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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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As premiums rise and the economy slows, producers with sales responsibilities at commercial insurance companies face an uphill battle to acquire and retain high-value clients. Increasingly, these rainmakers are navigating difficult conversations and answering challenging questions from concerned business leaders whose insurance costs have skyrocketed in recent months.

To overcome these hurdles, producers may need something different from their corporate marketing teams – an approach that goes beyond marketing collateral promoting the latest product. Based on the informal conversations we’ve had with producers across a wide segment of the market, what they really need is help communicating with clients in a clear, transparent, and person-centered way. 

This likely requires you as a communications director to move away from business as usual and into uncharted — and admittedly uncomfortable — terrain. In order to meet your internal and external stakeholders where they are, you should consider adapting your marketing and communication strategies in several key ways. 

1. Shift the Focus from Your Products to Your Customers

Your prospects and existing clients don’t want to be sold to — especially in economically turbulent times. They want guidance and support from trusted providers, advisors, and authorities. For your company to have a fighting chance at filling this elevated role, you’ll need to get inside your clients’ heads and understand what makes them tick. 

Conduct Market Research to Understand Clients’ Insurance Needs

Clients trust people with whom they have a relationship. And the key to building strong relationships often comes down to listening more and talking (or, in this case, marketing) less.

It can be hard to resist the temptation to center your communications strategies around billing cycles, renewal periods, and new product offerings. After all, these are the milestones that can drive topline revenue growth. But this approach results in messaging that is transactional, not relational.

That’s why it’s so important for you to make an intentional shift and help your producers connect with current and prospective clients on a deeper level. Conducting “voice of the client research” is one way to gain insight into your audience’s perspectives and craft communications that speak directly to their needs. This type of research enables you to understand:

  • The specific pain points clients and prospects are experiencing 
  • Risks and opportunities their businesses face as a result of current economic conditions
  • Questions customers have about their current policies (e.g. pricing; coverage)

Producers only know the clients and prospects in their own portfolios. But as a marketer, you have a bird’s-eye view of your industry — and access to your company’s clientele as a whole. Use that access to create person-centered communications that drive your business relationships forward.

Tap Into the Emotions that Drive B2B Decision Making  

As much as we like to think of ourselves as rational, practical creatures, human beings remain emotionally driven. This is particularly true in B2B settings when the stakes are high and important decisions are made in groups. 

The dry, highly technical, and jargon-rich language of insurance policies may belie this fact, but insurance is also an inherently emotional product. Risk aversion, fear, and the desire to protect against the unknown are powerful driving forces. To that end, your company doesn’t just sell policies — it plays a unique role in managing and reducing the concerns that keep your clients up at night. This isn’t about fear-mongering. It’s about acknowledging and validating your clients’ very real needs.

Yes, your company continues to develop innovative and relevant products in D&O, cybersecurity, and other areas — and you want to sell them. But rather than explicitly pushing these products, you need to connect the dots in an empathetic and human-centered way. Doing so enables you to position your company as the solution to your clients’ larger problems.

Demonstrating empathy and meeting your audience’s emotional needs are powerful ways to build trust and cultivate loyalty. This, in turn, plays a key role in enabling producers to retain clients during difficult economic times.

2. Be Transparent About Premium Hikes and Changes in Coverage

Difficult economic times lead many of us to tighten our belts and eliminate unnecessary expenditures. Your clients are no different. When their profit margins shrink, you can be sure they will scrutinize every possible expense to identify potential areas to cut. 

To prove your continued value to clients, you’ll need to consider getting radically transparent about everything from pricing to profits. 

This is typically where many marketing leaders start to get uncomfortable. But transparency leads to empathy, and right now you need your clients to feel some empathy for your company. This means proactively helping your producers explain the “why” behind the difficult decisions your organization has to make. 

