Strategic Consultancy

SRF has a wealth of experience in working in communications and marketing for a wide variety of organisations across a broad range of industries.  We have advised businesses at most stages from start-up to winding up and we have given guidance in all types of crisis including industrial action, incidents, legal proceedings, internal disputes and catastrophic customer service failings. 

We bring insight and oversight to your marketing activity and are well practised in liaising at all levels of an organisation to ensure consistency and clarity in your communications. Expressing a company’s purpose and its values to the different audiences which make up a business’s stakeholders can be challenging and complex. SRF can guide you through a process to make sure your announcements and ongoing dialogue is meaningful. 

A strong communications strategic approach can unlock commercial value and deliver influence, whilst overcoming challenges such as market disruptions, increased competition and changing regulatory environments.  

Strategic communications cannot rely on just controlling content, delivery or timing of your messages. Your communications approach must include engaging your most important stakeholders in their language, at a time which suits them and framed to be empathetic to their own interests.  

Good communication starts with listening and SRF follows the five stages of listening: receiving, understanding, evaluating, remembering, and responding. By applying this discipline to an organisation’s stakeholder interactions, it is possible to build up a picture of the current situation and assess the risk and opportunities which exist.  

SRF understands the art of communication and how essential its role is in assisting clients to handle complex commercial issues and exploit future opportunities. 

Creating a visual symbol of your brand which becomes a local landmark requires a significant investment in time and money but can deliver ROI for decades as in the example pictured above of the ‘Red Men’ roundabout at the entrance to Chineham Park. This roundabout has been mentioned daily in traffic reports for over ten years, is used extensively when giving directions and when the Red Men have been removed for refurbishment, the speculation on when they would return became a talking point for radio presenters.

For more examples of how SRF can help your business please see below:

Covid-19 Corporate Communications

Communicating In A National Crisis 

COVID-19 has created a crisis like no other. Despite various attempts to draw parallels with either the Spanish flu or the Blitz, the current situation is unique. Hundreds of  millions of people on the planet have restrictions on their freedom and there is a deadly […]

Business awards

Finding Your Award Winners 

We have written about why to enter awards, explaining that there is a multitude of PR benefits to enjoyed from both entering and sponsoring awards. Now we are going to focus on what we think makes a winning entry. As professional advisors we are providing the best possible guidance […]

The Power Of A Good Quote

Press articles often include direct quotes from the people involved in the story; sometimes because the journalist has interviewed that person or the PR supplied the quotes along with the press release. Quotes bring another dimension to the piece as […]

Winning business awards

Winning Business Awards

 There are awards schemes for every industry and for every region. Some focus on trade relationships and others invite the public to be involved. There are awards which are judged by experts and awards which are voted on by the […]

PR agency

Community Engagement

For many businesses, even in today’s globally connected, online world, a sense of place is intrinsically linked to their brand.  Obviously, brands such as hotels, restaurants, business parks and tourism products services sell their themselves as destinations, but other businesses can also find value and purpose by being part of their local […]

SRF PR and TV

PR and Live TV

Even today with the instant nature of social media, live TV is still exciting. There are no rehearsals, limited time to prepare and no editing. It is this one chance to get it right which can concern many clients when considering a live TV opportunity and […]

SRF PR Agency

Building Trust

Over the past few years, the results of the Edelmann trust Barometer have been eagerly anticipated by professional communicators in all sectors. This year employers have done well, becoming the most trusted group ahead of business in general, government and the media. This […]

SRF PR Agency Delivering bad news

Delivering Bad News

Every organisation will have bad news and how that news is handled can be as crucial to the reputation of the business as shouting about all the good announcements.  Redundancies, reductions in service, price rises, poor financial performance can all be managed and if delivered open and […]

SRF PR Agency external relations

Managing Stakeholders

All organisations have stakeholders which can include groups such as staff, owners, customers, media, suppliers, competitors, local communities, regulatory authorities and government – both local and national. Communicating with these groups is an ongoing process and is often delegated to […]

Brand ambassadors

Turn Your Staff into Brand Ambassadors

If you have a strong brand, you can extend your offering with ease, survive and even thrive during economic downturns, gain leverage in partnerships, and attract the most talented people to work for you. The benefits of a strong brand […]