Marketing and communications are, at their highest-order objective, practices through which the institution manages the trust between it and its stakeholders.

If the institution can keep trust in itself high, it gains permission to maneuver itself within the information flow, and ultimately the decision-making process, of its stakeholders, and influence stakeholders to take specific desirable actions.

From the smallest companies to the most complex, multinational and multi-brand organizations, all objectives – sales, reputation, stock price, subscriptions, etc. – ladder up to this purpose.

To do this, the institution must meet stakeholders where they are: where they already consume information, in the information formats they prefer, alongside and through voices they already trust, and aligning with objectives they value.

The digital era has made this job both easier (data and analytics) and harder (infinite flow of content and rapid innovation). Success requires data-driven, authentic, and creative content distribution. Some of those elements have always been requirements, but some are new, and changing rapidly.

We have many tools and experts to help conduct great data science, but I believe the gateway to authenticity and breakthrough, effective creative starts with how leaders and communicators operate.

The best blend strategy with heart, precision with authenticity, and data with vulnerability, always keeping their head above the trees to look out for what’s next.

Topics I’m interested in:

  • How are institutions using communications and marketing to manage trust? And how do they know if it’s working?

  • What external factors influence this process, like technology, policy, and culture at large?

  • How well do institutions understand their target audience and broader content trends?

  • What trends will come next, and why?

  • What challenges block leaders and communicators from more effectively managing this trust?

Ways we can work together:

  • Better understanding your audience: where they consume information, who they trust, and what objectives they value

  • Developing differentiated and focused marketing, communications, and/or organizational strategies

  • Brainstorming breakthrough, integrated creative campaigns

  • Reviewing and workshopping content to better meet objectives or push through roadblocks

  • Becoming a more authentic, in-tune leader whose style promotes creativity and bravery

  • Counseling/coaching PR and marketing team members to help them realize their potential