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The professional services marketer who sets out to develop a content strategy is likely to find the process frustrating, the execution lackluster and the results disappointing.

The process of creating a content strategy can be a nightmare in consensus-driven partnerships. Strategy requires setting limits, which can invite the fury of practice groups that aren’t identified as priorities. Most law firm leaders aren’t going to go there. Marketers who do manage to create a strategy are likely to find strategic elements like governance and promotional schedules completely ineffectual when dealing with partners and their impenetrable calendars.

Instead of putting yourself through that agony, try stripping your content strategy down to the essentials. Create a basic, realistic plan to produce content with strategic value – and put your energy and resources into content that establishes the firm’s authority and ultimately helps it win new business.

Four Elements of a Better Professional Services Content Strategy

A plan with the following four elements represents a strong framework for most professional services firms:

  • Authorities: Which subject matter experts you want to amplify
  • Audiences: Who your authorities are trying to influence – and what they need to know
  • Formats: Client alerts, bylines, LinkedIn posts – whatever will be the most effective vehicle engaging those audiences
  • Schedule: How many pieces do you want to publish, in what time frame?

Note that a content plan like this won’t cover all the content your firm produces. It should be designed for only the firm’s most strategic and valuable content – perspectives that open doors. Client alerts from non-priority industry groups, bylines lawyers write without telling you about it, blogs of low-margin practice groups – all of these things should be optimized with efficient editing and targeted promotion. That frees the marketing team to direct its editorial, creative and budgetary resources at the content most likely to generate new business.

Here’s a closer look at the four critical elements of a feasible content plan.

Authorities: Impact players With Something to Say

Choosing which of your firm’s advisers deserve the most marketing resources comes down to knowing where the firm has the greatest opportunities to grab new revenue.

Ideally, the decision derives from firm-level business strategy set by leadership. Firm leaders who identify priority practice or industry areas, or create annual strategy documents that identify key growth areas, make the decision for you.

Marketers who don’t have firm strategies to guide them will most likely have to sit down with leadership to identify which professionals or groups merit the team’s strongest support.

We’re not advising anyone to simply anoint the biggest rainmakers as your authorities. The advisers you’ll want to work with are those who are willing to invest the time and, most importantly, willing to deliver the goods: the insights and perspectives that will ensure they are not just heard, but heeded.

Audiences: Finding a POV

What do your target audiences need to know that they’re not getting elsewhere? The answer will provide the first critical element of your content plan.

Traditionally, we rely on the advisers to tell us what their clients and prospects need to know. That’s fine – they should know – but it’s also imprecise. A cybersecurity consultant might tell you her clients want insights on privacy rules in California – because a single client asked her about it that morning. Or because the client they care most about raised the topic. Or because they think their clients should care about it – probably just because it’s what they want to say.

To paint a more accurate, objective picture of the audience’s needs, we use technology tools that assess search data, which we view as a proxy for audience need. To get an even more complete picture, we use voice of the client research. At the very least, a thorough review of the media landscape will tell you what’s already being said, and what’s not; juxtapose that with your expert’s view of the audience need to figure out which unmet needs you can fill.

Formats: Follow the Data and Focus on What’s Inside

Don’t make this more complicated than it needs to be. Our research tells us that the folks in the C-suite, especially in-house lawyers, mostly want written content, especially articles. They want brevity in client alerts and depth in research reports.

Consider repeatable, standardized forms that will be easy to replicate. For instance, a series of short (less than 400 words) pieces, by multiple attorneys, framing the pressing issues in an industry with strategic value to the firm can help showcase the breadth and depth of the firm’s authority. A magazine-style approach that quotes the firm’s experts – but doesn’t ask them to write or even put their byline on anything – can expedite production and establish the firm’s value as a resource.

Editorial Calendars: Creating Reasonable Constraints

An editorial calendar with columns covering every stage of production, publishing, distribution and measurement will be useless if you have no way of enforcing deadlines with partners – whose schedules are already packed and who will always prioritize client work over marketing (as they should). But you need to create some constraints, if only to give yourself and your team some urgency. Just keep it simple.

