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As industry leaders and senior professionals look for sophisticated guidance on influential and complex topics, they are increasingly turning to podcasts as a quick way to absorb timely information. In fact, 43% of U.S. decision-makers regularly listen to podcasts for business-related news and thought leadership. Yet few are leveraging this growing medium to reach them.

Only a third of B2B content marketers have used podcasts within the last year, for example. And, according to Greentarget’s 2022 State of Digital & Content Marketing Report, C-Suite executives and in-house counsel rank podcasts at the bottom of the content they prefer to consume, indicating a significant lack of elevated and engaging content.

This should be a wake-up call for professional service firm marketers, especially as the influence of podcasts can often be stronger than other media channels. According to the Pew Research Center, 36% of podcast listeners have tried a lifestyle change because of a podcast they listened to, and more than half have followed the social media account of a podcast or its host. At Greentarget we’ve seen this firsthand, spearheading podcast campaigns that have reached thousands of executives and sparked impressive engagement across LinkedIn and Twitter.

As the number of podcast listeners grows, it’s critical that professional service organizations seize the opportunity. When used in tandem with a solid digital media strategy, podcasts can spur conversations between key decision-makers, drive up the number of visitors to companies’ owned channels, and generate new business development.

Below, we outline a few benefits—and how marketers can achieve them.

Drive Organic Traffic to Owned Media Channels

To some extent, podcasts are self-selecting. By choosing to play your podcast, listeners have already raised their hands to say that your content’s subject matter is what they are interested in. It should come as no surprise then that 80% percent of people who start a podcast listen to most or all of the episode.

That increased focus gives professional service organizations the opportunity to steer listeners to other relevant owned content on their website. For instance, Greentarget has been able to craft bylines and owned blog content based on several conversations that podcast hosts have had with their guests.

And because that content is more likely to coincide with their interests, it can be valuable tool in driving newsletter subscriptions, report downloads and organic traffic. Once you have drawn listeners into your marketing pipeline, they are more likely to reach out and enlist your services.

Reach an Audience That Matches Your Target Demographic

Research shows that most podcast listeners are educated, tech-savvy, affluent and diverse, and the medium is known for reaching on-the-go professionals of all ages. While the majority of monthly podcast listeners are between the ages of 12 and 34, 43% of monthly podcast listeners are aged 35-54—an increase from 39% in 2021. These segments of the U.S. population largely align with the demographics of professional services organizations, meaning a podcast has greater potential to reach them over traditional media channels.

What’s more, podcasting is quickly becoming a global medium. Monthly downloads for podcasts around the world ballooned by millions in the first quarter of 2023, and experts anticipate the number of podcast listeners will reach over 500 million by 2024. As reaching a global audience becomes increasingly important for growing professional service organizations that work across borders, podcasting can help overcome the regional limits of traditional news outlets.

Position Authorities as Authentic and Trustworthy

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, consumers trust business more than any other institution globally. Listeners trust industry leaders who weigh in on important issues. As organizations face increased scrutiny around the credibility of the information they produce, podcasts offer a way to deliver those perspectives in an authentic, believable way. The nature of the medium enables thought leaders to showcase not only their knowledge but their personalities and unique voices.

Generate Networking Opportunities

Authorities also stand to make personal connections with the wide variety of industry experts featured on their show. This can open up better networking opportunities, and in some cases, lead to a beneficial partnership between organizations.

Take our podcast partnership with Berkeley Research Group (BRG) , for instance. Through the firm’s Insights from the Top podcast, host Dr. David Teece was able to build strong relationships with law firm leaders in the U.K. and as far as South Africa. Other podcast hosts at the firm have appeared as guests on podcasts hosted by close acquaintances, and vice versa.  

A Small Investment Can Yield Big Rewards

Creating a podcast takes little in the way of capital investment. Nowadays, a hundred-dollar microphone, earbuds, a quiet room and simple software are enough to produce a high-quality listening experience for your podcast audience. And now that the pandemic has habituated listeners to the audio quality you might expect in a Zoom call, the bar to entry is lower than ever.

