Greentarget

Greentarget

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No matter how hard your firm tries to keep M&A talks under the radar, it’s inevitable that employees and other stakeholders will notice and start speculating about a potential changeover. And when rumors and leaks attract unwanted media attention, it’s only natural to focus on controlling the public narrative.

But it’s a mistake to de-emphasize internal communications in the process. While employees are your strongest brand stewards, they are the likeliest source of leaks. By proactively discussing a potential merger or acquisition with them at the right time, senior leadership may be able to stop (or at least significantly reduce) the spread of unhelpful rumors or misinformation around your upcoming deal. 

Even better, with a thoughtful internal comms strategy, you can empower employees to become advocates and champions of your message which, in turn, prepares your organization for a smoother post-M&A integration process. Or if a deal happens to fall through, it’s important to communicate internally why it was abandoned. 

Either way, there’s no upshot to avoiding an internal dialogue with your senior leadership, who have a line of communication to employees. It’s important to provide them with the tools to communicate to their teams about prospective deals—whether or not they close.

The Dangers of Neglecting Internal Comms During Deal Making

Employees expect transparency and vulnerability from employers now more than ever. And because they can easily amplify their own voices on platforms like Fishbowl and Reddit, you have a vested interest in helping them internalize positive, believable and strategic messages about the inevitable organizational change your M&A deal will usher in if a deal is completed. 

In particular, employees need to understand:

  • The business strategy that’s driving the merger or acquisition. Communicating the “why” of organizational evolution is a vital part of gaining buy-in and support.
  • Where your firm is headed. Paint a picture of the new work you’ll be able to take on thanks to the deal. Give employees a reason to be enthusiastic about the next stage. 
  • How the deal will affect their jobs. Even if you can’t give specific information outlining forthcoming changes to positions, roles, and responsibilities, address the elephant in the room and let employees know when they can expect to hear more, and from whom. 

Failing to communicate can result in:

  • Leaks. Whether accidentally or intentionally, employees who feel anxious and reticent are more likely to let sensitive information slip.
  • Misinformation. If you don’t provide employees with a narrative regarding your M&A transaction, they may receive and spread false details, or fill in knowledge gaps themselves. 
  • A culture of mistrust. Although every organization will always have its skeptics and cynics, you don’t want your internal culture to be defined by suspicion. A lack of trust can erode morale and impede your organization’s forward momentum.
  • Employee attrition. M&A deals can threaten employees’ sense of job security–which means they might start looking for another position, rather than risk sticking it out only to lose their job later on. 

To ensure a successful post-merger or post-acquisition integration, you need key talent to stay on board. Here’s how to communicate effectively and win their trust.

Seven Stages of Communicating About M&A Internally

As important as it is to regularly communicate with internal stakeholders, the fact remains that there’s a right and a wrong way to do it. Legally, there will be details you can’t disclose until the contract is signed. 

There are basic stages of communicating an M&A deal externally. In what follows, we’ll explain how to align your internal communications plan with those steps, assuming a deal has closed, or will soon. Some stages can even be applied to deals that have fallen through.

1. Rumors and Speculation

You may not be able to provide much detail about preliminary M&A negotiations as rumors swirl–but even a simple acknowledgment of the situation can quell employee anxiety. This is also the time to solidify your comms plan, so you can roll it out once you’re able to share more details. 

Meet with your senior executives and managers to explain the situation at a high level and arm them with talking points. Instead of a knee-jerk response to rumors, employees will appreciate information from a trusted source (e.g., a direct manager) and are more likely to wait for more information than fan the flames of speculation.

Identify your internal audience segments and think through the questions they’re most likely to ask. Then empower regional leaders, practice leaders and front-line supervisors to cascade your message to the employees within their purview. This can be done a number of ways, depending on existing internal communications protocols and cadence. Tools range from a simple statement to an FAQ to an agenda item for a regular staff meeting with talking points.

2. Confirmed M&A Talks 

As soon as you’re able to publicly confirm you’re in talks regarding a merger or acquisition, let employees know, too. Provide the initial rationale for exploring this move and share how it could advance your firm’s overall growth strategy. 

Be careful about the optics as you proceed. If one firm is doing the acquiring and another is being acquired, don’t categorize the move as a merger of equals. Rather, make sure both firms are communicating a unified message that articulates how the deal is a force multiplier for all involved.

