For marketing teams working within professional service firms – accountants, solicitors, etc. – the election threatens to introduce some chaos into their strategies.
The reason? These businesses provide detailed, technical knowledge on tax, regulations, laws and policies as part of their marketing.
Unfortunately, elections tend to throw previously secure aspects of your thought leadership articles, videos, webinars and blogs into redundancy.
The new Government (whichever party that may be) is likely to implement tax changes and make rapid decisions on laws based on their manifesto promises.
So, how can you avoid making U-turns and retracting content that you use in your marketing and mitigate the time spent by your team in reacting to election chaos?
Marketing materials that may be affected by the election
Within the agency, we’ve identified five key marketing materials that might be affected by the election result:
- Blogs/articles
- Social media posts
- Webinars and video content
- Website content
- Brochures/flyers
Some of these, as you might imagine, are easier to amend than others if/when the new Government makes policy/legislation changes.
Blogs and articles, for example, can be amended with the correct information by logging into the back end of your website.
Similarly, the actual content of your site can be amended to reflect the changes through your web development team.
Things like brochures and leaflets, once printed, are made redundant if the new Government makes changes that nullify the information contained within them.
In this case, it’s best to simply start again.
Equally, webinars and video content, once filmed and distributed, are almost impossible to change (although some shrewd editing can remove minor inaccuracies).
Finally, social media posts can be edited but, by their very nature, the horse has usually already bolted by the time you come around to do so.
They’ve been liked, shared and seen by your audience already.
How to avoid election marketing chaos
Obviously, you’ll want to avoid making hasty retractions and editing your already published marketing collateral.
You’ll also want to avoid having to throw brochures, posters and leaflets in the bin altogether.
Admittedly, as an agency focused solely on professional service marketing, we have somewhat of an advantage here, but here’s what we’re doing to protect our valuable material.
- Avoiding making definitive statements: While many of us think we know which way the election will go, it’s not definite. Don’t make definitive statements like: “When Labour get in…”
- Putting caveats in our copy: Without diminishing the quality of our writing, where appropriate we’ve been including statements like: “The tax rate is ‘X’ but, depending on the election results, it could be ‘Y’.”
- Using experts: All our copywriters are experts in tax and legal issues in their own right. They have their finger on the pulse when it comes to proposed legislation changes.
- Cooperating with our clients: Where we’re unsure of an angle to take, we always communicate that with our client, that way we know we’re channelling their voice correctly.
- Identifying potential risk areas: If we think an issue is likely to arise due to the election, we plan for all possible eventualities and act accordingly. This might include making multiple copies of the same materials.
- Conducting internal reviews: All our marketing materials go through rigorous checks to ensure they are accurate and up to date.
- Focusing on impact, not politics: We’re analysing the effects of proposed policies, not their merit or morals. Stay objective – your clients come to you for advice, not political opinions.
We strongly recommend your marketing team does the same – it’s helped us through numerous budget announcements, elections and periods of political tumult in the 25 years we’ve been in business.
While you might not be able to prevent every mix-up that an election is bound to cause, we’d advise caution in your marketing in the next few months.
If you can’t implement the same strategies that we do – and again, we have an advantage here – be careful with what you’re putting out there.
Having said that, if you would like assistance navigating the election chaos that’s inevitably on its way, we can help.
To continue doing great marketing, despite the election, get in touch with one of our Directors.
