Corporate Reputation

Your company’s communications campaigns focus on communicating with hundreds, if not thousands, of stakeholders who can directly or indirectly impact company decisions. Our clients rely on our structured, research-based approach to communications — identifying, mapping and prioritizing stakeholders to create tailored messages that elicit their support. We help you address the key stakeholder questions that most affect your company’s reputation and enterprise value, such as:

• Do they have trust and confidence in the company and its leadership team?
• What level of influence do they have on key audiences?
• Are there specific issues that would drive or inhibit engagement?
• Where do they stand on the company’s priority issues?
• What messages are most likely to convince stakeholders about your company’s point of view?

Telling one, consistent story provides more control over how an organization is perceived by stakeholders, improves brand recognition, and aligns employees. Developing and achieving alignment on messaging requires a holistic approach that’s often a challenge for most organizations. Various functions tend to develop their own messages for different stakeholder groups (e.g., HR develops messages for employees, government relations for legislators, marketing for customers).

We help clients establish a unified narrative and message framework that addresses key issues among all stakeholders. We enable you to get often-siloed functions working together, eliminating dissonance that dilutes your company’s reputation or damages credibility with investors, partners, customers and other stakeholders. Work with us when you need help developing a positioning statement, corporate narrative, mission statement or purpose statement, company vision, or organizational core values.

We help our clients establish strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) profiles aligned with their unique company mission that improves their visibility and strengthens relationships and reputation among key stakeholders. Our advisors and industry experts guide you to develop or enhance your company’s ESG profile, including:

• Conducting a research-driven assessment to identify and assess strengths, weaknesses, gaps and opportunities in how the company is telling its ESG story
• Demonstrating your company’s overall positioning, and spotlighting innovative solutions to complex, societal challenges 
• Drawing increased attention to specific business initiatives or key markets 
• Cultivating interest in your company’s stock by socially responsible investors 
• Enhancing your company’s social license to operate with partners, regulators, customers and other stakeholder groups 
• Providing guidance on the adoption of relevant sustainability reporting frameworks and standards
• Prioritizing key areas of disclosure, defining key performance indicators, establishing goals and targets, and developing a comprehensive and cohesive ESG narrative that aligns with a company’s mission and values
• Developing the sustainability report and relevant webpages to serve as central hub for all key ESG disclosures and updates on sustainability performance

Whether it’s a speech, an op-ed, a blog post or an interview, executive communications can impact your company’s reputation and enterprise value. Our executive communications practitioners have improved the profiles of some of the world’s most prominent CEOs and companies by helping them craft their story and deliver it to the right audience with clarity, simplicity and passion. Turning leaders into thought leaders requires creativity and expertise. Our practitioners have both and have done it successfully for major organizations throughout the world.

We often work with clients to help CEOs and senior leaders enhance their positioning platform to better respond to the need for a more expansive set of communication skills, including:

• Providing a compelling narrative for what your company does and why it matters
• Explaining the implications of changes that are occurring in your company, your industry and in the economy for investors, employees, customers and other stakeholders
• Sharing your perspective on public policy or broader issues of economic, environmental or social concern

Your organization’s reputation rests on the opinions of stakeholders such as investors, partners, employees, customers, policymakers and the public. We help our clients gain insights about these audiences by using a unique set of analytical tools to measure stakeholder sentiment and track progress based on reputational goals.

We take a fact-based approach to developing, executing and measuring corporate messaging. It works by identifying current stakeholder attitudes to help you create optimal messaging and channels to convey it. These insights enable you to address key issues for numerous audiences, including:

• Marketplace participants such as partners, customers and suppliers
• Internal audiences, including board members, executives and employees
• External audiences such as policymakers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), public intellectuals, media members and other key opinion leaders
• Financial audiences, including analysts, institutions and retail investors 

The definition of media is ever changing, including traditional media, such as print, radio and television; controlled media outreach achieved through advertising; and social media. Our dedicated team of media relations experts have decades of experience and relationships to provide strategic media counsel — whether traditional, controlled or social — whenever and wherever you need it. 

When you partner with us, you tap into our extensive industry knowledge and contacts. You get continuous media intelligence on who’s writing what and who’s looking for sources. Ultimately, you benefit from our knowledge and contacts to bring fresh interview and partnership opportunities.

It’s critical to get your message across consistently, the first time, every time. Your organization’s reputation depends on it. To help you communicate as effectively as possible, FTI Consulting media specialists leverage our deep sector expertise and our understanding of the media, capital markets, government officials and other stakeholders. We’re able to prepare you for any communications challenge, particularly media interviews, presentations and crisis situations.

Whether you’re a CFO presenting to analysts and investors, a CEO making a presentation at an industry event, or a spokesperson managing numerous media interviews, we can help you effectively deliver your messages. C-suite, senior management and divisional leaders benefit from our comprehensive preparation sessions, conducted either on a one-on-one basis or in small groups. The end goal: elevating your personal communication skills, message development and comfort level.