{"id":140817,"date":"2022-10-03T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T08:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=140817"},"modified":"2022-10-06T09:22:56","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T08:22:56","slug":"6-tips-for-planning-your-comms-throughout-the-cost-of-living-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/6-tips-for-planning-your-comms-throughout-the-cost-of-living-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"6 tips for planning your comms throughout the cost-of-living crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cost-of-living crisis will have impacted the messaging and approach of every comms team, whatever the sector, and is only set to continue in a period of great financial strain for the public and businesses across the UK this winter. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In our new white paper \u2018Communicating the cost-of-living crisis\u2026 A guide for charities and the third sector<\/a>\u2019, journalists and comms people working at charities and consumer-facing brands offer their experiences and advice on getting your messaging right for audiences under increasing pressures. Here are six key takeaways to bear in mind when planning your comms over the following months:<\/p>\n

1. Give journalists what they need for their story<\/h3>\n

\u2018The contacts I prefer working with are the ones who let me know what\u2019s coming up, rather than just add me to a general media list for press releases. Maybe a charity is planning a campaign, report or research study, and it might fit with what I\u2019m working on. If I can\u2019t report it right away, it might help shape a future piece. Advance notice is always good because I don\u2019t usually work on fast turnaround news pieces.\u2019 \u2013 Saba Salman, freelance journalist and author<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

2. Share specifics \u2013 reporting has had to speed up significantly<\/h3>\n

\u2018For the TFN website, we won\u2019t need to spend ages pointlessly rewriting an already well-written press release; we want to publish with the minimum of fuss and move on to the next one. \u2018Have a strong line, marshal the facts and figures, include quotes and pictures (even a stock picture is helpful). Case studies are always welcome.\u2019 \u2013 Graham Martin, editor of Third Force News<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

3. Make contacts: the media wants to tell your story<\/h3>\n

\u2018Nothing new here \u2013 develop contacts. Journalists are over-worked and under resourced and there are not enough of them these days thanks to cuts which have devastated newsrooms. They are waiting to be spoon-fed, so do it. \u2018Putting it very simplistically; get your story told effectively and you get the ear of the public and politicians.\u2019 \u2013 Graham Martin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

4. Find those who have the power to make change in your sector<\/h3>\n

\u2018There are a lot of MPs, so you need to find the two or three who will become your advocates and advisers. Really research their interests and what they can do to help. Make it easy for them with clear messaging and calls to action. Follow and comment on what they do on social media and give them good content to post.\u2019 \u2013 Katie Tait, director of PR and public affairs for Maggie\u2019s cancer charity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

5. Ensure the tone of your comms is appropriate for the message and for the times<\/h3>\n

\u2018We did a lot of work during our campaign planning to make sure we got our tone-of-voice right. This is something we\u2019re really conscious of \u2013 we always strive to make sure the way we\u2019re talking about issues is the way people impacted are talking about them, too.\u2019<\/p>\n

We held workshops with our storytellers and ambassadors as well as our front-line staff to find out what people are saying when they come to us for help and also what they really wouldn\u2019t want to hear\/read. We took out any jargon or anything that didn\u2019t sound completely natural and then issued a tone-of-voice document across the organisation to make sure everyone was on the same page.\u2019 \u2013 Katie Tait<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

6. Remember who is at the centre of your campaign<\/h3>\n

\u2018Ensure that those your campaign is intended for remain front and centre. Building strong foundations is incredibly key \u2013 from there you can diversify the angles you push, move onto national press and then become a part of the conversation on TV and media outlets. \u2018Lots of leg-work, a strong message and consistency are the most important ingredients for success.\u2019 \u2013 Rosie Macdonald, senior PR strategist at Love Energy Savings<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Download the full white paper \u2018Communicating the cost-of-living crisis\u2026 A guide for charities and the third sector\u2019 here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For more on communicating during difficult financial times for the public, watch our webinar<\/a> with NSPCC, FareShare and Refuge. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our new white paper \u2018Communicating the cost-of-living crisis\u2026 A guide for charities and the third sector\u2019, journalists and comms people working at charities and consumer-facing brands offer their experiences and advice on getting your messaging right for audiences under increasing pressures. Here are six key takeaways to bear in mind when planning your comms over the following months. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":140819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7365,7272,3705,3725,3729,7238],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140817"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140817"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145086,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140817\/revisions\/145086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}