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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CMOs came into their own as C-suite utility players in 2021, when the leaders of Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon did something no elected representative in Congress can do to the head of our federal government. Each imposed severe, unprecedented limits on the powers of a U.S. president.

Responding much faster than Congress to the will of the people — not as voters but as consumers — the chief executives demonstrated publicly and conclusively that they can more effectively circumscribe a government leader’s power than members of any other branch.

This led the Chief Financial Correspondent at Axios to conclude that CEOs have now become the fourth branch of government. “They have money, they have power, and they have more of the public’s trust than politicians do. And they’re using all of it in an attempt to preserve America’s system of governance.”

With this power comes a new kind of regulator, more powerful than the courts or the legislatures. Consumers can use their buying power and collective social influence to keep the “fourth branch” — let’s call it the C-branch — in check.

In such a world, the CMO becomes the CEO’s most valuable, versatile ally — a critically important conduit between the C-branch and consumers. The CMO-as-utility-player must do more than simply articulate positions, craft messages, and disseminate information internally and externally. In an era where corporate decisions can have far-reaching political and social implications, they must guide their organizations through turbulent waters. 

By learning and transmitting what’s on consumers’ minds — their predilections, pain points, and latest causes for social, economic, and political concern — CMOs can help the C-suite make decisions that protect and strengthen their position in the market. Like whether it’s time to take a stand on a contentious Supreme Court decision or how to position the company in the lead-up to a divisive election.

What it Means for CMOs to be the C-Suite’s Utility Player Today

Geopolitical and social unrest, contentious election cycles, fast-moving technological innovations, economic challenges, and far-reaching generational shifts continue to elevate the role of CMO. The C-suite faces ever-escalating pressure to communicate about everything from where their firm is heading to what role they expect it to play in an increasingly fractious society. And the CMO is the person who is best-positioned to help them do so effectively.

Recent events — the Supreme Court’s Chevron decision limiting federal agency power, the Israel-Hamas War, the widespread adoption of AI, and the backlash around DEI programs to name a few — continue to refashion the landscape in which CMOs operate. These developments have further solidified the CMO’s position as the C-suite’s indispensable utility player, bridging the gap between corporate strategy, consumer sentiment, and societal change.

Far more than just a chief marketing messenger, the CMO is now something of a CIO too — an executive who, if not working directly with information technology, must understand it well enough to take full advantage of the growing array of digital marketing tools. This includes leveraging AI to gain unprecedented insights into consumer behavior and sentiment, allowing CMOs to get closer to the ground than ever before in understanding their audience.

Additionally, the roles of the CMO and Chief Communications Officer are becoming more integrated by the day. They must be in order to achieve what Maja Pawinska Sims calls a better alignment with “brand and corporate narrative.” As honest, relevant, human storytelling becomes even more closely connected to the P&L, the C-suite’s storytellers are increasingly relied upon to develop new narratives.

It is not incorrect, then, to refer to the CMO as the C-suite’s new utility player, the executive who must know a little bit about every other position in order to help the CEO make sense of challenges and opportunities, especially in relation to the Three Rs: Revenue, Relationship, and Reputation.

Revenue & Relationships are the CMO’s Job, Too

Reputation has long been in the domain of the CMO. Marketing’s ties to revenue run deep, but the new order makes them inseparable. Relationship management, on the other hand, has traditionally resided outside the chief marketer’s purview. That’s not the case anymore.

Using a deep understanding of both customers and community, CMOs can and must actively identify and broker new kinds of relationships for their companies. Success will make them indispensable lieutenants, especially when it comes to helping CEOs influence “constituents” — as elected officials do.

A focus on revenue means CMOs need more than just hallway collegiality with the CFO; they need to develop an active, healthy relationship. They must also help persuade the finance chief that today, what’s good for customers and communities is good for the company’s bottom line.

Rather than be put off by such a prospect, chief marketers should view the present as an opportunity to, as Jann Schwarz writes, “reclaim a more strategic role” through a key relationship with the CFO.

“[The CMO’s] creativity and imagination (combined with commercial discipline and a customer lens) can drive a sustainable and competitive advantage” through such a rapprochement, writes Schwarz.

Clearly, this is not your mother’s or your father’s CMO.

The New Corporate Narrative: Social Responsibility

In this brave new world, the CMO is the CEO’s eyes and ears, both messenger and oracle, watching how our market-society, and the people who comprise it, are moving, shifting, aligning and re-aligning.

This means that CMOs can no longer compartmentalize company narratives, social responsibility and profitable growth. As the last Business Roundtable made eminently clear, these are now intertwined and interdependent considerations. That’s especially true given the rise of Gen Z and the expectations these emerging stakeholders bring to the business world. 

CMOs who are paying attention and playing the long game know that social responsibility is a key narrative and that terms such as “social impact” and “sustainability” are something more than fleeting hashtags to be expressed merely through a sprinkling of green on the logo. It will remain the narrative until norms have changed so dramatically that it becomes an unspoken expectation.

Perhaps the CMO’s greatest value, then, will be in perceiving what is moving the market. Or more accurately who is moving it: consumers and clients who are not data points, who are not math problems, but real, live people, governed by ever-shifting social norms and fickle human nature.

And who can vote any time, from anywhere, for unelected leaders in that fourth branch of government using something that may soon be more powerful than the ballot: their credit cards and their voices on social media.

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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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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