Decide how many pieces you believe you should publish and in what time frame (weekly? monthly?).

Neither decision should be all that complicated. Consider the audience need, the depth of insights your advisers have to offer and the pace of the news around the issue you’re addressing. You want to produce enough content to establish your adviser’s authority, and you want to ensure your insights address the issues your audience cares about now, before the issue evolves or all of your competitors have already written about it.

Content That Rises Above the Noise

Your content plan won’t get you anywhere if you’re not creating content that will rise above the noise. Creating a simple, feasible plan allows you to spend more time ensuring your content will connect with audiences, establish the firm’s authority and open the door to client development.

To accomplish that, focus on four qualities: relevance, novelty, urgency and utility. If you’ve done the audience research, you’ve got the first three at your fingertips. You know which insights will impact readers’ businesses (relevance), which ones they’re not getting anywhere else (novelty) and which ones they need today (urgency).

The fourth, and most critical, component has to come from your advisers. Utility is what separates authoritative content – the stuff that moves clients to pick up the phone and call your firm – from all the other content out there.

To get at it, focus on pushing your advisers to answer this question: What do I need to do to navigate or address this issue today? Then take the answer and build your content around it, starting with the headline. Getting to utility isn’t always as easy as asking a question, but it’s worth holding out until you get to it. Readers want it above all else.

If this all sounds oversimplified, it’s supposed to be. We’d all love to have sophisticated content strategies – they work for companies that can execute on them. But marketers at lots of businesses, especially in professional services, face a different reality. And while that reality will often frustrate their efforts to execute on content strategy – or even to develop the strategies at all – it doesn’t have to prevent them from creating effective content.

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Incumbent law firms have advantage in the battle for clients’ attention, but substantive content creates openings for challenger firms

Chicago, December 2, 2020 – By bringing in-person client interactions to a virtual halt, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a digital content explosion as law firms compete for the attention of clients and prospects. A new study of in-house counsel shows that providing substantive, actionable guidance remains the best way to rise above the noise, preserve existing client relationships, and win new ones.

These findings are detailed in the report, “How to Win and Protect Client Relationships in the Age of Remote Engagement,” released today by strategic communications firm Greentarget, legal consultancy Zeughauser Group, and B2B branding agency Right Hat. The August 2020 survey of 75 in-house lawyers, including 37 general counsel, offers important guidance for law firms anticipating an extended period of remote outreach.

The survey’s top findings include:

  • Stick to Substance: 53 percent of respondents say they most want communications from outside counsel that relay substantive legal or business information. And substantive legal or business information is also most likely to generate a response from in-house counsel, especially for incumbent firms. For challenger firms, content that provides actionable guidance is the best route to sparking a conversation.
  • Incumbent Firms Beware! 68 percent of in-house counsel say communication from existing outside counsel is of greatest value, but 31 percent say they place great value on communications from firms introduced to them by friends or colleagues. This suggests a clear opening for challenger firms with the right connections and approach.
  • Pick Up the Phone – to Call or Text: Amid the age of digital communication, in-house lawyers most prefer the simplicity and intimacy of a telephone call or text. Picking up the phone affords outside counsel the chance to check in on a client personally before raising an emerging business or legal issue.
  • Stay Relevant to Be Read or Shared: More than half of in-house lawyers surveyed are willing to give communications from existing law firms (56 percent) and unfamiliar law firms (50 percent) at least a perfunctory read for relevance. Twenty-eight percent go further, saying that they appreciate good content sent from both types of firms, and they forward these communications to peers when appropriate.
  • Perspective Wanted on Pressing Legal and Business Issues: 69 percent of in-house counsel say they want content on COVID-19’s impact on the economy and their businesses; nearly as many (65 percent) want content on business and legal topics not related to COVID-19. When we asked in-house counsel to name issues they’d like to hear about from firms, diversity, equity and inclusion topped the list.
  • Forget Zoom Cocktail Hours: Seeking to fill the vacuum created by the inability to entertain clients, some firms have gotten creative with virtual social events. But virtual entertainment has little appeal for most in-house lawyers; 51 percent of respondents say they simply are not interested, and 40 percent say that they don’t want to engage with law firms in this manner.