Consider how you’ll address concerns about redundancies as well. If you can truthfully tell employees that you don’t expect any reductions in your workforce, say that. If layoffs will be part of the deal, give employees as much assurance as you can without providing false hope.

3. Speculation on Business Case 

Once you’ve confirmed your firm is in talks regarding an M&A transaction, people may begin to dig deeper into your business case. Anticipate that your employees may have questions (or even doubts) about your stated reasons behind exploring the deal. 

To manage this stage effectively: 

  • Leverage the pre-established communications cascade to counter incorrect narratives.
  • Clarify the rationale and restate the business case to reinforce prior messaging.
  • Communicate clearly and transparently about the organizational changes you foresee occurring as a result of the deal.

If you begin to encounter concerns and objections you didn’t see coming, use this moment as a gut check. It’s never too late to make sure your stated business case aligns with your firm’s overarching mission and values.

4. Progress Updates

As talks continue, internal stakeholders will gradually become accustomed to the impending change. They may ask fewer questions and speculate less about what’s coming. Even so, it’s important for you to stay ahead of the narrative and continue communicating regularly. 

The more you can share about the deal’s progression, the more you can turn employees into advocates who advance your message and correct misinformation within their sphere of influence. 

5. Quiet Period Around Closing the Deal

The most precarious point of any merger or acquisition is when it’s time to seal the deal. During this stage, you really do need to go dark and stop communicating externally and internally while the parties involved iron out the final details.

But if you’ve adhered to a proactive internal comms strategy, you’ve laid the groundwork and have made your business case with stakeholders. That means you can afford to hold the line and maintain silence for a short period of time until you can make an official announcement.

6. Official M&A Deal Announcement

When it’s time to announce your merger or acquisition, do your internal audience the 

courtesy of sharing the news with them first. 

For your employees and stakeholders to truly embrace and champion this change, they need to know:

  • Specific details regarding how the deal will be structured, especially if there will be changes to how employees should talk about and deliver your firm’s brand promise.
  • The best way to respond to client inquiries and concerns.
  • Any immediate changes to the way roles and responsibilities are structured — as well as an overview of changes that will be rolled out over time.

Although the news of the deal should come from the top first, use the communications plan you’ve already established to further socialize the message and anticipated merger integration activities and roles across the organization.

7. Post-Announcement Integration

In this final and ongoing stage, it’s time to turn your organization’s collective eye to the future. What will your firm achieve in the coming week and months? How do you plan to bring your separate entities together? What efficiencies and synergies do you expect to achieve as a result? And who can employees turn to when they have questions and concerns along the way? 

It’s wise to ramp up face-to-face communication strategies during this transitional period. Use group meetings, forums, and town halls to underscore the shared values that will guide your continued integration efforts.

Keep Internal Stakeholders Engaged During Your Merger or Acquisition

Partners and employees are the lifeblood of your firm. And in order to advance your M&A-driven growth strategy, you need these key advocates to be properly informed and on your side. A deal is an opportunity to reiterate firm strategy and get your people excited about the future.

That’s why you can’t afford to go silent when a merger or acquisition is on the horizon. It’s imperative to get ahead of the rumor mill, address speculation head-on, and give employees the “why” behind the business strategy you’re advancing. 

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Challenge

Northwestern University’s chemistry department (NUChem) came to Greentarget looking for ways to better promote its research, scientists, and resources. The goal was simple: Stay competitive for top faculty and students. 

The department had more than enough talent, research prowess and pedagogical expertise to compete with the nation’s foremost chemistry departments, including MIT, CalTech, UChicago and Stanford. By fostering collaboration and supporting a diverse community of students and faculty members, the department had been at the forefront of scientific discovery for well over a century.

What NUChem didn’t have was a culture of publicizing that work to the next generation of STEM leaders or thriving businesses. So many of the institution’s breakthroughs were going underreported and uncredited. Academic leaders in the field knew the program was good — they just didn’t know how good.

Solution

When a client’s goal is to outperform its rivals, Greentarget starts there first. The initial proposal to NUChem underscored the importance of two types of research: primary research aimed at uncovering how students and faculty members viewed the department; and secondary research comparing NUChem’s reputation and promotional efforts against departments in close competition to be viewed by peers as the top chemistry department.

