Everyone loves PR when things are going well.
New client. Award win. Successful launch. Nice quote in the trade press. Lovely stuff. People get a buzz seeing their or their company name in the press in a positive article… that’s great, but it’s only half the story.
People really value PR when something goes wrong (or at least they should).
A data breach. An admin failure. Regulatory intervention. A senior executive saying something they really shouldn’t have.
Suddenly the phones are ringing, emails are pinging in, and everyone wants the comms team to just make it go away.
Good luck with that.
Because by then, much of the important PR work has already happened. Or it hasn’t.
The short term headline isn’t always the prize
PR is often judged by the visible stuff: coverage, mentions, interviews, share of voice, speaking slots.
All useful. But they’re outputs, not the end game.
The real question isn’t simply: have people heard of us?
It’s: what do they think of us?
That matters particularly in pensions.
Buying decisions are slow. They involve advisers, trustees, boards, procurement teams and plenty of people whose job is essentially to ask: what could possibly go wrong here?
They want to know you can deliver. They want to know they can trust you. They’re also assessing your judgement.
Do you understand the market? Do you talk sense? Are you going to create unnecessary risk?
Good PR helps answer those questions before you get anywhere near a tender by establishing credibility.
An industry that cries wolf too often
I think we’d all agree that Pensions has a sensationalism problem
And this is where we need to have a word.
Every consultation seems to be a crisis. Every Budget announcement a raid. Every reform a revolution, timebomb, cliff edge or once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Millions are always at risk. Disaster is perpetually just around the corner.
Sometimes strong language is justified… I’ve certainly used it before and we know strong sensationalist statements are more likely to get picked up by the media. Pensions matter. Bad policy has real consequences.
But manufactured outrage?
There’s too much of that and I think we can all do better.
Because every exaggerated claim spends a little bit of credibility.
And pensions is a small industry with a very long memory.
The journalist reading your quote today might chair your conference panel next year. The policymaker you brief could become a consultant. The adviser watching from the sidelines could end up influencing your next tender.
Keep crying wolf and the risk is that people stop listening.
Which becomes a big problem when there really is a wolf.
Every inflated claim spends a little credibility. If the language bears only a passing relationship to reality, journalists and stakeholders learn to discount the next thing you say. And one day, you may genuinely need them to listen.
Reputation is built before the crisis
When something genuinely goes wrong, people don’t judge your response in isolation.
They bring everything they already know about you with them.
Were you straight with them before? Did you know what you were talking about? Did you admit when something was complicated? Did your previous claims generally survive contact with reality?
You don’t build a reputation in a crisis. You stress-test the one you already have.
That’s why credibility is too valuable to chuck away chasing clicks.
Good PR shouldn’t be timid. Challenge bad policy. Make strong arguments. Say interesting things. Be inconvenient when you need to be.
But remember what you’re building and think long term.
Coverage comes and goes. Today’s headline is tomorrow’s chip paper or whatever the digital equivalent is.
Credibility sticks around
Make the argument. Challenge orthodoxy. Say something worth listening to.
Just don’t spend your credibility for today’s headline.
Because you might need it tomorrow.
Darren Philp, Co-founder, Untamed Consulting