For example, you might:

  • Outline the reasons why health insurance premiums have risen dramatically as a result of the pandemic. If you had to dip into your claim reserves at an unsustainable rate due to higher-than-normal payouts, be open about that.
  • Explain the impact of climate change on various insurance needs. If you had to raise premiums or cease coverage altogether for businesses that operate in wildfire-prone states, communicate your rationale.
  • Show your recent profits and losses compared to previous years. After all, your company can’t keep its promises to clients unless you make wise, fiscally responsible decisions. 

Again, this may feel deeply uncomfortable. If it does, it usually means you’re doing it right. 

Just remember: being transparent about your challenges and your decision-making process inspires confidence. It shows you’re able to make the hard decisions required to weather the storm. 

3. Tailor Collateral to Meet Producers’ Needs By Inviting Their Feedback

Shifting long-held corporate communication tactics can be challenging. And to make sure you hit the right mark, it’s crucial to craft your approach with your producers’ needs firmly in mind. 

To that end, even before you begin surveying clients or developing transparent talking points, take time to ask producers how you can best serve them.

Explore questions like:

  • How have your clients’ priorities shifted in these economic times?
  • What complaints and concerns have you heard from current customers?
  • Are you receiving more objections than usual from prospective clients? What is the nature of the objections you’re hearing?
  • What types of communications would be most helpful to you right now?

Rather than developing a one-size-fits-all strategy, engage producers directly so you can create customized resources and personalized messaging that speak to their clients’ pain points.

Address Insurance Industry Challenges Head-On

As industry pressures intensify, you can’t afford to stay the course and continue to communicate using the same strategies you’ve used in the past. To move your insurance company beyond a vendor orientation and into a trusted advisor role, you need to embrace a new way of doing business.

Focus on your clients, not your products. Embrace the human side of your industry. And be transparent about the pressures your company is facing. Then, arm your producers with the marketing resources that will help them strengthen and maintain the relationships that directly impact your company’s bottom line.

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Executives are increasingly expected to speak up on a range of issues – but just because they have something to say doesn’t mean a news outlet will run it. Depending on the content and intended audience, an external publication might not even be the best medium for the message.

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PR firms talk at length about concepts such as thought leadership and creating unique POVs that serve your audience. We tend to wax eloquent about participating skillfully in the conversations that matter most as an authority. That’s because we know that when your audience views you with trust and respect, they’re more likely to come to your firm for help in solving their toughest challenges.

Still, it’s natural for you to ask one simple question. Is our PR investment really worth it? 

It can be difficult to draw a direct line between the PR campaigns you invest in and the client engagements you secure as a result. And if you’re not able to accurately measure the ROI of your PR efforts, how can you be sure you’re allocating resources in the most impactful areas possible? 

You need to look at the right metrics at the right time. Because the truth is, authority is the ultimate ROI of an effective PR program. Assessing its full impact requires a holistic perspective and a willingness to prioritize long-term value over short-term wins.

The Value of Authority 

Our goal at Greentarget is to help clients establish and demonstrate their authority. But what does that really mean? And more specifically, what will it look like when your firm is viewed as an authority in your industry? 

First, it’s important to understand that the terms “thought leader” and “authority” are not interchangeable.

Thought Leaders Share Expertise

Thought leaders are ahead of the curve and play a key role in shaping the direction of their industry. However, they tend to share their knowledge in a one-way fashion — usually through owned media channels that don’t invite much discourse. As such, thought leaders aren’t typically concerned with how their audience receives and interprets the information they put out into the world. They simply want to reach as broad an audience as possible with the messages that are most important to their organization.

Authorities Serve Their Audience

By contrast, authorities go beyond dispensing expertise. They carefully consider how to position their knowledge in ways that matter to their audience. Yes, they are bona fide thought leaders in their own right. But true authorities express their POV to spark dialogue, solicit feedback, and test their ideas and perspectives among other experts. 

Furthermore, true authorities aren’t simply heard — they’re heeded. Unlike thought leaders who are usually more reactionary, authorities shape the conversations that matter and inspire action as a result. And they’re willing to embrace feedback, consider new viewpoints and pivot when necessary. 

