Stephensons is a full-service national law firm with offices based in Wigan, and Social was appointed in March 2019 on a retained contract.

Our focus is media relations activity on core legal services, particularly in areas Stephensons wish to increase the level of service they currently provide or are most profitable.

Each year we plan and plot the legal teams we wish to focus on and develop story/campaign ideas around these for regional, national, broadcast and trade media traction. Stories/campaigns are plotted on an annual content planner to ensure we remain laser focused.

We have a four-pronged approach:

Newsjacking

With many legal teams available for comment, spokespeople are ready to talk about all aspects of the law. We jump on the press stories of the day, put forward spokespeople for interview and supply relevant quotes on topical issues.

We have secured many newsjacking opportunities in the national media, including coverage on wills and inheritance disputes, national divorce day, ONS stats, transphobia in the workplace, Mad Friday, ASDA equal pay court case and many Covid-19 comments (lockdown tension leads to divorce, Job Support Scheme, end of furlough, vaccine passports and ‘no jab no job’).

News-worthy omnibus research-based stories

We regularly use research/data to create attention-grabbing news and give our stories credibility, enabling us to get more press coverage. We partner with YouGov who carry out the research on our behalf on its daily omnibus research polls of 2,000+ UK adults (18+). We also regularly use FOI requests and ONS/statistics. We then write news stories, using the research to back up our ideas and messages.

Working collaboratively with Stephensons, Social has developed a number of data campaigns recently to direct enquiries to, and raise brand awareness of, the law firm’s family team on child protection and the impact of the pandemic on relationships, and the Personal Injury team on warehouse and logistics workers being more at risk of workplace accidents.

Blogs and thought leadership

We have drafted many legal blogs and thought leadership articles aimed at trade titles, including:

• Ban on unregulated accommodation for u16’s must be enforced – Children & Young People Now
• What can HR do to keep employees in high risk occupations safe during pandemic – HR Magazine
• External Solicitors and Court of Protection – to instruct or not to instruct? – Local Government News

SEO backlinks

We partner with our client’s SEO agency to measure the strength of backlinks and use keywords throughout our copy, embedding hyperlinks to clients’ web pages.

Our work has evolved over the contract period and has seen our contract renewed on an annual basis.

Our strategy pivoted in early 2020 as the first national lockdown loomed, our emphasis turned to placing media content from Stephensons’ employment team providing advice to employers and employees on employment issues related to the pandemic and its impact.

• More than 176m opportunities to see from newsjacking
• 8 billion opportunities to see from campaigns
• 335 pieces of media coverage, with 58 backlinks
• 37 newsjacking commentary opportunities
• 22 campaigns delivered
• National coverage in The Times, Daily Mail, The Guardian, Daily Express and Sky News