The best-positioned sectors to use the poll

If you thought politics was an area for marketing departments to avoid, think again: law firms, asset managers, recruitment companies, energy groups and retailers are among the many industries adding expertise and high-value thinking to the Scottish Referendum debate, and your company could join them by Amy Wilson

While brands such as Baxters Food, HSBC and Harris Tweed have publicly given their support to the No campaign in the Scottish Referendum, other companies have made their voices heard and raised awareness of their brand without coming down on one side or the other.

One good example is PIMCO, the investment management company which is the world’s largest investor in government bonds. Mike Amey, a managing director for the company in London, has spoken regularly but not partisanly to news outlets including the BBC and The Daily Telegraph about what a split from the rest of the UK would mean for interest rates, both for the new Scottish government and for householders in the country.

Using its own website rather than the traditional media, asset management firm Blackrock published a paper for clients on what the outcome of the Scottish referendum will mean for investors

One of the most vexed questions in the independence debate is how much oil there is left in the North Sea and how the revenue from it would impact an independent Scotland’s future public finances. Without pledging his allegiance to either side, Sir Ian Wood, former chairman of the Aberdeen-based oil services giant Wood Group, has offered his views on how much recoverable oil is left and warned that the Scottish government’s current predictions are too optimistic.

All of these views have gained front-page media coverage and drawn reaction from politicians. Content marketing, or using your own website and social media channels to publish expert views from within your company, gives your business the chance to add its voice to the debate, steer the conversation as these commentators have done, and increase brand awareness. Without backing either side of the debate, you can use the interest in such a divisive issue to build a loyal audience.