Managing Professional Services Communications: Reputation, Brand and Leadership

Managing Professional Services Communications:Reputation, Brand and Leadership December 6, 2007 AMCF Global Consulting Leaders Symposium Peter Verrengia, President and Senior Partner Communications Consulting Worldwide

Challenge: Grow Value Everywhere . . .

Against a background of global complexity. . .

Priorities? • Visibility for the firm • Global • National • Regional • Local • Credibility for the practices and partners • Lead generation • Recruitment and retention • Lateral, direct entry • Summer associates, associates

Questions and Complexity • How should we be known, what should we say? • Why do our competitors get more attention—does it matter? • Should we focus on practices, geographies or at the firm level? • How do we convert our experience into demand? • Does criticism or a link to negative issues hurt our revenue now? Will it hurt in the future?

More questions… • Can we increase productivity and quality if employees understand our strategy better? • Are we trusted, seen as innovative, expected to succeed? Is that view the same in every country and every service segment. • Should our leaders be visible, should they be thought leaders? Is the time and personal exposure worthwhile? • Shouldn’t our results speak for themselves?

Challenges of Business Development Communications in Professional Services Firms • Shared • Disintermediation of editorial function, decline of endorsed expertise • Speed, fragmentation of information sources—shift away from control • Desire for linearity in a non-linear decision-making environment • Scope and scale of global business • Lack of confidence in large organizations, personal credibility as a substitute

Challenges of Business Development Communications in Professional Services Firms • Unique • Partner time • Partner expectations • (Unlike clients, partners are never wrong) • Can’t easily use clients as examples in public communications • Expertise versus personalities • Lead generation in a relationship context • Business strategy vs. marketing strategy vs. partner priorities, reactions

Variety Of Effective Tools • Most programs involve the same tactics • Segmentation by practice, vertical industry, and geography Integrated Communications Program Controlled Uncontrolled Custom Publishing Speeches, events, seminars Advertising Interactive engagement Direct Media relations Books, by-lined Articles VISIBILITY CREDIBILITY Content Dependent

Objective? Conflict? Personality dependent Super Fully Integrated Strategic Communications If I could just get into the room… Super Tactical, High Volume Splashy Buzz Communications Chaos?

Organizations Must Tackle Communications Alignment and Integration Issues • Organization: How does it connect inside? • Effectiveness, Efficiency: How well are reputation and brand projected and protected? • Alignment: How well does the organization support its own professionals and their objectives? • Benchmarks: Scope and spending on communications activities and how does this compare to best in class? Integration New, Innovative, Strategic 3 Long-Term Opportunity Collaboration Together, Better, Faster 2 Near-Term Initiative Coordination Functional, Independent, Parallel 1

Reputation and brand • Brand: what we say about ourselves or our products • in the context of a buyer/seller relationship • Most often through controlled communications • Reputation: What others say about the company • In the context of its own actions and statements • Statements of competitors, and the issues and concerns that create the economic, public policy, and social trends environment • Wherever the company operates or plans to operate in the future. • Most often through uncontrolled communications Brand Visibility Reputation Credibility Credibility = Experience + Expectation In professional services, brand and reputation are very closely aligned

Managing Reputation & Brand Value Uncontrolled Communications Opportunity Platform Partners Reputation and Brand Value Performance Firm Safety Net Controlled Communications

Brand, Reputation and Thought Leadership • The firm’s reputation is a composite and reflection of its partners’ reputations—and potentially more • Institutional qualities, attributes • Communications from the firm requires the personal participation of the partners • Especially at the level of thought leadership • “Live the brand”??? same at any scale: partner, practice geography, or firm

Reputation and Branding Priorities For the Partner For the Firm PERSONAL CREDIBILITY TIME FOR VISIBILITY TIME FOR THOUGHT LEADERSHIP High Effort, High return

Two rules • Thought Leadership: • Need a thought • Need to lead

Essential Ingredients THOUGHT LEADERSHIP NEWS EXPERTISE Content is king in professional services communications

How do we know what matters? • In an increasingly complex world, attributes of our reputation, and what issues, are important? • Do we have, in our reputation, a sustainable competitive advantage? • What attributes to emphasize? • What attributes to protect? • How do we create and maintain visibility and credibility • Program messages, tactics, duration • Spending levels • What are the metrics we should use?

Practical Considerations • Motivate partner participation • Respond to partner priorities and desires (demands?) • Justify budgets

REPUTATION VALUE MEASUREMENT ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN & PERFORMANCE BD Comms. Management LEADERSHIP REPUTATION GROWTH AND DEFENSE MESSAGE & POSITIONING DEVELOPMENT Program strategy & tactics This is the easy part

Create Reputation Value Model • What outcomes matter most to you as a business? • What is the value of reputation overall? What metric should be used over time to measure progress or threats? • Which reputation attributes or messages contribute most to your reputation, sales volume, other outcomes? • Which should be emphasized more? • Which reputation attributes or messages about the company should your protect?

Reputation Index –Communications, Brand, Image, Other CCW’s Approach to Measurement • An approach using multivariate statistics and econometric modeling • A model using causal equations to link intangible driversto an overall score that links to corporate performance Intermediaries Outputs Inputs Components Possible Data Points: Possible Message Themes: Possible Elements: Potential Business Outcomes: Publicly Available Financial Data Strategy Execution Media Relations Data Revenue Corp. Culture and CEO Messaging Brand Data Management Strength Sales Volume/ Growth Stakeholder Survey Inputs (Customer, Employee, Other) Reputation Customer Retention Employee Relations CSR Data Financial Position Awards, Patents, Ratings Innovation Market Share Product/Service Quality Marketing Data

Leadership Defense • Understand the environment and risks • Cross-border political and economic issues • Relevance • Competitor initiatives • Timing—24 hours a day • Appropriate response • Sometimes no response is correct • Create just enough leeway for initiative • Focus and repeat (consultants get bored easily) • Measure • Involve knowledge owners • Always seek communications annuity programs and develop franchises

Managing Professional Services Communications: Reputation, Brand and Leadership