“Establishing authority on business issues was challenging even before COVID-19, but the pandemic has forced lawyers and law firms to accelerate their digital literacy,” said John Corey, Greentarget’s founding partner. “At a time when it’s never been easier to project a message to the masses, it is more difficult than ever to really be heard. Leading with substantive, actionable content shows both clients and prospects you have a keen understanding of their challenges – and the insights to help solve them.”

“While the tools we are using to reach clients and prospects may be changing, best practices are not. Effective marketing and business development during the pandemic are still rooted in developing strong relationships with clients – relationships predicated on helping them make good decisions in real time,” said Zeughauser Group partner Norm Rubenstein. “And it’s clear that clients want trusted advisors now more than ever.”

Added Elonide Semmes, president, Right Hat LLC, “Law firms not only need to scrutinize their communications to ensure they contain actionable guidance that is scannable and easy to understand. They need to make sure that their communications feature clear, straightforward business language and compelling design that pulls the reader right to the most important content.”

What Law Firms Should Do

The report concludes with a series of recommendations for breaking through in the age of information overload, particularly given the increased flow of digital communication clients are receiving during the pandemic.

These recommendations start by reminding outside counsel that phone calls and texts are a welcome alternative to email; that evaluating content for its relevance, urgency, novelty and utility will distinguish it from the bulk of what clients are receiving; that all communication to clients and prospects should be customized; that incumbent law firms should avoid complacency; that investing in prospects can differentiate a firm seeking to develop a new relationship, and that bigger and bolder thought leadership projects – like research reports and podcasting – can show clients that a law firm is sensitive to their preferences and priorities.

A full version of the report is available here. For more information, contact Lisa Seidenberg at lseidenberg@greentarget.com or (312) 252-4108.

About Greentarget

Greentarget is a strategic public relations firm that helps leading law firms, accounting firms, management consulting, real estate and financial services organizations create unique positions of authority through skillful participation in the conversations that matter most to their key stakeholders. With 60 professionals in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and London, Greentarget combines earned media, research and market intelligence, content and publishing, digital strategy and amplification, and special situations counsel to help clients grow market share, attract leading talent and achieve a higher purpose. For more information, visit www.greentarget.com.

About Zeughauser Group

Zeughauser Group is the firm of choice for legal industry leaders seeking to increase competitive advantage and profitability, enhance market position, and strengthen organizational culture. With partners who have served as former generals counsel and as law firm chairs, managing partners, and chief marketing officers, Zeughauser Group advises clients on strategic planning and growth initiatives, including mergers and acquisitions; on best practices in marketing, branding, and business development; on client feedback programs; and on law firm management and governance, including organizational models and their assessments. For more information, visit www.consultzg.com.

About Right Hat

Right Hat is a leading B2B branding agency that helps law firms develop powerful go-to-market strategies. We are passionate about helping firms inspire buyers to want to learn more. We collaborate closely with our clients to deliver bold ideas and stunning websites, ad campaigns, thought leadership programs and business development tools. For more information, visit www.righthat.com.

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As a young reporter, I viewed PR professionals as something to work around. At least, that’s how I viewed them when I was feeling charitable.

To be sure, there were PR folks I liked and trusted, but my broader perspective was not uncommon among journalists — and it’s one that remains rooted in some truth. Then as now, there were some PR professionals trying to prevent journalists from doing their jobs. They could make it difficult to get access and candor. They put processes in place that were cumbersome or even ridiculous.

But as a young reporter I didn’t fully appreciate the ways PR professionals could and did help journalists do their jobs. And while journalists and PR professionals are not – and should not be – too cozy, it’s clear that the relationship between public relations and journalism could be important in fighting one of the more pernicious threats of our time: fake news.

Fake news is a common enemy for journalism and PR. It also was the subject of a research report Greentarget released late last month, just a week before voting day in one of the most tumultuous U.S. elections in decades.

