Corporate and Financial Communications

We help our clients to focus on their business goals and the role that communications can play in achieving them. We favor straight talk, expressed in simple, clear messages. We like to aim our communications at one, or just a few, critical audiences. We prefer personal communication when we seek to persuade, and documents when we seek to inform. We maintain instant response capability, because that’s the speed at which messages spread today. And what we plan, we execute: We are writers, analysts, trainers, spokespeople, researchers, event managers.

Our clients’ ability to achieve their goals rests in considerable measure on the knowledge and attitudes of customers, employees, investors, neighbors, community leaders, competitors and the general public. We help our clients to reach and persuade these varied audiences in a broad range of circumstances.

Public relations today addresses a public that is drowning in media messages and increasingly cynical about the content of those messages. We find that perceptions are influenced, first and foremost, by actual experience or performance, and next, by personal contact. Then come communications through the media, direct communications and communications from third parties. In the age of the Internet, absolute control of communication is nearly impossible—voices multiply, dispersion and feedback are instantaneous.

Some clients seek awareness, some seek approval, some seek advocacy, some seek action and some seek to avoid attention altogether. Some are operating from a business-as-usual context; others are dealing with changes in ownership, management, strategy, business environment, financial performance, regulatory climate or the political landscape.

We maintain superior relationships with the national and financial news media, because they are often our best avenue (and they can do harm when ignored). We make backup plans for the leaks that so often occur. We monitor the Web and the blogs, because so much opinion is formed (and deformed) there.

Today, perceptions of organizations are increasingly multifaceted. We regularly advise clients on business ethics and corporate governance issues, and on corporate social responsibility, public issues, thought leadership, strategic philanthropy, corporate volunteerism and employee engagement. Perceptions of organizations are also increasingly personalized in their chief executive officers; we help CEOs create and manage their positioning within and outside their organizations.