If your brand is in the financial services sector, you don’t have to manufacture relevance

Whether it’s building reputation and trust, fostering customer loyalty, winning customers or engaging employees, brands in this space can create real, compelling insights that inform, educate, and inspire audiences, helping them cut through the noise and differentiate in what can be a crowded marketplace.

This happens in two ways:

• Making an impact through live news moments and coverage by working with broadcasters to provide the data, insight and spokespeople they need.
• Creating compelling content for their own channels. From a deep-dive podcast for their most engaged audiences, to livestreams for stakeholders and colleagues, to TikTok videos that demystify financial matters for younger audiences – brands can build a presence wherever their audiences choose to look.

We chatted to Mike and Henry Jones, editor of Wake Up to Money, to understand how you can unlock the expertise, data and lived experience already inside organisations operating in the world of finance, and use them across the many waves of broadcast, from sofa slots and live news moments to podcasts.

Finance stories resonate because they are:

• Emotionally charged. The cost of essentials isn’t an abstract concern – these kinds of stories have real and important stakes, from the viability of a treasured family business to the ability for essential goods to get from A to B.
• Woven into the fabric of daily life. Brands operating in this sector are central players in society. Mortgages, interest rates, savings, debt and the cost of living are permanent fixtures in broadcast programming – touching everything from lifestyle and culture chats to hard business news – and brands operating in this sector are the ones customers and producers actually turn to when those stories break.
• Hard to unpick without real expertise. Finance matters can be opaque and complex. People who can translate their expertise, with greater or lesser detail according to audience, will always be in demand.

In recent years, this wider relevance has been reflected in newsrooms. 

Mike Young explained how business and money programming has been, for the most part, enveloped by wider news – for example, the BBC’s team of financial journalists, once known as the business unit, is now the work and money team. Mike reads that as a sign that money affects everyone, whereas ‘business’, narrowly defined, may not, with the underlying philosophy that a strong business or finance story should be able to stand on the main news pages.

This isn’t the only change, however. As PRs grapple with the many waves of broadcast – live TV or radio hits, social snippets, and long-tail podcast and video – so too are journalists, and as such their role has evolved. Henry Jones had an apt example, where an interview with Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, on the Big Boss podcast had clips run on Wake Up to Money, Today and across the World Service. This demonstrates that stories don’t only move from A (live news) to B (social media), but exist instead in an ecosystem with many routes of travel.

For a brand riding the many waves of broadcast, this not only means that one well-judged booking can reach several programmes and audiences. It also gives you the opportunity to engage on your direct channels to complement your earned offering. 

Finance stories are so integral to the news agenda because they matter to both consumer and business lives, and the same expertise that earns a booking can also fill a podcast episode, a livestream or a short video. Material has the most potential when it can be adapted to land across different programmes and formats, and broadcasters and audiences are looking for PRs who understand the value of tailoring a story to every channel.

As mentioned above, for Mike, diesel is a case in point. A rise at the pump matters to someone filling the family car, but it also matters to hauliers and logistics firms working on narrow margins, to farmers and to rail operators, and the cost eventually reaches consumers again through prices. A single story can be told in several ways, using case studies with the real people affected, offering chief executives to speak to business journalists, and providing wider commentary from an economist or analyst.

Each audience wants its own asset, and the brand that can offer all three is easier to book. Add B-Roll, social media snippets, the offer of a podcast guest, or ready-made video, and more doors open than ever.

So what do producers want from brands in the finance sector?

It’s a common refrain from journalists, and one that Henry Jones confirmed – when pitching your stories, target the right people and get to the point. With 300 emails a day, he wants a clear picture of your business, its scale, where it operates and the spokesperson you’re proposing. Add the topics the person would handle well, plus a link to a previous interview if there is one.

PRs also need to understand the format. Today interview slots can be just three or four minutes, so the guest needs to offer something immediately relevant and useful. Henry also makes it clear that seniority is a real advantage in a guest – making the distinction between “players and talkers” – although specialists can work when they have particular expertise.

Leveraging your data and insights

One of the goldmines for finance brands is their own research and proprietary data, which can help you become reliable sources for journalists. Here are some tips from Mike Young for making the most of it:

• Think beyond launch day: Research can become relevant weeks after publication when the news agenda catches up with it. Don’t assume an older report has lost its value. In Mike’s words, “that data doesn’t just wither on the vine and disappear.”
• Own a niche and become a go-to source: The Nationwide and Halifax house price indices are examples of regular data releases that have become fixtures in financial reporting. Your understanding of particular costs or trends could make your brand famous in that area.
• Know what journalists will use in their particular programmes: Henry Jones explained that his team doesn’t cover standalone public opinion polls, but regular data series and sector-specific research can be useful.
• Consider regional relevance: Bespoke figures for different nations and regions can create opportunities with local programming. Both Mike and Henry pointed to how finance data specific to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales opens up the nations’ broadcasters to PRs. 

Five practical takeaways for broadcast success

1. Be ready to react, not just plan.

Financial calendars offer plenty of predictable opportunities, but breaking news requires flexibility. During the Budget, Henry Jones’ team watches the Chancellor’s speech before deciding whom to book in response to the announcements. Have media-trained spokespeople ready to respond quickly – as Mike says, “flexibility is one of the key words”. 

2. Make the complicated understandable.

Mike Young explains that experts who can explain financial concepts in everyday language and show what they mean for households are hugely appreciated by journalists. Don’t just explain what has happened – explain why it matters, whether that’s for someone’s mortgage, savings or household budget.

3. Bring personality and empathy.

Spokespeople need to sound human, not just knowledgeable. Mike recalled asking senior figures about their own experiences of buying a first home or taking out a loan, often revealing a more relatable side to their expertise. The strongest guests can connect their professional expertise with real experiences.

4. Do your homework and don’t fear the wider conversation.

Henry wants guests who understand the day’s news, not just their own business. Mike also encourages financial spokespeople not to shy away from political questions, while recognising that responding to a political issue doesn’t require taking a political position.

5. Think beyond your immediate specialism.

Mike encourages financial spokespeople to think about the conversations they could comfortably have in the pub about the wider economy. Financial experts often have a much wider understanding of the economy than they give themselves credit for. Look for opportunities to contribute to broader news conversations, while recognising the limits of your expertise.

Making the most of your place in the conversation

For financial brands, the opportunity isn’t necessarily about finding more stories to tell, but recognising the value of the expertise, experiences and insights they already have. By understanding what journalists and what your target audience need, making complex subjects accessible and being ready to contribute when the moment arises, brands can turn that natural relevance into lasting relationships with broadcasters and audiences alike.

For financial brands, that means earned coverage and created content working together, with the same expertise showing up in the newsroom and on the channels their audiences choose. As Mike Young puts it: “Offer quality, and they will come to you.”