CorpComms Magazine

1.Express an opinion

In the fund management sector, too many press releases are pure product pumps. I take the approach of leading on opinions, but the product will still get a mention within the context of the story. We are willing to put our head above the parapet. For example, we have been vocal about the way the chancellor has undermined the value of individual savings accounts (Isas), whereas a lot of fund managers tend to stay away from criticising government policy. Be vocal on issues you feel strongly about, not just for the sake of being vocal.

2.Be contrarian

You are more likely to see a story about one of our fund managers saying 'Now isn't the time to invest in my fund' or 'Buy equities' or 'Markets look risky at the moment'. Going against the grain generates copy and positions us as credible commentators. We have a policy of actively engaging with companies we invest in and we always vote on all our stock at annual general meetings. We ask a lot of questions about how our investments monitor risk, employment standards, pollution, sustainability, board structure, and strategic and corporate governance issues.

There are times when we have had to withdraw our support, and on rare occasions we draw public attention to that. For example, at one of GlaxoSmithKline's AGMs a few years ago, we felt unable to support the remuneration report and we told the press about it. They came back with a better one the year after, and we were able to support it.

3.Do it yourself

Our own approach is to organise PR in-house rather than via agencies. We try to strip away some of the layers between the media and the people who really know and understand our business. This isn't to say agencies can't add a lot of value to a company's media relationships (and we do use them in some markets where we have no presence on the ground). We just know what model works for us.

4.Shamelessly piggyback

If someone else has just issued a survey or press release on a story where you have a strong view, try to be first off the blocks with some comment. That way, their press teams end up having done some work for you!

5.Stay flexible

You'll find that you often need to swim with the tide to a certain extent. If there is some major event in the news, it is far better to get a unique angle on it rather than talking about something that is frankly not on the current radar but happened to be pencilled into the 'planning grid'. For example, one of our most successful releases was on the financial impact of London winning the Olympic bid - we published it within five minutes of the announcement. I realised the night before that this would be a big news event, so we were prepared to comment about the effect the bid would have on the local economy. We also identified the companies and businesses that would benefit from it the most.

Our comments appeared the next day in nearly every UK national newspaper in addition to a number of overseas titles. What's more, the share price of every company we named as a potential beneficiary closed sharply up that week.

6.Grab attention

I have a simple view that when you send an e-mail, it won't get opened unless the text that appears in the subject box entices the reader. I try to avoid starting with 'F&C says...' ('Yawn, another release from them...') and endeavour to get words like 'warns' or 'cautions' in the subject box.

7.Don't send attachments

The more layers one has to go through to get to the story, the less chance there is that it will hit. I personally loathe seeing press releases e-mailed purely as attachments with a 'Please read the attached release message' subject line. No chance! You should always embed text into the body of the e-mail rather than providing it as an attachment, and the first paragraph should get the whole story across. Everything else is just quotes and padding.

8.Keep surprising!

Change the member of your team who sends out releases on a regular basis, and sometimes try using faxes or mail shots to counteract e-mail fatigue.

9.Lunch with ideas

The image of our industry is one of endless long lunches, but it's not all about sinking a couple of glasses of red in the early afternoon. I tell my team the basic rule is that if they invite a journalist to lunch, they must go with a story to give them or they have wasted the journalist's time.

10.Know when to stop

Never, ever call a journalist to say, 'Did you get the press release?' It does more harm than good.

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