To help chemistry academics embrace the leading-edge marketing tactics Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management was already known for, Greentarget then developed a comprehensive competitive assessment. Its findings revealed that the department’s aversion to self-promotion wasn’t a sentiment shared by its peers. In fact, many of the institutions NUChem competes with had robust PR and marketing programs in place actively demonstrating their authority.

But the program’s biggest shortcoming was social media. Not only did Northwestern’s five peer universities maintain an active presence across multiple social media platforms, but their individual chemistry departments did as well. This gave NUChem’s competitors the opportunity to solicit success stories from within their departments and share them with a wide audience. And as industry publications and associations covered these stories, NUChem’s competitors were able to amplify them on their own social channels. Their social media presence also enabled other departments to drive engagement among current students, alumni and faculty — a crucial step toward achieving world-class reach and influence.

Impact

By showing NUChem how their peers were winning the reputation battle — and crafting a unique social strategy on their behalf — the department was able to counter. In less than two months, NUChem’s LinkedIn audience went from zero to twice that of its closest competitor.

More importantly, chemistry leaders were the ones engaging, with professors and publications mentioning the department more than any other in the competitive set during the first month of the campaign. For academics with an ultimate goal of being the top chemistry program in the country, there was no better proof point than the attention and respect of their peers.

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It’s no secret that law firm profits and productivity slipped last year, as 2021’s legal bonanza gave way to a more challenging stretch in which many firms found themselves with too many lawyers, and not enough work to go around.

Demand for legal services dropped 1.9% in 2022 compared to 2021, while expenses increased 7.9%, according to Wells Fargo’s Legal Specialty Group. Some law firms have already laid off lawyers and staff, while others may be considering reductions.

Last year, when the war for lateral talent still raged, we recommended that firms emphasize culture over profits in their legal media interviews as a way stand out in an environment where strong financial performance was the rule.  

But as legal demand dries up while expenses climb, law firms need to adjust their messaging accordingly. Below, we outline considerations as firms prepare for those discussions.

What to Expect During the Interview

Economic uncertainty continues dominating headlines and will be a recurring theme in conversations between legal media and law firm leadership. Expect questions about how your firm plans to navigate the unpredictable financial environment in the coming year, from reining in expenses and headcount to balancing fiscal restraint with the need to invest in technology and talent.

With law firm mergers gaining momentum after a pandemic-era dip, legal reporters may ask whether your firm is open to a combination to grow headcount, expand its regional footprint and/or expand capabilities. Smaller firms and those with softening financial results should prepare for questions about potentially being acquired by larger or more prosperous firms.

The legal media knows your firm’s expenses increased last year, but you can talk about how they grew in 2022 and how you plan to manage them in 2023. On a more granular level, expect journalists to ask how your firm dealt with overcapacity last year – and how it plans to address the issue in 2023. Are you instituting programs to fill lawyers’ unused time through expanded pro bono work or business development initiatives?

Headcount Reductions

Nobody wants to talk about this. However, the legal media has widely covered the firms that have already reduced their headcounts in 2022 and 2023, and reporters will not shy away from questions around this topic.

If your firm plans to lay off attorneys and staff, make sure to announce those reductions internally before discussing them with members of the media. Keep in mind that any memo sent to lawyers and staff will be leaked – so when drafting the announcement, have your external audiences in mind, too. 

If your firm has already reduced its attorney or professional staff ranks, interviews can help contextualize those decisions by framing them around your firm’s overall 2022 performance and strategy for 2023.

Real Estate, Technology and DEI

Where and how lawyers work will also be top of mind. Hybrid and remote work continue to be topics of interest. Firms should expect questions about changes to in-office policies and whether they remain open to fully remote hires.

Reporters will likely ask about firms’ physical footprints, too. Firm leaders should plan to discuss any changes in office space, and the adoption of strategies like hoteling. If your firm has a hiring strategy for 2023, this interview offers a great place to share it with potential talent.  

Leaders should also expect questions about their firms’ technology investments. Has your firm splashed out on new software or platforms in the past year? Does your firm plan to scale back technology spending in the coming year?

