Greentarget

Greentarget

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Leaders at professional services firms are under enormous pressure to communicate effectively and authentically in today’s volatile world. From global crises to social shifts, they’re expected to comment on issues even when situations don’t directly impact their business.

Deciding how, when, and what to communicate — or even whether to say anything at all — is a minefield.

Greentarget tackled this challenge in our recent webinar, Communicating in an Increasingly Volatile and Complex World: A Roadmap for Professional Services Leaders. In it, we offer important insights on navigating today’s toughest communication scenarios and provide guidance on how to speak out authentically while staying aligned with your firm’s values.

Topics include:

  • Geopolitical and generational shifts
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion
  • The impact of AI

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Challenge 

AmLaw 100 firm Polsinelli has a top-tier healthcare practice that regularly produces high quality thought leadership. The firm’s long-running Healthcare Dealmakers Conference, for example, brings together healthcare providers, innovators, and investors to discuss the state of the industry, while the quarterly Healthcare Services Distress Research Index has tracked and benchmarked industry data for more than a decade. 

Though the firm’s reputation in the healthcare industry is strong, Polsinelli wanted to do more to elevate its brand and cement its position as a healthcare law leader among prospective clients. After all, the practice has grown considerably over the past few years—bringing on former administration healthcare officials and experienced deal counsel—and the firm wanted to make sure that potential clients and the market more broadly understood it as a healthcare powerhouse. 

To stake out this territory, Polsinelli looked to Greentarget to help elevate its healthcare practice through strategic media relations.  

Solution 

The Greentarget team started by holding more than 40 meetings with firm shareholders to understand the work they do for clients and the developments they were watching over the next few months. Armed with this knowledge, the Greentarget team pitched select journalists at key publications who were covering these issues, setting up interviews and nurturing relationships between reporters and shareholders. 

At the same time, the Greentarget team conducted outreach for marquee thought leadership campaigns like the Distress Research Index and Healthcare Dealmakers Conference, setting up 1:1 reporter meetings and a media roundtable with 12 journalists from top-tier and leading industry outlets.  

Results 

In the first year of the program, the Greentarget team secured media opportunities for over 20 shareholders resulting in 48 published articles in key trade publications, including McKnights Home Care, Behavioral Healthcare Executive, MedCity News, Healthcare Risk Management, Behavioral Health Business, Part B News, and Modern Healthcare, among others. Polsinelli attorneys were even quoted in national outlets like Axios about issues involving healthcare mergers and The New York Times regarding healthcare cybersecurity trends. 

Reflecting the breadth and depth of the healthcare practice’s capabilities, stories featuring Polsinelli attorneys covered everything from state laws impacting the industry’s dealmaking, healthcare data privacy and security, the emerging role of private credit, Medicare Advantage issues, home health payment rates, behavioral health trends, and more.  

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The public tends to trust businesses and CEOs more than NGOs, government, and the media. That trust is fragile, though. And in the wake of headlines about everything from social issues to geopolitical conflicts, the way executive leaders navigate the pressure to speak out can either strengthen or undermine their stakeholders’ trust in them.

Entering the fray is not without risk, and it’s all too easy to make a PR misstep. That’s why so many executive leaders struggle to know when to make a statement — and what to say if they do.

In our recent webinar, Greentarget’s Executive Positioning experts — Vice President Abby Aylman Cohen, Director of Content & Editorial Strategy Jennifer Smith, and former Senior Vice President Steve DiMattia — laid out a compelling argument for why leaders can’t afford to be caught unawares by the issues that make headlines. Then, they offered practical advice to help firms protect their reputation and maintain trust with their audience in an age rife with polarization and unrest.

Here are three takeaways from the event.

1. Your Authority Hinges on Proactive Communication Planning

Of the respondents who participated in the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer survey, 62% said they expected CEOs to actively communicate around changes occurring in society as a whole, not just those affecting their businesses. Gen Z employees in particular said they value CEOs who speak out about societal issues.