Best Podcasting Practices

If you’re convinced that podcasting might work for your professional services organization, here are a few rules of thumb that will guide you on your journey to launching your very own podcast series.

  • Stay the course: Since anyone can throw their hat into the podcasting ring, it can take more than a few one-off episodes to rise above the noise and gain a diverse and dedicated following. This is often why more than three in four podcasters give up on a show within 12 months of launch. So, it’s important that professional service organizations make a long-term commitment to a podcast with the expectation that they are unlikely to garner a substantial following in the first few months. The most influential professional services podcasts out there today—The McKinsey Podcast, Deloitte’s Global Insights, you name it—invested significant time and resources before gaining traction.
  • Integrate podcasting into a holistic communications plan: Podcasts can be repurposed in the creation of other content that can be shared across different platforms, such as infographics, blogs and newsletters. Conversely, podcast episodes can center around insights and findings outlined in other forms of content, e.g., research reports, whitepapers, etc. Professional services firms should use these strategies to extend the shelf-lifeand expand the reachof existing content.
  • Be candid: Podcasts bridge the gap between informal, authentic communication and measured thought leadership. Since a podcast can always be edited after a recording session takes place, authorities and their guests can—and should—speak frankly about today’s most pressing issues. They can rest assured that they will always get the right message across to their audience—even if it’s in the editing room.

There Has Never Been a Better Time to Dive into This Growing Medium

As stakeholders continue to shift from traditional to owned media channels for their information, it’s crucial that professional services firms evolve alongside them. In our hyper-saturated media landscape, people are often bombarded with opinion-based content—from the moment they sit down at their work desks to when they nod off to sleep, phone in hand.

Podcasts offer an unusual respite from this barrage of information. They are played in the car, at the gym, or on an evening walk. And because a listener gets to decide what they listen to, they are more open to the views expressed on a podcast than say, an algorithmically curated TikTok video or an op-ed shared by a colleague on Facebook.

With over three million active podcasts out there and counting, professional service organizations can’t afford to ignore this rising—and very personal—content medium.Greentarget knows how to develop a podcast from front-to-back. Whether it involves pre-episode storyboarding, audio production or digital promotion, we have the tools to position any podcast for success—so let us help you jump into this frequently overlooked medium.

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As Western law firms that spent years growing their footprints in China either exit or retrench, the reason global firm Dentons cited for doing so stands out for its directness.

In a memo to clients, Dentons said it ended its tie-up with Beijing Dacheng Law Offices “in response to an evolving regulatory environment for Chinese law firms in China—including new mandates and requirements relating to data privacy, cybersecurity, capital control and governance.”

As conditions in China become increasingly challenging, how a firm communicates a decision to withdraw need not be left to the last minute – indeed, firms should have plans in place now, especially as the prospect of greater conflict in the region looms. The unlawful Russian invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’ more recent incursions into Israel signal the importance of having risk management and corresponding communications plans in hand before the next geopolitical crisis, which many believe will be Chinese President Xi Jinping’s inevitable attempt to take Taiwan.

The pullback among foreign law firms is the latest evidence that the Chinese government’s heightened focus on national security and related geopolitical tensions is impacting the ability of professional services firms to do business there. The Big Four auditing giants have also shut down legal affiliations with local firms in China, according to Law.com. Meanwhile, Chinese authorities earlier this year probed operations at China offices consulting firms Bain & Company and Mintz Group, and detentions of foreign executives are adding further chill to the business climate.

As one anonymous Dentons partner told The American Lawyer, “It wasn’t really a corrosion of our relationship [with Dacheng]. It’s more that it’s become impossible to serve our clients properly, those that have China links.”