Prepare for questions about potential retrenchment in other areas – including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), which many firms prioritized after the social and racial reckoning of 2020. Reporters may ask about what measurable progress you made against those commitments last year, and whether your firm plans to cut or pause its DEI and/or talent development initiatives amid profit pressures. Consider sharing your organization’s DEI targets and how you plan to meet those goals in the coming year.

Reflect on 2022 – And Map Out What’s Next

When preparing your talking points about 2022, think about how you would characterize the year at a macro level. Be prepared to talk about the practices, regions and industries that drove growth last year, and where your firm saw shifts in demand. This is a great opportunity to discuss notable matters from 2022, so ensure you have those details on hand.

During these interviews, firm leaders can discuss their strategy for 2023. Any major investments your firm plans for the year – office openings, new practice group focus, ancillary practices – should be shared here if possible.

Explain where the firm will focus this year in terms of practices and initiatives, as well as areas where you will be creating efficiencies. Where do you anticipate increased demand? Leaders should plan to talk about practices that may be ripe for growth, such as bankruptcy and restructuring, data privacy and security and regulatory.

With the economic outlook for the legal industry still uncertain, firms can find value in being transparent about financial results, strategic plans and cultural considerations – topics that will resonate with current employees and potential talent.

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Prior to his arrest, Sam Bankman-Fried’s attempts to explain the collapse at FTX did little to reassure or assuage his audience and stakeholders. Nor did they inspire confidence in the company’s ability to rebound from its downfall. Rather, by over-explaining his position, SBF seemed intent on proving that FTX lacks (and apparently has always lacked) any sense of organization, discipline, or accountability.

Allegations of fraud aside, among Bankman-Fried’s mistakes is his insistence on behaving like a classic tragic figure. Like Shakespeare’s King Lear or Arthur Miller’s Willy Loman, Bankman-Fried appears to be unaware of how the world sees him. Yet he can’t seem to stop trying to convince everyone that his own flawed vision of himself is just and true.

What SBF needs (or, rather, needed) is a fool, just like the fool in King Lear’s court — a brave and discerning advisor who’s close to the center of power, able and willing to speak the truth that no one else can. If you’re a PR or communications leader, you’re uniquely suited to meet this need at your organization.

What Executives Can Learn from a Fool

In King Lear, the Fool is not merely a court jester. Sure, the Fool cracks jokes at the expense of the king. But the fool is there to do more than entertain. This character sees through the artifice of the king’s self-delusion and uses irony and wit to force King Lear to look in the mirror and face the consequences of his behavior. 

The Fool is loyal to his ruler, for sure. He has the king’s best interests at heart and knows his strengths and weaknesses better than anyone. The Fool uses his position within Lear’s inner circle to try to protect the king, continually warning him of the folly of his poor decisions.

Where’s the Fool at FTX? 

In an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin, Bankman-Fried said there was no one at FTX who challenged him. If his account is to be believed, not a single person advised him of the missteps his company was taking. No one was responsible for monitoring risk or alerting higher-ups that what they were doing was dangerous or wrong. (Of course, perhaps someone did try to speak out and SBF was simply unwilling to listen. Lear ignored his Fool, too — and it led to his undoing.)

The result? FTX is bankrupt. Bankman-Fried has resigned as CEO. He lost his personal fortune and the fortunes of others. Many of those who previously lauded SBF’s ingenuity have disappeared. And SBF has pled not guilty to allegations of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering — underscoring his commitment to proving that his vision of himself is true.

It’s impossible to know if things would have turned out differently for FTX had someone seized the Fool’s mantle. But the lesson here is that every king (or CEO) needs someone who’s willing to play the wise Fool, especially in the face of a PR maelstrom. 

Here’s why PR leaders are uniquely suited to play this critical role. 

You Know How to Shape Messages Your Audience Will Accept

Of all the executives in the CEO’s sphere of influence, PR and communications leaders are closest to the organization’s audience. On good days, you’re the person who’s carefully crafting messages that resonate with the public and advance your organization’s strategic goals. On bad days, you know which messages stand a chance of breaking through the noise to reach and reassure your stakeholders. Therefore, you know what your audience will accept as credible, and what it will find disingenuous. 

As much as they may want to, CEOs can’t kill a negative PR story or otherwise spin their way out of a crisis. They also shouldn’t blindly take legal counsel’s advice to stay silent (although, in SBF’s case, silence would likely have been the better strategy). 