But considering how fraught and emotional the landscape of public discourse is, it’s easy for executive leaders to fall into one of two camps: Ignore the headlines completely and focus solely on the issues that directly affect the business, or release statements that attempt to please everyone but say nothing meaningful.

Furthermore, it’s common for unprepared leaders to lose control of difficult conversations, especially if they’ve never practiced talking to the media and other stakeholders about challenging topics. When executives are unable to navigate all-eyes-on-them moments, they risk undermining their own authority and harming their organization’s reputation.

For example, the acute need for proactive communications planning was never more apparent than in 2022, when the Supreme Court’s draft Dobbs v. Jackson decision leaked. Between the time the leak made headlines and the final decision was announced, corporate and firm leaders had about five to six weeks to think about how they were going to communicate with their audiences. Yet very few did.

Unlike Dobbs v. Jackson, most events hit the news cycle without warning. But even so, it’s possible for leaders to create a framework that guides if and how they respond. This can underscore their authority and build trust with stakeholders — if they take the time to develop a smart, informed, and flexible communications platform long before there’s a breaking news story.

2. Don’t Scenario Plan for Every Possible Communication Challenge

Over the past several months, Greentarget’s Executive Positioning team has identified some of the top threats we predict will cause communication conundrums for executive leaders. You can do a deep dive into each of these topics by downloading our Executive Positioning Guide or by perusing our blog.

Our guidance has covered topics such as:

  • Polarized rhetoric around DEI and ESG
  • The promise and peril of artificial intelligence
  • Seismic generational shifts in the workforce
  • The 2024 election cycle and social unrest
  • Geopolitical conflicts

This list is by no means exhaustive because the world is always changing. But the good news is there’s no need to create a specific communication plan for every conceivable headline, world event, or threat to your firm’s reputation. 

The crux of our advice around responding to issues like those above is this: Think about how your firm will respond to a crisis. Which stakeholders will you need to consult? How will you develop a response that aligns with your firm’s values?

By doing so, you can turn tense situations into an opportunity to engage your employees and clients and strengthen your firm’s position as a trusted authority. When you do this, you take an important step toward building a flexible framework that will guide when and why you respond to any issue.

3. Now’s the Time to Develop an Executive Communications Platform

The news cycle moves at warp speed, and you can’t afford to be reactive when weighing in on the issues that matter most to your audience. Foresight, forethought, and careful preparation are key.

By taking time now to decide how and when your firm will respond to salient issues, you can ensure your messaging lines up with your firm’s priorities and reinforces your position as an authority worth heeding with the audiences that matter most.

Our Executive Positioning Guide provides in-depth advice on how to get started, but it comes down to taking the following steps:

  • Consider your audience, and the best channel(s) to reach them
  • Invite a diverse cross-section of stakeholders into the process
  • Get clear about your firm’s values (and make sure your messages align with what your firm stands for)
  • Make your firm’s approach to deciding how and when to speak out public — and communicate your “why”
  • Embrace a commitment to authenticity (i.e., walk the walk of whatever you speak out about; don’t just talk the talk)

Engaging Greentarget to lead you through a rigorous planning process can bring significant clarity here. Entering into this process now — before an urgent PR situation occurs — gives you time to thoughtfully consider all the angles and arrive at a position that’s authentic, well-reasoned, and nuanced.

Want to Learn More About Greentarget’s Executive Positioning Practice?

Exemplifying our commitment to being a trusted advisor to clients, Greentarget’s Executive Positioning team provides C-suite executives (managing partners, CEOs, executive committees, and boards) with insights to anticipate, understand, and respond to important global and social developments—as well establish proactive internal and external communications campaigns around other pivotal moments, be they related to company purpose, talent initiatives, succession plans, and more.

We’ve helped clients navigate how to communicate about racial justice, the invasion of Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war, the repeal of Roe v. Wade, artificial intelligence, and so much more. We’d love to help you, too — so let’s talk.