Worsening Economic and Geopolitical Conditions Raise the Communications Stakes

The changes global law firms made to their Chinese platforms in 2023 are part of a longer-term trend. The number of foreign law firm offices in China has been in decline for five consecutive years, falling by 16% to 205 as of the end of 2022, according to Chinese Ministry of Justice data, with U.S.-based firms leading the withdrawal. More firms will likely be queueing up behind Dentons and others heading for the exits as China’s economic downturn deepens, limiting business opportunities while trade tensions slow cross-border investments.

These developments come as heightened tensions between China and Taiwan once again fan speculation around a possible Chinese invasion. Affluent Taiwanese are transferring wealth abroad or shifting money into portable assets. Multinational companies are taking force majeure clauses one step further and inserting provisions into contracts specifically tied to China-Taiwan tensions. Meanwhile, America’s military and political leadership are discussing deterrence and timelines of a possible Chinese invasion amid growing economic and diplomatic pressure.

Coupling these conditions with the increasingly aggressive Chinese regulatory stance toward foreign firms, leaders of professional services organizations must consider the possibility that a conflict in Taiwan could further compromise their business and compel them to communicate their position on Chinese aggression – operationally and philosophically – with clients, employees, regulators, and the public.

Recall the weeks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Hundreds of global companies shut down Russian operations within a few days. Professional services firms were slower to react than other organizations and their responses varied widely—from resigning clients based in Russia to taking no action at all, perhaps reflecting the difficulty of giving up work when it can be done from anywhere. 

Given the difference in the size of the Chinese and Russian economies and levels of foreign direct investment, we would expect even greater difficulty unwinding from China than from Russia despite China’s lackluster economic outlook. The International Monetary Fund last year ranked China the third most prominent destination for foreign direct investment, totaling $3.6 trillion in 2021. (This doesn’t count Hong Kong, which received another $1.9 trillion.) Russia isn’t even in the top 10.

As we saw after the invasion of Ukraine, intensifying Chinese aggression toward Taiwan would likely be followed by swift international condemnation and calls for Western firms to withdraw or to limit activities that could be said to support the regime. Other complications, from head-butting between the Chinese and U.S. militaries to stepped-up regulatory actions against foreign firms operating in China, could elicit similar responses, highlighting the need for firm leaders to be prepared for such eventualities.

In a Volatile World, Organizations Need a Proactive Communications Strategy

It is critical that firms have a clear framework for whether and how to respond to such crises, beyond the compulsory need to communicate regarding local staff who may be in harm’s way.  As a starting point, we recommend the process we developed to help leaders decide whether and how to respond to social and political issues since the murder of George Floyd. 

The Conference Board is aligned with our process. It recommends considering the issue’s alignment with the following:

  • Your organization’s core values
  • The requirements and expectations of internal and stakeholders
  • The connection between the issue and business
  • The significance of the issue to society
  • The incremental impact your organization may have

Firms should choose how prominent a leadership role they wish to play and be transparent with stakeholders about the criteria and process they employed in deciding whether and how to respond. (Firms structured as vereins, with members and affiliates in different parts of the world, should take note of this last point.)

And as consulting giant McKinsey points out, you should also consider adjusting your corporate narrative with an eye to shifting geopolitical risks. If you have an early handle on how you would respond if a specific crisis occurred, consider whether that is aligned with how the firm talks about itself today. If that narrative conflicts with your anticipated position, shifting your narrative early can avoid confusion among internal and external stakeholders down the road. 

Engaging with us in a rigorous scenario planning process can bring significant clarity. That’s especially the case if the process is conducted before the crisis occurs and urgency overtakes the opportunity to be thoughtful. We’ve helped clients navigate the invasion of Ukraine, the repeal of Roe v Wade, and the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. Reach out if we can help you, too.

About the Executive Positioning Practice Exemplifying Greentarget’s 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, analyzing key issues that can impact reputation and compel leaders to communicate.

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In times of economic uncertainty, client retention is of paramount importance. After all, when there’s less new business to be had, focusing on retention protects crucial month-to-month revenue and becomes a strong foundation on which future growth is built. 