It’s your job to help your CEO communicate responsibly in the midst of any PR challenges your company may face. If you don’t believe what the CEO is saying, you know your audience won’t either. And because it’s your responsibility to protect your firm’s reputation, you have an obligation to rethink any messages that ring hollow or — worse — untrue. It’s not about doing the right thing from a moral perspective (though it is…), it’s about doing what’s best for the company’s reputation.

To play the Fool effectively, you’ll need to:

You Understand How the Firm Should (and Should Not) Respond to a PR Crisis

Following the FTX collapse, the only information Bankman-Fried offered led many reasonable people to draw one of two conclusions: either he’s a criminal or he’s profoundly incompetent. Whichever conclusion you drew, he certainly did little to repair his image, or restore the reputation of his company, or at least slow the erosion of either. 

True, he apologized. But a shallow demonstration of contrition without meaningful insight into what went wrong or what he’d do differently next time doesn’t mean a whole lot to people who’ve lost everything. Bankman-Fried provides an excellent example of how CEOs should not respond to a PR crisis. 

During a crisis, PR counselors remind their CEOs that:

  • Now’s the time to set ego aside
  • Bad stories are probably inevitable, but good PR can make bad stories less bad
  • Statements framed in default corporate-speak alienate the audience further — now is the time for authenticity and vulnerability 
  • Crises are an opportunity to fix what is broken within the organization
  • It’s ok to punch back (purposefully) against false claims, misinformation or carelessness 

PR firms have spent decades creating effective crisis communications playbooks for a reason. Your CEO might want to break with convention to share her or his desired message. But there should always be a thoughtful strategy behind the approach your organization takes.

Play the PR Fool to Direct a Smarter Conversation at Your Firm

The downfall of FTX — and SBF’s subsequent media tour  — provide an extreme example of a badly handled crisis. And though the whole situation is a train wreck you can’t help but watch, there are valuable lessons here for CEOs as well as PR professionals.

CEOs must create space for trusted advisors to tell them the truth — even the hard truths they don’t particularly want to hear. And PR/communications leaders must be willing to play the Fool — especially when, like King Lear, their CEO seems bent on folly of another sort  (whether they’re aware of it or not). 

Greentarget can help you put a PR plan in place that upholds and protects your firm’s reputation. There’s no need to speak truth to power on your own since we’re here to help.

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Executive leaders facing pressure to advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) want more guidance on those efforts from their law firms and professional services providers—and say advisors must also do more to demonstrate their own DEI progress.

That’s according to Greentarget and Zeughauser Group’s first-ever State of DEI Content Report. An extension of our 2022 State of Digital & Content Marketing Survey, the report takes a deep dive into the increased demand for actionable DEI content among clients of professional services firms. Drawing on the perspectives of 200 C-suite executives and in-house counsel, the report uncovers what types of DEI content decision-makers are seeking, and the extent to which their outside firms are meeting those needs.

Our research also examines the hurdles that law firms and professional services providers face in advancing DEI initiatives at their own organizations. And we’ve paired this year’s DEI-focused results with practical guidance for marketers on how to navigate critical issues surrounding DEI to provide the guidance clients are seeking—and bolster their own DEI efforts, to ensure that content is authentic and credible.

We’re confident this year’s inaugural report will help legal and professional services organizations better understand and address their clients’ growing demand for more effective DEI content.

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The extraordinary upheaval of the past three years has reshaped the world, the workplace, and the way decision-makers consume information, sending the news cycle—and content creation—into warp speed. In this crowded environment, how can marketers create content that stands out from the noise?  

Greentarget’s 2022 State of Digital and Content Marketing Survey, developed in partnership with Zeughauser Group, delivers fresh insights for this new era of communication. The report is our 10th iteration of research into what makes content excel, and our first to do so since 2019.

We surveyed 200 top business executives and in-house counsel for this deep dive into how information consumption behaviors and preferences have changed—and what has stayed the same. Our report also provides practical guidance on how to utilize these findings to create the engaging, informative, and relevant content that decision-makers seek.

Here is a sampling of our key findings, along with examples of how Greentarget puts this knowledge into practice for our clients.

