Looking to connect with senior business leaders and government stakeholders? Well, you’re not the only one. But while brands continue to compete for the attention of senior executives, the good news is that you don’t need huge marketing budgets to make this happen. In our experience, strategic public relations and targeted content are often the only tools you will ever need to get your foot in the door and keep it there. With this in mind, here are three simple steps to get you started on connecting and engaging with the C-suite.
As busy leaders who have their plates full, senior stakeholders are laser focused on information and opportunities that give them tangible utility and business value.
Speak to their interests
As busy leaders who have their plates full, senior stakeholders are laser focused on information and opportunities that give them tangible utility and business value.
Your best bet to get their attention then, is to provide them with insights that matter to their business, clientele or audience. . For example, a data-driven whitepaper or survey that contains useful information about their industry or community would be hyper-relevant. Recently, a Mutant-driven whitepaper saw such success where it caught the attention of a government body in Singapore, leading to deeper network building for our client.
To do this, you need to be on the pulse and understand what keeps executives up at night. Don’t be afraid to proactively share your commentaries on these topics and discuss the opportunities amidst the challenges, particularly on the media platforms they read.
Senior executives have brands selling to them every day, which is an instant turn off. So instead of talking about your brand or product, focus on strategic thought-leadership and newsjacking timely issues.’
Tap on their passion points
Senior executives are still people, and people naturally gravitate toward topics and interest areas they’re passionate about. It’s also relatively easy to find out if a senior executive is a board member or advocate for a particular cause.
Once you’ve identified this, map your larger corporate goals and efforts to see if there is a genuine overlap between both. You can then use this information to create a long-term and sustainable campaign that will resonate with and naturally attract the attention of the senior stakeholder in mind. This will allow you to create a long-term, sustainable campaign that resonates with senior stakeholder.
Mutant recently led a COVID-19 social impact project that helped over 16,000 families in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia through a diaper package giveaway. Our client simply wanted to do their part to help during troubled times and in return, were pleasantly rewarded with attention on a ministerial level. The engagement subsequently evolved into a federal initiative, with the Deputy Federal Territories Minister being present to publicly accept the final donation.
Start a conversation
The third step is to spark a direct conversation that truly engages senior stakeholders. Follow them on LinkedIn to see what they’re sharing, and share your comments on any insights they post.
Don’t forget to create original content and or share useful industry news as well. The LinkedIn People Insights’ tool is a good way to zoom into what matters to a C-suite audience across a variety of industries. Gain insights into content topics, skills, groups and influencers they commonly follow.
This is an easy cheat sheet to focus on creating content that matters to them.
Needless to say, your LinkedIn profile needs to be optimised as well to give you more credibility. Check out our blog on getting your profile in shape.
Another form of engagement is to formally invite a C-suite or government official as a guest of honour to your own events. This could include inviting them to inaugurate a new launch, or to participate as a guest in a panel session. We find that closed-door roundtable discussions help drive a no-holds barred conversation, where fellow industry leaders chime in to discuss challenges and opportunities openly.
Stay genuine and stick to your strategy as there is no overnight PR switch you can turn on to magically capture the attention of C-suite executives. Consistent and targeted communication is the way to go.
Drop us a note at [email protected] if you need help getting started.