The ‘Reality-Based Press’

In a recent column assessing news media efforts of the past four years, the Washington Post’s media columnist Margaret Sullivan used the term “reality-based press” to describe the news media that relies on traditional journalistic principles. It’s troubling that such a term is even necessary – and Sullivan’s not the only one using similar language — but it helps understand Greentarget’s point of view.

While the news media’s record is far from unblemished, the credibility it earns by being right more than it’s wrong and by trying to live up to a set of standards is important. In an era when it’s never been easier to disseminate information, or harder to tell information from misinformation, grounding journalism in reality – by reporting facts that journalists have made every effort to verify and substantiate – is critical for a host of reasons, including the credentialing of media outlets.

Readers, in their capacity as citizens, voters and businesspeople, need to be able to trust what’s reported by these outlets. Their trust is vital to the functioning of our democracy, our market economy and our daily lives. Without reliable information, we can’t make informed decisions about who to vote for, where to invest or, for instance, how to wear a mask to protect against a deadly airborne virus.

For public relations firms like Greentarget, which seek to give thought leaders the opportunity to express their points of view, the existence of a credible, reality-based news media is crucial. Fake news as it’s most aptly defined — false, fabricated or unverifiable stories – creates chaos and has a collective effect of delegitimizing media outlets.

Journalists Look Past (and Before) Trump When it Comes to Fake News

These issues spurred Greentarget to survey journalists. We focused in part on whether a change in Washington would help beat back fake news in the eyes of journalists. We figured that there wasn’t anyone better suited to assess the situation – but the survey results were simultaneously distressing and hopeful.

Journalists were fairly pessimistic about whether a Trump loss would improve things, despite Trump’s unprecedented battles with the news media, marked by consistent accusations of fake news against journalists and relentless misinformation from the president himself. But the journalists rightly pointed out that the roots of fake news predate Trump and predicted that the problems would outlast him.

Journalists were adamant that fake news negatively impacts journalism and largely feel that fake news is more dangerous than no news. But the journalists we surveyed also were clear that they thought they should be the ones to fight fake news – that despite the brutal job losses and financial hits to the news media over the past 15 years, journalism remained the best antidote.

Journalists Inspiring … PR Professionals?

In some ways, their gumption is inspiring, because it indicates that journalists simply refuse to give up despite the challenges they face. But considering public sentiment – Gallup reported in September that six in 10 Americans have little or no trust in the media – good faith efforts by journalists to turn the tide simply might not be enough.

Most of the reporters and editors we surveyed said fighting fake news shouldn’t be the responsibility of the government, perhaps not surprising given journalists’ ingrained devotion to the First Amendment. But other parties, including digital platforms like Facebook and Google, which have extraordinary power to disseminate information, could play a huge role. Interestingly, 56 percent of the journalists we surveyed pointed to social media as the single greatest threat regarding fake news distribution.

That made us wonder if public relations could play a role. Some research has revealed passivity among PR practitioners in addressing fake news. In light of our survey results and current events, we at Greentarget simply, but vigorously, reject that approach.

What PR Can (and Should) Do

There are ways our industry can and should help. That’s why as part of the report and separately we’re releasing the pledge below as part of our commitment to fighting fake news – and we hope other PR professionals will abide by it as well.

Some of the pledge has been part of Greentarget’s ethos since our founding – and we believe our work to provide reporters with credible sources who can help make sense of what’s going on helps journalists regain the credibility that is essential to combatting fake news. But we’re choosing this moment to formalize our thinking – and we’re going a step further by committing to working toward broader media literacy. That includes working with a group of Chicago high school students in 2021 to help them understand the fundamentals of public relations – and how to identify fake news.

Our research report is indicative of our organization’s commitment and its evolving thinking. Journalists might feel like the responsibility of fighting fake news rests solely on their shoulders. But given the stakes – not only for our industry but, more importantly, for our democracy – it’s time for the PR industry to step up.