To achieve this level of influence, you’ll need to:

Anyone can be a thought leader, but not everyone can be an authority. That’s why Greentarget’s approach to PR is oriented around helping firms discover and harness their authority. 

The ROI of Authority

In our highly digitized landscape, we’ve become obsessed with quantitative metrics. And there’s no shortage of data points we can analyze to measure the effectiveness of various communication tactics. 

For example, it’s common to assess your PR campaigns by tracking how often you’re cited by credible media outlets and other authorities in your field. Or, you might look at marketing metrics such as organic web traffic, time on page, click-through rates, and conversion rates to analyze how well you’re reaching your broad audience. 

But as important as these quantitative numbers are, they don’t tell the full story.

It’s About Quantity and Quality

Measuring the ROI of authority requires you to think about qualitative indicators and insights that round out the quantitative data. Instead of only asking how many people you’re reaching, you should be evaluating how effectively you’re engaging the prospects that matter to your firm the most.

After all, it’s better to have one quality conversation that leads to a high-value engagement than 100 conversions from wrong-fit prospects. But if you look at your standard KPIs in a vacuum, those 100 leads look a whole lot better than one conversation. 

To be sure you’re measuring the right indicators of authority’s ROI, ask yourself:

  • How often are our ideas sparking real dialogue among the people we’re most interested in reaching?
  • Are our POVs being iterated upon and therefore becoming sharper and smarter over time? 
  • To what extent are we challenging existing narratives or assumptions within our industry? 
  • What kind of feedback are we getting from our network when we put ourselves out there with a new or provocative point of view?

During the pandemic, Freightos, a digital booking platform for global shipping and logistics, discovered they possessed valuable data about supply chain issues. They determined they had information and a level of analysis that the industry could benefit from, and started a podcast to share their insights about shipping data, including an index of ocean container travel times. Subsequently, The New York Times ran a feature story about their impact. 

What’s interesting is that Freightos didn’t measure success based on how many people accessed and downloaded their useful, salient data. And though they were excited to be featured in The New York Times, that was not the end-all, be-all for them. What signaled success for them was hearing excitement and buzz from the friends, colleagues, and influencers in their own network. That’s when the ROI of their PR efforts was fully crystallized in their minds — when they were recognized as an authority.

Leading vs. Lagging Indicators of PR Success

It’s also important to understand that many of the standard KPIs used to evaluate the effectiveness of PR are lagging indicators of success. But your authority is a leading indicator of future results. In other words, the qualitative measures of impact we discussed earlier are both results in their own right and assurance that you’re headed in the right direction. 

The initial evidence (i.e. leading indicators) that your firm’s authority is yielding ROI can be found in the quality of the conversations you’re having and the anecdotal affirmations of your influence in your network. 

Then, over time, you’ll see additional lagging indicators of your authority’s ROI, such as:

  • Revenue. Your revenue is growing over time, and you’re reaching desired growth targets. 
  • Geography. You consistently see media coverage in the markets that matter the most to you.
  • Talent. Your firm is an employer of choice and you succeed in attracting and retaining top talent as a result.
  • Profitability. Because your authority yields more right-fit conversations, you’re able to focus on the engagements that lead to the greatest profit.
  • Capabilities. You continually identify new services and offerings that evolve with your clients’ changing needs.

In other words, realizing the full ROI of your authority requires you to take the long view.

Invest In PR to See the ROI of Your Firm’s Authority

Although establishing your firm’s authority is a process that requires patience and perseverance, you’ll never see the ROI you’re after without taking the first step. That means you can’t afford to put it off or hope for the best. You need to work with a partner who knows how to build your authority and leverage it in ways that contribute to your firm’s immediate and long-term success.

Greentarget clients have seen a significant return on their PR investment, both in terms of the authority they earn and the business engagements they secure as a result.

We can help your firm, too — but only if you make establishing your authority the priority it needs to be. 

It’s time for you to seize the mantle. So let’s talk.

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