Prophet
EXPERTISE POSITIONING
Prophet (www.Prophet.com) is a management consultancy
that helps clients achieve competitive advantage
by creating and implementing integrated business,
brand and marketing strategies. It works with companies
from strategy to execution to develop, operationalize,
grow and protect one of their most valuable assets:
their brand. This global firm bases its marketing
initiatives around the expertise and thought-leadership
it brings to client engagements. Its focus is largely
oriented toward media relations strategies combined
with public speaking at industry venues.
The need
Hodge Schindler was engaged to help Prophet develop
its communications strategy, and plan and execute
article development and placement to support
internal business goals and objectives, identifying
media markets whose readers matched its target
audiences.
Our approach
We recommended a two-pronged approach: positioning
Prophet’s partners and managers as expert
sources to be quoted in articles in targeted
publications by initiating a “relationship
building” program with key reporters; and
also positioning
articles addressing issues and trends revolving
around brand and business strategy under their
bylines.
Our emphasis, however, was on the bylined
articles that underscored the expertise and thought-leadership
that differentiates Prophet’s brand. This
was because the depth and level of control over
the messages being communicated were far higher
than could be achieved with a single quote in an
article. Written in an informational versus sales-oriented
manner, such placements are the next best thing
to advertising without paying for it. Actually,
they were better because of the implied third-party
endorsement value of editorial-side coverage. Further,
this approach provided Prophet with much-needed
collateral materials that succinctly extended prospects’ understanding
of the firm’s leading-edge thinking on brand-related
issues.
To gather information, we held a series
of idea brainstorming sessions throughout Prophet’s
U.S. offices and also conducted one-on-one interviews
with its key decision-makers. In some instances,
Prophet’s consultants wrote articles, which
we revised with their input before placement. In
others, we wrote article drafts based on interview
notes, presentations, proprietary studies and books
authored by its executives. To measure the effectiveness
of these efforts, a metrics system was designed
in the second year of the program, gauging success
based on total number of bylined articles and expert
quotes secured.
The outcomes
The client has judged this program a resounding
success. Familiarity with Prophet and its positioning
has substantially grown, particularly among corporate
buyers and influencers on the branding and marketing
fronts. We continually fine-tune and adjust our
strategy in keeping with Prophet’s evolving
goals and objectives.
As a result of our relationship-building
efforts, members of Prophet’s leadership
team that we “paired” with targeted
reporters have cultivated relationships that have
resulted in them getting quoted frequently in such
publications as the Wall
Street Journal and The New York Times. And, we
consistently surpass our objectives in terms of
volume of articles placed. More telling, however,
has been Prophet’s ability to trace a 5-to-1
return on investment to its marketing spending.
our budget comprises nearly half of Prophet’s
total marketing budget.
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