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It is time for business leaders to develop enlightened positions on social issues that are also authentic, constructive and on-brand for a new generation of ‘citizen consumers.’

To say that 2020 has been a challenging year would be a gross understatement. 

But the unprecedented chaos and confusion, our annus horribilis, has delivered a string of revelations for business leaders – revelations that will have lasting implications.

One of the most profound: Leaders in the private sector can no longer comfortably avoid taking an unambiguous and very public stance on what had been traditionally viewed as “social sector issues” such as climate change, racial injustice and economic disparity. 

The reason is simple enough yet – still – not widely accepted: Social challenges are business challenges. From the violent union struggles and workers’ strikes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; to the Great Depression and Cold War eras; to the civil rights and women’s movements of the 1960s and 1970s; right up to the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter protests of the current day, business leaders have, time and again, been assigned a hard but necessary task, and that is to design strategies to respond to wide-scale social conflicts that impact those who produce and sell products and services as well as those who consume them – i.e., people.

There was a time when the C-suite grudgingly stepped up to meet an obligatory commitment to social responsibility simply to stay clear of bad publicity – and to keep the CEO out of the proverbial hot seat. But things have changed – dramatically. There are new, earnest expectations, articulated and memorialized by Business Roundtable in 2019, for businesses to true up on social responsibility in the belief that what is good for the planet and the society upon it is, in fact, good for business.

Therein lies another challenge for business leaders: How does a company effectively develop and communicate a position on key issues in a way that is constructive and not just reactive or performative? And is it even possible to do this while staying on-brand?  

Answering that question, nearly a decade after Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer said CSR should be framed as a shared value that will deliver on unmet social needs, is more pertinent now than ever.

“I see this [conundrum] not as a dichotomy, but as a continuum with different poles,” said Caroline Grossman, executive director of the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. “At one end, CSR is about positive impact on the planet’s most pressing problems, and at the other end it’s greenwashing. Risk mitigation falls somewhere in the middle.” 

Getting to a meaningful place on this spectrum is about asking questions, sometimes tough questions – the most interesting of which focus on understanding why this new approach to key issues is, actually, good business.

Drawing from the Past – and Other Industries

Companies, specifically C-suites within those companies, should incorporate key questions as a strategy exercise or strategy reorientation. 

This approach has become increasingly common across industries, said Grossman, whose research center supports people committed to helping solve complex social and environmental problems. “Some dramatic examples are companies founded on innovation that itself has the potential for outsize impact.”

Take plant-based meat. Grossman points out that Beyond Meat had a successful IPO last year and, as of this writing, is trading well above the offering price (even after a recent plunge). Impossible Foods, based on current research, is not planning an IPO but continues to attract investors. Both companies are also drawing attention from companies like Walmart, Kroger, Burger King and Amazon, and McDonald’s just announced a new “McPlant” line for 2021.

“I don’t think these retailers and restaurants stock plant-based meat because of CSR but because they think it is good business,” Grossman said.

Tables Have Turned

In the latter part of the last century, the most successful American corporations were uniquely positioned to drive consumer habits. One need only think of Nike, Google and Apple when it comes to what is now socially expected of us when it comes to deciding what athletic shoes we should wear, what email service we should use and what smartphones we should palm.

During the last six months, however, there has been a noticeable shift. After a ponderous and reactive response in the first weeks of the pandemic and then widespread protests, the social – social concerns, social issues, social anxieties – became a bigger influencer of big business. 

As a placard at a Black Lives Matter protest in Chicago this summer read: “no justice = no peace and no profit.” [Emphasis added.]

Ideally, however, business leaders are not acting solely out of financial self-interest. Recent events should be spurring them to consider the concept of social responsibility as a vital part of business – an essential, indeed intrinsic, component nested within any for-profit enterprise. 

Currently, there is strong support from consumers and investors for positive social/business impact. in Aflac’s 2019 CSR Survey, 82% of consumers said that companies bear responsibility for “making the world a better place,” ahead of the 75% who selected “making money for its shareholders.” Nearly all investors surveyed, unsurprisingly, placed importance on making money for shareholders (93%), but a similar portion of investors said that making the world a better place was important.

