/ 02.10.2026

30 years of SHC – Interview with Suzanne Howe

SHC celebrates its 30th anniversary in October. Take us back to 1996. What made you decide to start your own PR business?

A number of reasons. Firstly, I was working in London, living in St Albans with my husband and two small children at the time. I loved my job in a successful London-based PR agency, but I also wanted to be with my children as much as possible. I knew something had to give.

It was also about working in a big company at a senior level, which brought with it many ‘corporate’ meetings. In those days, they were face-to-face and very time-consuming. I really wanted to get on with practising PR and being client-facing, which I loved and still do to this day.

It was a leap of faith at the time, and I never imagined I would be running a small business with a team of twelve 30 years later!

What was PR like when you started?

I was pleased to leave behind the big London agency PR campaigns, but being a PR consultant working from home 30 years ago meant my client portfolio included small businesses, as well as the odd freelance project for the big agencies.

PR for SHC, or SHC PR as it was called then, was actually quite similar to today in terms of writing and selling in press releases to gain coverage in the relevant media. The difference was that we just about had computers, but everything was still sent by post with a printed photograph or via a fax machine!

My experience at the time was all around food, so my clients were mainly chefs and food businesses, including a British chicken producer, an upcoming chef and an Italian cookery school.

I learnt from the start that being an expert in an industry really pays dividends, both in terms of the knowledge you can give your clients and the content you can produce.

Have you always been in the food industry?

Thirty years ago, we were very much food industry experts, but over the years, through connections and new business wins, we were introduced to other sectors including foodservice packaging and cleaning and hygiene.

Our expertise has remained in these sectors, but I would say we have also become experts in sustainability as well as UK packaging legislation, both of which are of significant importance to our clients.

My feeling is that it is difficult to work across too many sectors because your own brand weakens, as does your expertise.

Covid (2020) saw our best year ever in terms of sales, as cleaning and hygiene and packaging companies came to us for PR support. A few hand sanitiser products helped! We would probably not have been quite so lucky if we had been working in the luxury or travel sectors.

What do you think makes good B2B PR today? Is it fundamentally different from 30 years ago?

The biggest change has been the vast number of channels that have opened up for B2B news.

Not only do you have the specialist media, but there are also social channels and a much wider range of news, local and business channels. Each piece of news has the potential to be seen by so many more people, which is a huge benefit for any brand.

We have embraced this ongoing change to ensure our clients’ brands and company messages are seen by the widest possible audience. We also encourage our clients to network, speak at events and take a thought leadership approach, much more so than we did 30 years ago.

Everything is online, and AI is changing how people discover information. What does that mean for a specialist agency?

AI is already changing the way people find and consume information, so we have to make sure our clients are visible in the places that AI tools are using as trusted sources.

That makes our specialist knowledge and the quality of the content we produce even more important. It also makes third-party accreditation, awards, media coverage and other independent sources of information increasingly valuable, because they help demonstrate that a company is credible and established.

For us, AI is another evolution in PR rather than something that replaces it. We can use it to work more efficiently, but the expertise, relationships, creativity and understanding of our clients and their industries still come from people.

Thirty years is a long time to run a business. What has been the hardest part?

We have been through a few recessions. In the early days, when we were still building our brand and building trust with clients, it wasn’t easy to hold on to all our clients when the economy faltered, as some businesses would stop PR to save money.

I am pleased to say that rarely happens these days. Businesses see the benefits of PR and are much better at managing difficult times. It is also partly down to the fact that we now work with bigger businesses, including blue-chip companies.

Even in the most difficult times, the team and I invested in our own marketing, worked hard at new business, networked and, above all, remained positive.

What is the biggest mistake you have made as a business owner?

The one mistake I have made throughout the 30 years is not putting a high enough value on the work and service that we offer.

We are getting better at understanding our commercial value, but it is still work in progress!

SHC has some remarkably long-standing relationships with both clients and people who work in the business. What do you think has kept people with you for so long?

Building good relationships is part of my DNA. It is incredibly important to me to build trust, be transparent and diligent, and to go above and beyond.

With clients, we work hard at delivering campaigns with results. We don’t leave any stone unturned and are always looking for new opportunities for them. And we don’t overcharge.

I am very proud of the long-standing client relationships we have. Winning a Women in Packaging award in 2025, based on our client work in the packaging industry, felt like recognition of those relationships. Being a finalist in the 2026 UK Packaging Awards is another recognition of the work we do with our clients.

I have also always been fortunate in choosing brilliant people to work for SHC. I believe it is important to have a healthy work-life balance. My family have always been the most important thing to me, and I have wanted to be there for them, and this business has allowed me to do that.

They would probably say my business has been the most important thing to me! It’s a close shave.

SHC is now B Corp Certified. Why was that important to you?

Being B Corp certified has been one of the highlights of running the business.

I have always tried to be fair and honest with clients, support charities and social enterprises, be kind and flexible with my team and work in a sustainable way.

When I started to look into B Corp and its values, I realised they were a reflection of the way we already wanted to run our business. It gave us a framework for those values and challenged us to look more closely at what we were doing.

It was a lot of work, but well worth it for the end result of becoming B Corp certified.

What has running SHC for 30 years taught you about yourself?

The great thing about running a business for so long and being 30 years older than when I started in 1996, is having the confidence that comes from experience and the build-up of knowledge and expertise.

I definitely know myself and my business better now. I am more confident in making decisions and, perhaps most importantly, I have learnt that you don’t have to have all the answers yourself. Having the right people around you is just as important.

When you look back, what do you think has been the secret to staying enthusiastic about SHC for 30 years?

I think it comes down to genuinely enjoying what I do. I still love PR, I love being client-facing and I love the variety of working with different businesses and industries.

I have also been very fortunate to work with some fantastic people over the years, both within SHC and on the client side. The relationships we have built have been a huge part of the enjoyment.

And I still get a real buzz from seeing a piece of coverage we have worked hard to achieve, or finding a new opportunity for a client. Thirty years on, I’m still curious about what we can do next, and I think that’s probably what keeps it interesting.

What does the next chapter of SHC look like?

The business has never looked as good as it does now.

We have B Corp certification, we became a limited company in 2023, we have a great portfolio of clients and we have a team of experts who I love working with.

We also have AI to support us and help us offer our clients an even better service in terms of time management, content and delivery.

I look forward to continuing to run the business, offering our clients the very best PR we can and seeking new clients to work with.

Let’s see where that takes us.

In July 2025, Suzanne Howe Communications’ founder and managing director Suzanne Howe was the Packaging Marketing Excellence Award winner in the Women in Packaging Excellence Awards.