Positioning STEP as Thought Leaders & Experts

As the global professional body for trust and estate practitioners, STEP needed a proactive, results-driven PR and strategic communications partner to help raise its profile, showcase members’ expertise, build brand awareness, and secure thought leadership recognition.

In January 2023, Nellie PR became the trusted communications and PR agency for STEP. We set to work straight away by crafting and executing a proactive PR and thought leadership strategy to position STEP as the go-to experts in inheritance and succession planning and to amplify awareness of its members’ unmatched expertise in helping families plan for their future.

Coverage highlights include:

“Working with Nellie PR has been fantastic. We were keen to work with a smaller, more proactive agency and they have really delivered. They have really taken the time to understand us and feel like an extension of our team. Their dedication, personal attention and expert PR knowledge and connections have made a huge difference.”

Louise Polcaro
Director of Communications at STEP

Meet the Client

STEP is the professional body for trust and estate practitioners with more than 22,000 members globally, including 9,000 lawyers, accountants, trustees, and other practitioners in the UK who help families plan for their futures. STEP works to improve public understanding of inheritance issues and upholds high professional standards among its members.

Full STEP members, known as TEPs (Trust and Estate Practitioners), are internationally respected experts in family inheritance and succession planning. STEP sets and upholds high professional standards, shares best practices, and helps shape public policy. They train, educate, and provide continuous professional development, building vital connections within the industry.

“I would highly recommend Nellie PR. The team works very hard to get excellent results for STEP. They come to us with great ideas and energy about how to raise our profile and crucially follow up until they deliver the results that they promise. Having worked with a range of agencies over the years, Nellie PR stands out by being results-driven, down-to-earth, and great to work with. Hard recommend.”

Liz Skinner, Communications Manager, STEP.

How it began

STEP was keen to grow its profile and increase awareness, but it needed a more strategic and proactive PR agency to support them to achieve this. They were eager to engage a strategic and results-driven PR agency, and Nellie PR ticked all those boxes and more.

Following a strong recommendation, STEP turned to Nellie PR to lead the charge and drive impact. This marked the start of our collaborative journey to position STEP as trusted go-to experts through a proactive, results-driven PR and thought leadership strategy.

The goal

We crafted and executed a strategic PR and thought leadership strategy designed to strengthen and amplify STEP’s voice, build brand awareness, and highlight its members’ expertise. One key goal was to encourage people to turn to an expert STEP member for their inheritance and succession planning needs, driving a deeper understanding of the importance of using a qualified expert (TEP).

Our strategy was rooted in delivering proactive, issue-based PR campaigns that create long-term impact. Building relationships, reputation, and recognition was at the heart of it all.

What we did

We implemented a creative, issues-based PR strategy to raise STEP’s profile and position its members as trusted experts. This PR strategy combined creativity, precision, and timely execution to help STEP and its members become better-known and recognised thought leaders.

Our approach included a strong strategic and tactical mix designed to raise awareness, strengthen relationships, and drive engagement:

PR and comms strategy audit and development – Audit and review to identify opportunities and the development of a goal-driven PR and thought leadership strategy.
Relationship-building with media –Built strong relationships with key media and influencers, positioning STEP and its members as go-to experts with credibility and authority.
Issue-driven topic development – Developed issue-driven points of view and talking points to fuel hard-hitting newsworthy stories. We also simplified complex messaging to better drive understanding and education around core thought leadership topics.
High-impact campaign creation – Commissioned research and launched impactful campaigns on hard-hitting topics like probate delays, financial abuse, digital memories, and unqualified will writers to secure high-profile attention and drive enquiries.
Spokesperson support and guidance – Provided STEP spokespeople with messaging guidance and briefings to strengthen interviews and uplift media enquiries and opportunities.
Proactive and reactive media outreach – Monitored industry and media discussions and leveraged trending issues, key dates, statistics, and legislative changes to piggyback on the news agenda and pitch timely proactive and reactive commentary.
Sourcing real-life case studies – Brought STEP’s purpose and impact to life by sourcing real-life stories from people and businesses impacted by issues such as succession planning and government changes to inheritance and property taxes.
Ongoing counsel and crisis communications – Provided counsel on reputation management, ensuring STEP was prepared to address any issue with confidence.

Every element of our PR and comms strategy worked together to elevate STEP’s profile, build trust, and drive demand.

Results achieved

“The percentage of members who say that STEP membership is recognised and sought after by clients has risen by 11%. We’ve also seen a significant rise in awareness of our work on thought leadership topics, and the perception of STEP as a leading authority on key issues has dramatically increased.”

Here’s a snapshot of some of the impressive results we achieved together:

Significant increase in membership and demand – The STEP 2024 survey highlighted significant increases in both awareness of its work and recognition of STEP as a leading authority across all its thought leadership areas. Thought leadership recognition and the perception of STEP improved across all stakeholder groups. There was also an 11% increase amongst STEP members who say that STEP membership is recognised and sought after by clients.
175% increase in online press coverage and 278% uplift in online coverage views – STEP is achieving its highest-ever coverage levels. All KPIs well and truly exceeded. Social engagement with online press coverage has risen by 329%.
Increased presence across national, broadcast, trade, regional, podcast, blogs, and international media – 600% increase in broadcast media coverage. STEP is now regularly featured in top-tier media like BBC Money Box, BBC You & Yours, The Telegraph, The Times and The Sunday Times, FT, Rip Off Britain, Which?, Radio Times, Daily Mail and many others reaching new audiences and increasing direct enquiries from the public.
High-quality media relationships – Major media outlets now proactively seek out STEP’s insights, enhancing its reputation and increasing demand for its members’ expertise. The STEP Press Office has seen a big increase in enquiries, and STEP spokespeople are regularly invited as returning expert guests by the national and broadcast media.
Major uplift in website visits – 3000 website visits following one radio interview alone, online press coverage secured with an average domain authority of 64 (61% increase in ‘good’ ranking domains 50 and above), 283% increase in backlinks, 315% increase in social shares and a 344% in social views.

See the work in action

Here is a selection of UK coverage on issues such as probate delays, mental capacity, family business succession, cowboy will writers, digital assets: BBC Money Box, Telegraph, The Times and The Sunday Times, Daily Mail and This is Money, Daily Express, Money Saving Expert, BBC Morning Live, Good Housekeeping, Mouthy Money, Family Business Podcast, Radio Times, and Which? To view more coverage, including global, visit STEP in the news.

It’s your time to build your brand

Want to find out what a more proactive PR and thought leadership agency can do for you? If you dream of positioning your organisation as a go-to brand and expert thought leader, let’s chat.

Contact Nellie PR or book a call with Ellen Carroll. We look forward to hearing from you.