were likely to crop up on the day and prepared comment in advance to review and top and tail on Budget Day.
Comment has to be “pithy and on point”, he says. “You have to say something, explain the implications, and not just repeat what the Chancellor says.” And that can be prepared days in advance.
Fiona agrees. “We knew that employers’ National Insurance was going to change so we could prepare comment in advance, tweaking it on the day.”
Blick Rothenberg took this one step further and had its partners and directors embedded in media organisations. It meant that on Budget Day 10 Blick Rothenberg partners were sitting alongside national media journalists offering moment-by-moment commentaries.
Yet press comment on its own is often not enough to cut through the noise.
“We have a lot of unique data based on the work we do and we use that to back up the comment we provide,” explains Fiona. “We were able to explain exactly what a change in NICs will mean for employers based on our data, and that landed well.”
Blick Rothenberg built an online tax calculator as part of its media outreach, giving newspapers the opportunity to offer readers their own budget calculator based on six key measures.
“Twelve national newspapers and broadcasters carried our Blick Rothenberg branded tax calculator, garnering 19 million impressions. That was on top of 145 separate pieces of press,” says Dan. “Despite the intense work, the firm appreciates the effort and visibility it brings. And our clients love it.”
War room
Many professional services firms create a budget war room where teams dissect and analyse the big announcements as they happen. Irrespective of size of firm, the key is to allocate clear responsibilities.
“We had dedicated teams focused on individual client groups,” explains Fiona, “meaning we quickly created comment for journalists with specific interests and, importantly, our clients.”
Blick Rothenberg this year brought a team of 15 people dedicated to media activity in addition to those embedded with media outlets, with a similar number focused on feeding commentary and insight into client communications. It meant that before the Chancellor sat down, five press releases were already with journalists, with seven more to follow before 4pm.
“It is a lot of content,” says Dan, “but it lands. It is the one time of year when accountants become rock stars.”
Clients first
Not every firm will want or find it possible to create a large budget war room, meaning difficult decisions need to be made when balancing the demands of the media and the need for timely and impactful client comms.
That means for many firms, clients come first. Kreston Reeves, a top-30 accountancy firm, uses the Budget to create a “top implications for businesses and individuals” update that lands in client in-boxes before the day is out.
“We focus on what the Budget means for our business and private clients and distil that into a newsletter that focuses on the changes that will impact them the most,” explains Natasha Nutten, a Senior Marketing Manager at Kreston Reeves.
“The aim is not to repeat what the Chancellor says, but to add value and guidance by looking behind the detail that immediately follows and focus on what matters most to our clients.”
Sitting behind its ‘top implications’ newsletter is a series of more detailed articles that drill into the changes in detail and its flagship Budget Question Time webinar.
“This year, nearly 800 people registered to join the firm live on the Friday after the Budget,” says Natasha. “It was an interactive event with over 15% of attendees submitting questions to our panel.
“A recording of the webinar was posted to our YouTube and has, so far, had more than 32,000 views – our most popular webinar recording to date.”
For FRP Advisory, it meant doing something completely different. Two weeks before the Budget, FRP organised an in-person client question-and-answer event in central London.
“We put together a panel of speakers from inside FRP and industry bodies to harness and discuss the conversations clients were having,” explains Business Development Manager Hannah Berryman. “We had 70 key clients and intermediaries join us for the evening.”
It was enough to put FRP front and centre of clients’ minds on Budget Day, giving the firm breathing space to create individual targeted client commentaries.
The aftermath of Labour’s first Budget in 14 years continues to give professional services firms plenty of opportunity to demonstrate insight and expertise. But the message is clear – to be budget rock stars, planning is needed now.
Matt Baldwin is the editor of PM and joint managing director of Coast Communications, a PR and communications consultancy. He has sat through 22 consecutive budgets helping professional services firms with their communications programmes.
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