Shannon Walker delivers PR consultancy to small businesses as part of UK BCN’s Give Black Initiative

Improving the representation of Black British culture in the UK media is baked into our DNA and providing comms consultancy to Black owned businesses, who don’t always have PR counsel in place, is key to achieving our mission.

We partner with like-minded brands to fund comms consultancy to black owned businesses via our Give Black initiative. UK BCN Member and Founder of Social Disruption PR Shannon Walker and our Head of Brand & Partnerships, Tarita Mullings delivered PR 101 sessions to Pinterest UK’s Black Gold competition winners. We caught up with Shannon to find out more.

Tell us a little more about how you got involved with this opportunity?

Having only been a member of UK BCN for a month, it’s amazing the type of opportunities being a member has presented for professionals like myself and brands.

The UK BCN newsletter featured the opportunity to offer communications consultancy to the Pinterest Black Gold competition winners which consisted of inspiring small businesses. I’m passionate about helping emerging brands tell their stories through digital communications, particularly often marginalised founders, so I was instantly drawn to express interest to support by offering Social Disruption’s services.

Robert Ingersoll once said "We rise by lifting others" and I believe the initiative embodies this. Unfortunately, Black Comms Pros and Black-Owned Businesses across many sectors don’t get equal opportunities, so it’s amazing this multi-faceted initiative exists to disrupt that. Members are empowered through career development and work opportunities, and Black brands who are often overlooked by agencies are provided communications support to help them shine.  

What did the consultations involve?

First, each individual partook in a crash course in PR 101 exploring the 5Ws and how framework, in order to get them thinking about the processes involved in brand communications. Next we brainstormed tactics on relationship building with: the press, influencers and their wider community.

It’s not always clear how PR and social can work together to help small businesses deliver on their goals. What were some of the most common questions you were asked by the business owners?

1. How to get a big following on social media

2. How to get press and influencers to feature their brand

3. How to stand out in a crowded market

What should small business owners be focussing on instead?

1. Adding value to their community by creating engaging quality content – a following will organically grow from this

2. Being clear on what they want to achieve from communications first and work backwards to strategically map out the right messages, tactics and relationships to meet their goals

3. Standing out comes from clearly communicating the ‘why’ behind your brand and connecting with people based on this. Just as every individual is unique, brand stories and the purpose behind them help differentiate one business from the next.

How did the consultations go, did the business owners find them useful?

The feedback has been phenomenal with each business expressing they gained a breadth of insights. They were grateful to know UK BCN exists as they haven’t come across many Black PRs, and would consider partnering in future with the network when PR budget comes available. One business owner expressed the importance of working with people she felt “got her and her brand” but not knowing where to find comms professionals with the cultural intelligence to support.

UK BCN funded the delivery of the consultations, so not only did the businesses benefit from the advice, Give Black invested in me as a start-up business owner and helped refer a new client lead, as one founder followed up to book additional consultations.  

Were there any stand out highlights for you?

A key highlight was to work alongside another UK BCN member which was a fresh and rewarding experience. If you’ve spent most of your career working brand side, you’ve most likely been “the only” in the communications team, so it’s incredible that the Black Comms network facilitates the opportunity for collaboration within the membership community to connect and work with more talented Black Comms pros.