Of course, focusing on client service will also yield valuable dividends no matter the economic circumstances. That’s why at Greentarget, we’ve spent several years defining the brand promise we deliver to clients. As a result, “The Greentarget Way” has become an integral part of our team culture. Every employee knows what it takes to live out our ideals when working and collaborating with clients.

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ChatGPT can’t replace the kind of thought leadership that true authorities are capable of producing. Its prose is still too wooden, unoriginal, and full of jargon to meaningfully convey your expertise. 

But as a marketing leader at a professional services firm, reading the output ChatGPT generates should make you wonder: Is my firm’s marketing content truly any better? Are we saying something new and insightful? And are our subject matter experts providing content that’s genuinely useful to our audience?

AI can help you strengthen your content strategy and reach your audience more effectively — if you learn how to make it work for you. ChatGPT might not be able to write your content for you. But you can use it to spin up user-focused topic ideas, see what others have said about an issue to uncover a unique POV, and discover what your firm can add to the conversation.

Check out our ChatGPT Article Roundup to discover more ways to make AI the useful tool it has the potential to be.

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If the prospect of a publicly traded U.S. law firm seems unlikely, consider that more than five decades ago, there was no such thing as a publicly traded American investment bank. Due to a nearly 200-year-old rule requiring that the New York Stock Exchange approve all shareholders of its member firms, the NYSE didn’t allow them. But thanks to Dan Lufkin, who engineered the 1970 initial public offering of his investment banking and brokerage firm, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, the NYSE amended its rules and it’s now difficult to imagine the big Wall Street firms like Goldman or Morgan Stanley as private partnerships. But they were. Just like today’s big law firms.  

According to William Cohan, who relays this story in his article, The Next Big I.P.O. Scramble, it may be only a matter of time before a bold and enterprising law firm follows in Lufkin’s radical footsteps and converts its private partnership into a public corporation – a structure that would provide greater access to capital, help streamline law-firm mergers and allow retiring partners to cash out their shares. Like the NYSE once prevented investment bank listings, most state bar associations still have rules against non-lawyer ownership of law firms. But that has begun to change. 

Utah and Arizona have relaxed the American Bar Association rule barring nonlawyers from sharing in law firm ownership. To a fiercely competitive industry that has few options for raising capital, these changes could open a door to a source of affordable growth capital, a liquid market for partners’ equity, and a reliable method for determining a firm’s relative value in a highly acquisitive marketplace. The two states have granted a total of 91 licenses for alternative legal business entities, according to The American Lawyer. Once a major law firm walks through that door, many more could follow. 

Skeptical? If the true story of the investment banking industry’s conversion isn’t a sufficient analog, the rapidly growing appetite for litigation finance, even among the legal industry’s biggest firms, is further evidence that law firms are eager to tap alternative sources of capital to fund their growth.

So if this potential shift becomes reality, law firms that take the IPO plunge will need to communicate frequently with an entirely new audience — public shareholders. And meeting shareholders’ demand for information will require significant, fundamental changes to how law firms share information with stakeholders.

What does this mean for you? Effective shareholder communication is not a switch you can flip on the first day of trading. If you harbor hope that your law firm will someday ring that iconic opening bell, plan to implement the following five tactics well before you file your registration statement. Doing so will support a successful IPO and enhance your ability to communicate effectively with your shareholders going forward, supporting quarterly earnings and other material disclosures, and ultimately an appropriate valuation. 

1. Generate Pre-Filing Awareness

When contemplating a public offering, the way your firm communicates right now matters. Once you file your S-1, or registration statement, you can’t be perceived as promoting the offering as you prepare to begin trading. But you are permitted to continue sharing certain information about your business as you have in the past.  