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Challenge

Last year, Lathrop GPM significantly expanded its Business Transactions Practice Group in a short time, adding six attorneys over two months. The growing practice had quickly broadened its sector-specific capabilities for clients around fund formation, financing, growth, and tax planning; employee benefits and executive compensation; business succession planning; mergers and acquisitions; compliance; and real estate transactions, with additional support outside the practice group focused on estate planning, business ownership disputes, labor and employment, and intellectual property.

At the same time, Lathrop GPM also launched the Closely Held Business Institute, which built upon the firm’s long history with clients in this space. It enabled Lathrop GPM attorneys to better support the varied needs of these organizations by offering closely and family held business owners and executives content and networking opportunities focused on maximizing the growth, health and sustainability of their businesses.
Following these investments in its client services and resources, Lathrop GPM wanted prospective clients to know about its expanded practice group and the new Institute—and asked Greentarget for help spreading the word.

Solution

The Greentarget team worked quickly and strategically to secure media coverage highlighting the firm’s strengthened capabilities and expanded offerings. The team held interviews with the new partners to better understand their practices and the stories they could comment on with reporters to help build their authority.

The team also looked for trending news items or hooks that could entice reporters to feature Lathrop GPM in a story. This creative approach included pitches involving the finale of the hit show Succession, with the firm’s lawyers offering analysis of the legal issues around family businesses raised in the show.

Results

Greentarget secured over 50 media opportunities for the Business Transactions and Closely Held and Family Business groups in 2023.

Stories covering the growing Business Transactions Practice Group were featured in the Kansas City Business Journal, Law360 and The American Lawyer, among other publications. Both nationally and regionally, Greentarget secured valuable media opportunities that featured quotes from the lawyers and elevated the firm’s brand and capabilities before key audiences.

Greentarget also successfully positioned members of the Closely Held and Family Business practice as thought leaders on transaction and succession planning trends, including those impacting private equity investors. The team secured bylines and published coverage in Family Capital, Upsize, The Small Business Radio Show, Workspan Daily, ABA Banking Journal, Inside Philanthropy, Ad Age, Minnesota Lawyer, Medical Economics, and others.

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Challenge

With over four decades of global M&A experience under its belt, Blitzer, Clancy & Company (BCC) had a formidable track record in investment banking, growth consulting and investment advisory services. But beyond the firm’s close-knit network of strategic partnerships, few were aware of BCC’s unique story, core values and hands-on approach to client service.

BCC over its history, had strategically remained under the radar with limited marketing or public relations; the firm had largely acquired new business via word-of-mouth through an interconnected group of global multinationals and emerging companies. As the firm continued to grow, it decided it was the right time to take a more public presence through an intentional marketing development strategy.

The firm engaged Greentarget on the heels of negotiating a series of landmark global acquisitions and the firm sought a partner that could effectively communicate the firm’s story and presence in the verticals they serve.

Greentarget recognized several attributes that differentiated BCC from its competitors: the firm’s focus on collaboration, as well as its championship of ingenuity and cross-domain expertise. Underscoring these attributes through a targeted communications strategy would elevate its profile among sellers, major buyers and growth-focused companies across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, and in turn, help unlock new expanded opportunities.

Solution

To help the firm execute on this strategy, Greentarget sought to transform the firm’s market positioning, brand narrative and value proposition—and reflect those changes through BCC’s online and media presence.

Greentarget’s Research & Market Intelligence team began by curating focus groups consisting of both external and internal stakeholders. Drawing from insights shared during these focus groups, the research team assessed the firm’s capabilities, identifying key value drivers and unique selling points that could be used to craft external-facing materials such as web copy, marketing collateral, press releases and business initiatives. Additionally, the research team conducted a thorough competitive analysis to pinpoint brand messages that would help BCC cut through the noise and reach audiences in several target industries.