The Enduring Importance of Earned Media

In a volatile environment, executive decision-makers are looking for timely, practical, and trustworthy information to guide their business decisions.

Our 2022 survey found that C-suite members and in-house counsel still look to trusted editors and dependable, established outlets to tell them what matters. Respondents ranked traditional media nearly as important in 2022 as it was in 2019, with approximately 80% rating it somewhat or very valuable. Publications and websites specifically covering the respondent’s profession are also popular, particularly among C-suite executives, who ranked it as their most valuable content source.

Don’t underestimate the importance of a strong media relations strategy for reaching key audiences through the outlets they trust. Earned media is still the gold standard for credibility—and engaging with reporters can help raise your profile.

Case Study: Greentarget’s media relations strategy for Lathrop GPM earned more than 42 media results and 9 million impressions, including in key industry-specific publications, for its environmental and tort practice. The campaign led to new business inquiries, outreach from clients, and regular requests for insight from Bloomberg Law.

The Benefits of Effective Thought Leadership

When it comes to hiring outside law or professional services firms, decision-makers are finding thought leadership and credentialing activities to be increasingly important.

More than two-thirds of survey respondents cited articles and speeches from thought leaders as a critical factor in hiring outside firms, second only to recommendations from a trusted source. Nearly two-thirds of in-house counsel are also looking to thought leaders’ websites and blogs as noteworthy tools for researching outside firms, compared to just half in 2019.

A well-run owned media program can strategically deploy content creation to effectively establish your firm’s authority and expertise, attracting new business and generating additional earned media coverage. Insightful research reports, blog posts, white papers, and podcasts can help your organization stand out from the crowd.

Case Study: Greentarget leveraged the importance of thought leadership to establish Perkins Coie as the premier legal advisor in the AR/VR space. By developing the Annual AR/VR Survey Report, Greentarget secured more than 400 pieces of news coverage in leading national publications and fostered lasting relationships between partners and influential reporters.

The Accelerating Digital Shift

Executive decision-makers are more likely to visit websites, blogs, and webinars or other virtual events now than they were in 2019. When the pandemic put a sudden hold on conferences and in-person events—a key forum for gathering business intelligence—LinkedIn and virtual programming stepped in to fill the gap.

With webinar recordings available regardless of attendance or availability, the digital shift offers important advantages to increasingly busy C-suite members and in-house counsel who are looking for highly relevant, actionable content. Yet, despite the many online analytics and keyword research tools available to marketers, a lack of relevance remains the top reason why content fizzles with decision-makers.

With a nearly limitless virtual audience, create specific and tailored content personalized for the decision-makers you want to reach, rather than trying to compete with the noise in a crowded online environment.

Case Study: Greentarget worked with RBC Global Asset Management to take advantage of online distribution and engagement platforms for its Responsible Investing Survey. The campaign achieved 131 million impressions, with 5,500 views for the report; 3,500 views for the firm’s global responsible investment site, microsite, and ESG videos; and over 225,000 impressions and 2,000 click-throughs on paid and organic LinkedIn and Twitter posts.

The Need for Guidance in an Uncertain World

C-suite members and in-house counsel are also looking for more actionable guidance from law firms and professional service providers on the specific issues facing their business in this volatile period—particularly cybersecurity and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Fast-moving developments and rapidly evolving standards in these areas means that leaders need the most up to date and informed guidance.

Most of all, leaders want content with utility that explains what they should do with new information. But they also want content that’s “in-depth” and “technical,” offering granular analysis and expert recommendations that can help inform their operational decisions and outlook.

Case Study: Recognizing the growing importance of ESG to corporate decision-making, Greentarget helped Fenwick create a biotech-specific research report on how ESG reporting was affecting the industry. One Fenwick partner described the findings as “invaluable” to biotech clients, who had long sought this type of data on governance issues.

Communications in 2022 and Beyond

We found that executive decision-makers are increasingly looking to content from thought leaders to guide them—but not just anything will do. Marketing and communications professionals crafting strategies amid rapid-fire change need to understand how the past few years have shaped information trends, upended distribution channels, and altered preferences for both C-suite members and in-house counsel.

Check out the full 2022 State of Digital and Content Marketing report for more and stay tuned for our State of DEI report coming December 2022.

Still have questions, or are unsure how to break through to your target audience? We’re here to help.

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