“I believe every business is inextricably linked to social responsibility. It is now part of our culture,” said Diane Primo, CEO of Purpose Brand Agency, an award-winning public relations, branding and digital marketing firm. “Even asset managers, investment bankers and financial giants are evaluating companies that do not comply with extensive ESG matrices.”

Primo’s insights reveal something else. Present-gen consumers have awakened to the fact that they hold real power – buying power – and they are quickly giving way to what will surely be a new demo for the 21st century: citizen consumer.

“What consumers care about, and how much they care, is redefining social responsibility,” Primo said. “Shared activism in combination with digital engagement is shifting culture quickly. We witness shifting perceptions as Black Lives Matter and COVID-19 spread and corporate responsibility evolves.”

This “evolution” was one of the reasons GreenHouse and Greentarget, in partnership with LAB/Amsterdam, launched Immediate Frontier. An independent research and innovation initiative, it was designed in part as a model for leaders to better see how to engage with the concept of CSR in a new, more holistic, less compartmentalized way. 

Some business leaders are ahead of the curve, Primo said.

“Public companies are already undergoing significant change,” she said. “As powerful consumer action groups team with investment groups to modify sales and reduce capital flows, change will happen – and quickly.”

X (and Boomers) Includes Y and Z Now

The fact that more leaders are willing to tackle issues that would not have seemed relevant to a for-profit entity’s business goals previously seems all the more natural, indeed necessary, as one contemplates another revelation: These social issues, now front and center, are leading the way to entirely new value propositions for corporations – and serving up impressive business outcomes.  

But present-gen leaders – Gen Xers and, in some cases, Boomers – shouldn’t bear this burden alone, nor are they capable of taking it on, experts suggest. Next-gen leaders deserve a seat at the table. 

Grossman, who teaches a CSR course at Booth, said young leaders take a long view and have sprung into action when it comes to the pandemic and helping Black-owned businesses.

“The next generation is demanding that business does things differently,” Grossman said. “[They’re] challenging leadership to take issues of diversity, equity and inclusion into account.”

Students are eager to jump in to think about social issues in a business context, and vice versa. And, Grossman said, the leaders at companies that sponsor the course at Booth are listening to fresh, new perspectives and straight-up challenges that students bring to the experience.  

“It’s critical for me to connect with all of [Rustandy’s] stakeholders – students, faculty, alumni, social sector practitioners and business leaders,” she said. “But it turns out that it’s the students who always ask the toughest questions.”

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New research by communications firm Greentarget examines fakes news’ effect and origins, prescribes action for preserving the integrity and value of journalism.

Chicago, October 27, 2020 – A polarized media environment and cries of “fake news” – often from the highest levels of government – that greet publication of even the most rigorous reporting have eroded journalists’ hope for their profession’s future, according to a new study released today by strategic communications firm Greentarget.

The outcome of the November election won’t change that outlook, the journalists who took the survey say – but at the same time, they firmly believe journalists themselves are in the best position to fight the threat of fake news.

Fake News 2020, a research project conducted in July, August and September 2020, queried more than 100 journalists, half of whom have worked in the profession for more than 20 years. The report addresses the origins and definition of fake news, as well as potential remedies for its creation and dissemination. And it shows that despite President Donald Trump’s relentless attacks on the press, journalists don’t expect broader improvement if Joe Biden wins next month’s presidential election.

“These survey results are significant because they gauge the sentiment of a broad swath of professional journalists at a crucial moment in history,” said John E. Corey, founding partner of Greentarget. “We work with some of the most talented and experienced  journalists in the world on a daily basis – and even we were taken aback by the level of pessimism and the lack of clarity around how to address and ultimately correct the growing prevalence of mis- and disinformation.”

“That was part of the reason why we went beyond simply reporting these results and conclude our report with actionable guidance that everyone in the news ecosystem –journalism schools and think tanks, public relations practitioners and newsrooms – can and should embrace. We did this because we understand the critical role journalism plays in the healthy functioning of democracy and the free market.”