Leveraging these findings, Greentarget’s Content & Editorial team created a messaging matrix that would serve as the basis for all of BCC’s internal and external messaging going forward. This document included a positioning statement, brand pillars and key messages—all of which worked in tandem to support a brand narrative that captured the essence of BCC—and what distinguished the firm from its peers.

From there, Greentarget’s Digital team redesigned BCC’s website and worked with the content team to draft the accompanying, SEO-optimized web copy. The new design included select images and iconography, a new page directory, customer resource management (CRM) software integration, email capture tools and more.

Using these deliverables as a foundation, the content team developed a whitepaper that showcased BCC’s novel approach to client relationships. The whitepaper detailed the successful partnership between BCC and Scotland’s University of Strathclyde that created an “innovation bridge” to guide American tech and engineering investors through the globalization process, spotlighting BCC’s role as an international collaborator and facilitator of multimillion-dollar investments overseas.

Results

The multifaceted campaign raised BCC’s profile and amplified its reach and authority with key audiences. BCC featured the whitepaper on the firm’s redesigned site and shared it with prospects, clients, industry contacts and peers, attracting the attention of major global investors and multi-national corporates.  

Moreover, in 2023 alone BCC generated over $1 billion in enterprise value creation for its clients, bolstering its track record of successful dealmaking and strategic advisory across numerous sectors, including commercial real estate, technology, industrial automation, life sciences and aerospace and defense.


“The Greentarget team has been an incredible partner to our firm. Their ability to understand who we are and successfully articulate that messaging on a global scale was seamless and efficient. The entire team is dynamic, entrepreneurial, and overall, a pleasure to partner with,” said Michael Cocce, Vice President of BCC.

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Challenge

In early 2023, national law firm Frost Brown Todd expanded into California via a merger with AlvaradoSmith—growing its reach to include one of the country’s biggest legal markets.

Yet as a new player in the Golden State, Frost Brown Todd lacked widespread brand awareness with key decisionmakers in the region. The firm had full-service capabilities and a deep bench of talented attorneys from coast to coast—now it just needed to get the word out.

After Greentarget led a successful PR campaign announcing the merger, it was time to help elevate the firm’s brand in California.

Solution

To increase awareness of Frost Brown Todd among current and prospective clients in California, the Greentarget team developed a comprehensive PR plan that leveraged the power of both traditional and social media, as well as Greentarget’s deep relationships with reporters in the state.

The PR plan had four key elements designed to attract and influence decisionmakers:

  • Earn opportunities for California partners to publish and be quoted in mainstream business and trade publications. 
  • Secure stories about the firm’s growth and outlook, recruiting progress, and culture in California business and legal media outlets.
  • Help California office partners optimize their LinkedIn profiles to share media results and other unique points of view with their networks.
  • Publish informative and timely California-specific content on the firm’s website that could be distributed widely via paid ad campaigns on LinkedIn. 

This strategy was informed by findings from Greentarget’s proprietary research on information consumption trends among business leaders and in-house counsel: namely, that these executives trust information from traditional media sources, desire content in the form of articles, and prefer LinkedIn over other digital platforms.

Results

In just six months, the Greentarget team secured more than 30 media results, including 11 featured quotes and 13 published articles from Frost Brown Todd attorneys. Coverage included top tier state, legal, and national media, including The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Bloomberg Law, Law360, the California Globe and the San Francisco Chronicle. These efforts also led to Frost Brown Todd attorneys being featured in key trade outlets such as Industry Week, Human Resources Director and Security Magazine.

LinkedIn tactics also paid dividends, with traffic to the firm’s website up 10% by the end of the year. Targeted content distributed through LinkedIn more than doubled the average click-through rate for the platform, reaching hundreds of new business leads. Best of all, the LinkedIn program directly led to new clients and referrals for California attorneys.

In a testament to the strategy’s success, the PR program has since grown to encompass attorneys across multiple practice areas and around the country.

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