Building a relationship with the media

Portafina had a history of no positive or proactive engagement with the IFA or pensions trades for over two years. There was a real need to establish and build new relationships with the trade media.

We initially worked with Portafina’s senior management team to help define corporate messaging. We then carried out full media training with the team culminating in a series of face-to-face briefings with editors and senior reporters covering pensions stories for the key IFA trades.

As a result of this outreach work, positive media relations were forged, particularly with both Money Marketing and New Model Adviser/Citywire. An avenue to gaining positive news coverage was also built with Financial Adviser.

Agility PR then turned its attention to producing trade news stories, often based on external consumer and in-house client market research findings. Topics included financial education, pensions disengagement, the Bank of Mum and Dad, Generation Xers’ saving habits, retirement income expectations and other pensions-linked themes. These stories generated a regular flow of high-profile, positive news coverage which served to bolster Portafina’s SEO positioning and boost its profile within the IFA and pensions space.

Campaign results

Agility PR focused on creating and selling in strong and positive trade news stories; more than a dozen strong pieces of news coverage were generated in the core trade media during a six-month period.

The campaign helped Portafina to build solid relations with key trade media and create a model for reworking consumer-led research stories to fit tougher trade media requirements. The campaign was a springboard for further positive trade coverage. The established media relationships are now being drawn upon to help the thriving IFA business keep its public profile in line with the reality of the success of the company.

“Agility PR have clearly demonstrated their broad pensions knowledge and trade media contact-base during their 15-month engagement with us. Miles in particular helped us to build some key relationships quickly, getting us in front of a number of editors and journalists and explaining their backgrounds and preferred way of working.”

“This helped us to secure regular news coverage from all releases they had a hand in creating and selling in. I found Agility particularly good at interpreting and positioning our in-house data to provide an angle that would catch the interest of the trade press.”

Bob Stark, Commercial Director at Portafina