Fake News 2020’s Top Findings

  • Fake News Has Hurt Journalism: 80 percent of respondents strongly believe fake news has negatively impacted their profession, and 14 percent say they somewhat believe that it has. Further, the journalists surveyed say fake news fosters multiple prejudices and distorts the public’s understanding of current events.
  • Don’t Expect It to Get Better Under Biden: One in four respondents say Trump has had a significantly negative impact on journalism. But just 46 percent feel optimistic about journalism’s future under a new president, and 43 percent say they are indifferent on the question. The survey, conducted when it was clear that Biden would oppose Trump in November, clearly indicates that after years of attacks on journalists’ credibility and a steady erosion in trust, a sense of fatalism has settled in.
  • Journalists Still Want to Fight the Good Fight: Despite their pessimism, journalists surveyed believe they (reporters, editors and news councils or journalism organizations) are best positioned to vet fake news and identify misleading information. Only 12 percent think the government should call out fake news. Relatedly, only about four in 10 support or strongly support using the law to curb fake news.
  • Fake News Remains Difficult to Define: Part of the problem is that fake news can mean different things to different people – even journalists. About a third of our respondents say fake news is disinformation (false information knowingly spread with the intent to deceive), while another third say it is misinformation (false or misleading information spread by those who believe it to be true). Twenty-two percent equate fake news with propaganda.

 How to Combat the Fake News Epidemic

The report concludes by laying out a series of actions PR professionals can take to fight fake news. The measures include supporting reporters and editors, stressing ethics and transparency, putting the audience first and broadly advocating against fake news.

Greentarget pledges to follow these steps and encourages other PR practitioners to do the same.

“Long before fake news was part of the common vernacular, the principles of journalism – and the role they play in contributing to smarter, richer and more balanced conversations – have been fundamental to our business,” said Lisa Seidenberg, Greentarget’s vice president for media relations. “We know how important journalism is in our work to help organizations establish unique positions of authority, and we encourage all PR professionals and influential voices in the news ecosystem to support rigorous, responsible journalism. The success of our work depends on the steady flow of reliable information and stemming the tide of fake news is good for our industry and, more broadly, our society.”

A full version of Fake News 2020 is available here. For more information, contact Lisa Seidenberg at lseidenberg@greentarget.com or (312) 252-4108.

About Greentarget

Greentarget is a strategic public relations firm that helps leading law firms, accounting firms, management consulting, real estate and financial services organizations create unique positions of authority through skillful participation in the conversations that matter most to their key stakeholders. With 60 professionals in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and London, Greentarget combines earned media, research and market intelligence, content and publishing, digital strategy and amplification, and special situations counsel to help clients grow market share, attract leading talent and achieve a higher purpose. For more information, visit www.greentarget.com.

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Advising business leaders in 2020 means helping them see through the fog of a pandemic, run their businesses from afar and keep themselves safe, not to mention sane. For the marketers who support advisors, it’s critical to stay abreast of those leaders’ fears and challenges, the shifting and often distorted market dynamics they’re facing, the opportunities they’re discerning, and even their personal travails.

Enter voice of the client (VoC) research, a tool for helping professional service firms get multi-faceted understandings of clients’ needs, expectations and most importantly, their pain points.

Built through client interviews, focus groups or surveys, VoC research arms marketers with a wealth of insights. It delivers individual insights that fuel business development, organic growth and client retention. And it produces broader qualitative data the firm can use to identify market challenges and opportunities.

The pain points unearthed in VoC research also fuel stronger thought-leadership research. After discussing their own business and professional challenges, interviewees generally get more candid and insightful on industry topics and trends. The resulting insights add depth, credibility and authority to a firm’s thought leadership – and turning it into a valuable business development tool.

