By Jean-Philippe Glaskie, managing director, Peppermint Soda and co-founder and strategic director of Rowan & Rock.
There are thousands of British firms with strong finances, innovative products and ambitious visions. But poor communication is holding companies and the nation’s economy back.
Business is facing lots of challenges, such as high energy costs, geopolitical tensions and increases in corporation taxes. But average UK company turnover still rose 1.3% to £970,897, last year, and 78% of UK SMEs reported a profit or surplus in 2024 compared to less than two thirds in 2021. Many others have exciting, intelligent strategies around how they can develop new services, grow revenue and boost staff numbers.
That we don’t hear these good news stories often enough is a failure of corporate storytelling. Factors such as British reticence, a focus on current financial results not future plans, and a lack of public-relations infrastructure mean positive messages aren’t reaching the media, investors and consumers.
If businesses don’t tell their own growth story effectively, the market tends to fill in the gaps. Silence or timidity can be interpreted as stagnation. Investors and potential partners won’t see companies’ full potential. Ultimately, expansion and revenue may suffer.
As a PR leader working across big and smaller businesses, I see this failure time and again. But there are changes any marketing team, C-suite or press office can make to turn subdued messaging into something stirring.
Ditch the understatement
UK business-leadership teams can be too cautious when communicating growth and innovation. They worry, needlessly, that sounding ambitious or proud will come across as arrogant, unrealistic or inappropriate when the UK economy is perceived to be struggling and there is a cost-of-living crisis.
Companies in other countries, particularly America, are far less reticent. There’s nothing wrong with telling the media and potential investors that what your organisation is doing working.
You can do this in a subtle, unboastful way. British challenger bank Monzo recently reported revenue of £1.7bn, up 39% year-on-year. Its comms highlighted the massive role account-holder recommendations had played in this, with 79% of new sign-ups coming via word-of-mouth. Monzo celebrated its customer, not its C-suite brilliance.
Another UK success story, Octopus Energy, has grand ambitions, but frames them as civilisational missions, not self-interested company milestones. CEO Greg Jackson has said it wants to build a brand that will “transform the energy system globally”, name-checking France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Japan as strong growth areas.
Back up ambitious talk with proof, wherever you can, though, be that encouraging sales, rising customer engagement figures or improving profits. Bold claims and predictions supported by meaningful statistics are more likely to sound credible, not grandiose.
Back Britain
As a country, we do like to run down the government, the attitude of our workers and economic outlook. Company communications should take the lead in fighting back, making it clear how being in the UK has helped a firm succeed and will provide the positive environment that will allow them to grow.
According to recent Barclays research, 58% of business leaders see the UK as the best place to start, scale and grow a business. They need to make this confidence much louder and clearer.
Beyond the bunker
The last decade has presented many obstacles for business to navigate around, such as Brexit, COVID and spiralling costs. Some companies are still communication as though they are in survival mode, even when they’ve moved into a growth phase.
Corporate comms teams must break the habit they developed in 2020 of talking about resilience, “coming back stronger” and hedging claims and visions. To seem forward-thinking, inspiring and investable, businesses should now use phrases like “we are building on strong performance”, “we are on track to become the market leader…” and “our next chapter is exciting” and.
Investors, customers and employees all want to see momentum. They want to understand where a business is heading next, but too many companies are still focused on talking about what they’ve already done.
Shore up comms structural failings
According to the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, there is substantial under-investment in internal communications at larger firms, so they can’t communicate their ambition to their own workforce, never mind externally. Most SMEs don’t use PR at all.
Thought-leadership articles from senior leaders in the media is a terrific way to get across company vision and success in a way that is editorial not clumsy marketing-speak.
Growth needn’t be huge to be interesting
It can come through company or media reports about hiring, smarter operations, new products or innovation. It doesn’t have to be about international expansion, funding rounds or major acquisitions. For communications showing progress, little and often is great.
Go early
Don’t always wait until growth feels completely secure before discussing it. You may miss out on investor opportunities or giving the media newsworthy early insight.
