An established small government contractor built a reputation as a middle-tier performer with a broad range of potential services but an unfocused growth strategy. After purchasing the company, its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) found that the company also had an unfocused identity. CPS employees were uncertain of their roles, their reporting structure, or even the company’s mission and vision. The CEO rapidly but minimally rebranded, launching a new website with new brand standards. They set new goals for growth, but quickly realized they did not have the marketing or engagement strategy required to reach those goals.

Emerald One leveraged its proprietary Troy Method™ to propose and develop a multi-faceted strategic communication and marketing strategy that maximized the existing elements of the company’s identity. We conducted a comprehensive stakeholder analysis and diverse stakeholder interviews to assess: existing company culture, including leadership style and environment, each stakeholder’s “highlights and lowlights,” and overall understanding of the company’s mission, vision, and values.

Emerald One found that very few stakeholders understood the company’s goals, values, or focus areas. Most stakeholders viewed the CEO as the sole marketing and communications champion, relying almost entirely on his voice in all cases. The leadership team was disconnected from those messages. In addition to a lack of a formal identity, the company also had no informal identity. Based upon these findings, Emerald One created Stakeholder and Key Messaging maps. We also established marketing objectives and created a comprehensive marketing plan and strategy that would span all stakeholder groups and the most appropriate channels and tactics for each of the stakeholder groups. The strategy also included clear, consistent ways of measuring success and scaling the strategy when the company was prepared to broaden its stakeholder base.

Outcomes

Emerald One completely refreshed the company’s brand guidelines, presentation and document templates, website, and social media presence. Key messaging and communication themes enabled new taglines, customer-centric content, and a clear identity. The company’s LinkedIn page traffic tripled in only four months, and the website traffic doubled. In parallel, we provided workshops to the company’s leadership team to ensure all members understood the changes as well as their own responsibilities to carry the message forward and build corporate trust and culture. 

Emerald One led placement of monthly communication themes in the CEO’s regular email messaging and quarterly employee town halls. Stakeholder feedback showed a clearer sense of the company’s purpose and identity. In fact, the marketing and communication strategy created the foundation that allowed leadership to come together and formally document a mission, vision, and values by the end of 2020, less than nine months after beginning the assessment and strategy. Emerald One continued to work with the company on a subscription basis for several months, acting as the corporate communications organization to further instill consistency, strategy, and clarity in messaging while building trust and cultural awareness throughout the leadership team.