Voice of the Client Research: Interview Best Practices

Research into client pain points aims to first understand what keeps the client up at night and where they seek guidance. The interview findings inform how the firm serves its client’s business, but the priorities and opinions of each individual interviewee matter too. Topics, for example, could be:

  • Attitudes about where their business was, where it is now, and where it’s going
  • Constraints that prevent them from accomplishing more, personally and organizationally
  • What better outcomes would look like from both personal and organizational perspectives
  • Assessment of the most pressing and emerging business and legal risks and opportunities

For example, when a law-firm client wanted to evaluate the ways it assigned and delegated work, we conducted interviews with clients that produced blunt insights on where the firm’s approach diverged from its clients’ business objectives. The firm responded by reconfiguring the project management process and tailoring roles and responsibilities according to project scope.

While pain points are the primary focus of the interviews, the conversations often lead to insights on where the advisor or firm have fallen short. The conversations can evolve into discussions of the subtleties that advisors can’t see from the outside – how a particular business’s needs are different than others in its industry, for example.

Clients may not be expecting those discussions. But business leaders always appreciate transparency and candor. And while the conversations occasionally get awkward, pushing through the awkward moments breaks down communication barriers. Knowing their outside advisors care enough to ask makes clients eager to open up.

Picking the right interviewer

It’s important to think about who’s asking the questions. Putting interviews in the hands of a trained researcher always pays dividends; aptitude in eliciting candor, probing for fresh insights and analyzing the interview content will ensure nobody’s time feels wasted. And interviewees tend to be more candid with a third party.

At the same time, the firm has to be a collaborator – connecting the interviewee with the interviewer, introducing the project and process through an initial email or phone call. The advisor or firm rep should also thoroughly brief the interviewer on any pertinent issues. For the interviewee to feel at ease, the interviewer should understand the relationship history and any hot button issues.

The right approach for your clients – and for you

There are several options for undertaking this type of research. Selecting one approach versus another depends upon the topics and objectives at hand:

  • One-on-one, in-depth interviews often make the most sense for pain points research. There are situations where clients will dish frank insights if they feel they’re engaged in conversation with an audience of one and that person is a trained moderator who they can trust to report the conversation accurately – and with the right discretion.
  • Focus groups, online or in-person, can reveal challenges and serve as forums for testing potential solutions. In some cases, it’s preferable to have a group of peers weigh in on business pain points in an iterative discussion, particularly if a firm wants to get a sense for differing priorities among executives in different roles. The CFO and CMO may be thinking about the same problem with very different levels of urgency, for example. 

    Working on behalf of a financial institution, Greentarget moderated an online discussion between attorneys, claims administrators and the judiciary regarding pain points in class action settlements. Each group provided a different level of awareness about our client’s capabilities (and letting them interact with each other enhanced the discussion). Our findings gave the client a road map for determining which of their services and audiences – clients and prospects – deserved greater focus and attention.
  • Online surveys can also foster pain point conversations. Greentarget sees stronger data sets overall – with more decisive opinions – when we kick off a survey with a series of thoughtful questions around how respondents are feeling and where they are most desperate for guidance. In a recent survey about business operations in Latin America, we uncovered a business challenge that had not been directly addressed in messaging by any of the respondent’s outside counsel. It was easy for our law firm client to address the issue – but they didn’t know about it until we asked the right questions in the right setting.

Turning interviewees into advocates

Finally, engaging clients in one-on-one or small-group interviews, even surveys, can generate advocacy. There are a couple of important considerations for professional service providers here – and they should be considered in advance, lest an interviewee feel his or her insights were wasted or commoditized.

First, the firm should have a clear follow-up plan. Keeping in touch with the interviewees through individual outreach, even with just a summary of the interview content, can prove important in generating their long-term advocacy. Second, in cases where VoC research is part of a thought leadership initiative, the firm should have a clearly defined role for interviewees in the resulting article or report. In some cases, it may have an opportunity to quote them as experts.

Steve Jobs once urged companies to get as close as possible to customers, “So close that you can tell them what they need before they realize it themselves.” Getting to that level of intimacy takes more than treating clients to the occasional dinner – especially in the social-distancing era.

Asking the right questions, in the right moments, knowing how to process the answers and acting on the results helps a firm stay a step ahead of its clients’ needs.

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