To establish an appropriate baseline, your external communication plan should include:

  • Announcements of your involvement in major matters, litigation wins, and other noteworthy milestones
  • Timely content conveying unique positions of authority from your firm’s partners and subject matter experts
  • Media interviews that result in your partners’ appearance in the press, sharing points-of-view on issues that matter to clients 
  • Information about your firm’s social impact, e.g. pro bono and DEI initiatives 

Chances are you’re already doing many of these things as part of your owned and earned media efforts. And of course, all of these activities are valuable and worthwhile even if the opportunity or desire to take your firm public never arises. But to set your firm up to communicate more freely throughout the process of going public, begin covering all these bases by ramping up your external comms strategies now. 

2. Establish Metrics for Your Business

Partnerships are evaluated differently than publicly traded firms. The American Lawyer ranks its A-List firms based on these measurements: revenue per lawyer, associate satisfaction, diversity, pro bono initiatives, and the percentage of female equity partners. Firms rank on the AmLaw 100 according to self-disclosed or estimated figures like gross revenue, profits per partner, and revenue per lawyer. This will not satisfy Wall Street.

Law firms weighing IPOs should consider a mix of metrics that your shareholders demand – which would be similar to those disclosed by most listed companies (revenue, income, and earnings per share) – and those that you want your shareholders to track as well, such as realization rate, total billable hours and utilization rates, and client acquisition and attrition rates.  

Regardless of which metrics you choose, you need to identify them before your offering, educate investors about their value and importance during the offering roadshow, and set up systems that allow you to track those metrics on a weekly basis. Weekly? Yes. Most newly public companies trade below their offering prices within six to nine months of the IPO, often because management lacks visibility into their own metrics. This can result in quarterly financial results falling short of expectations and surprising shareholders. And surprised shareholders sell stock.   

Establishing the right metrics now — and tracking them weekly — is the best way to guard against a future market flop.

3. Identify Appropriate Comps

Investment bankers always look at comparable companies when valuing an IPO. And naturally, analysts and brokers will want research on other publicly traded firms like yours in order to better understand your performance and persuade their investors to bet on you. But until several law firms go public, it will be difficult for them to find the comps they’re looking for.

This is another area where being proactive matters. Look for publicly traded firms in industries with similar models, like consulting, to give analysts and investors the comps they’ll need to evaluate your business.

4. Adopt IPO Disclosure Policies and Procedures

As a law firm, you’ll likely have a leg up in understanding the regulatory landscape that listed companies must navigate, particularly regarding the disclosure of material information. But it’s still worth mentioning that once you’ve filed to go public, leadership and other members of the firm can no longer engage in casual conversations about financial performance and news that might impact your valuation. 

According to SEC guidelines, anything your firm discloses to one person must be disclosed to everyone. And if you share material non-public information — even if it’s done unintentionally — you could be accused of enabling insider trading.

5. Ramp Up Internal Communications 

When the time comes, it will also be essential to communicate openly with employees about your IPO and protect your firm from confidentiality breaches and legal liability. 

Employees would need to understand: 

  • The rationale and business case for the IPO
  • How the shift from a partnership model to a publicly traded model will impact them
  • Specific guidelines regarding what they can and cannot say to outsiders about their work
  • Guidance on how they should answer questions they’re asked about your IPO
  • Examples of common confidentiality breaches (like sharing information with a spouse, friend or a colleague from another firm) 

Keep in mind that going public would represent a significant organizational change. To win employee buy-in and support, you must be proactive about managing the change internally. 

Going Public Requires a New Approach to Law Firm Communication 

Embarking on an IPO could be an incredibly exciting, all-eyes-on-your-firm moment. To leverage the opportunity a public offering could present, you must start planning early. 

But it’s not enough to launch successfully. You’d also have to sustain (and build on) your success quarter after quarter and year after year. And all the while, you need to communicate with a level of openness and transparency that might feel totally foreign. 

You don’t have to make this leap alone. The Greentarget team has experience helping clients navigate the IPO landscape, and we speak the unique language of partnership-based law firms. So if your firm explores going public, we’d love to walk with you every step of the way.

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