CEO Communication Audit - Jason Wyatt, Marketplacer

CEO COMMUNICATION AUDIT
Jason Wyatt, Marketplacer
DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION

2
This audit has been prepared for Jason Wyatt, CEO at Marketplacer.
It is a broad review of CEO communications, with the aim of building front-
of-mind thought leadership.
This audit reviews:
Current
communications:
Where you’re
starting from today
(from page 4)
How the market
thinks about you
and your business
(from page 6)
The key
fundamentals of
thought leadership
(from page 10)
Your current
narrative as
communicated to
market
(from page 16)
Prioritisation of key
audiences, themes
and topics
(from page 19)
Coherence of
content style,
language and tone
(from page 25)
Summary and recommendations (from page 29)

Introduction and overview
CEO Communication Audit - Table of contents:
Communications requirements differ substantially by stage of the
organisation and individual profile. We review CEO communications
relative to current stage of the company and existing public profile.
1. Current communications – Where you’re starting from today.
• Quick CEO capability review across speaking, inbound (media), outbound
(publishing) and social channels
2. Current awareness and positioning - How the market thinks about you and
your business
• Benchmarking you vs. comparable organisations and leaders for current
awareness (and brand vs. CEO awareness)
3. Thought leadership fundamentals - Great CEO communicators are trusted,
interesting and visible
• Detailed review of five recent CEO communications for thought
leadership fundamentals (interest, trust and visibility)
4. CEO and company narrative - Identifying and strengthening your current
narrative
• Review of your current narrative as communicated to market
5. Stakeholder review and prioritisation - Identifying your key audience(s)
• Prioritisation of Marketplacer’s different audience groups for CEO
communications
6. Topic prioritisation - Identifying the most important themes and topics to
communicate to stakeholders
• Defining broad theme/topic prioritisation based on audience group
prioritisation
7. Content analysis and recommendations - Reviewing the coherence of
language, tone and style
• Recommendations as to the tone and style of thought leadership content
to achieve best results
3
Marketplacer Jason Wyatt
Earlystage
Industryawareness
HighLow
Generalmarketawareness
HighLow
CEO –
Moderate
industry
awareness
Company –
Moderate
Industry
awareness
Current brand and CEO awareness:

4
1.  Current communications
Where you’re starting from today

CEO communications capability– Jason Wyatt
5
Speaking capability

Why it matters? Speaking is the
bedrock of all communications.
Speaking capability is the foundation
on which all other channels and
mediums depend.

We start with a quick assessment of communications capability, across the four key communications
pillars for the modern CEO.
Rare Occasional Frequent
Frequency of speaking appearances:
Fundamentals:
Presents as enthusiastic and full
of energy:
Tells stories:
Is interesting (never boring):
Naturally uses facial expressions
and hands (isn’t stiff or wooden):
Uses a full range of emotions:
Controls the room / engages
the audience:
Uses humour appropriately:
Has vocal control and is
engaging to listen to:
Inbound (media) capability

Why it matters? Traditional PR skills still
matter. As the content creation and
consumption cycle accelerates, it’s critical
to deliver concise, clear, on-topic messages
for print, radio, TV and online publications.
Frequency of media appearances:
Fundamentals:
Has clear rationale for speaking
to the media:
Guides the journalist to what’s
really important:
Stays authentic, doesn’t change
speaking style for the medium:
Is visually engaging and
interesting to watch:
Is prepared. Knows the
questions that are likely to be
asked:
Comfortable and never
perturbed. Often having fun:
Maintains control and is not
reactive:
Outbound (publishing) capability
Why it matters? In today’s media
environment, every individual is a
publisher. Given the fractured media
landscape, it’s never been more important
to build a direct (owned) channel to
communicate to all key stakeholders.
Frequency of publishing:
Fundamentals:
Has built an engaged audience:
Publishes frequently to build
rapport:
Publishes proactively, not just
reactively:
Writes conversationally (doesn’t
use corporate jargon):
Uses descriptive, engaging
headlines:
Integrates multiple multimedia
(video, images):
Provokes discussion and
sharing:
Social (engagement) capability
Why it matters? Key stakeholders
(including customers, partners and
employees) increasingly expect to find
the CEO on social media. People
increasingly look to build trust in
individuals before brands.
Frequency of social engagement:
Fundamentals:
Active on LinkedIn, Twitter and
Youtube:
Provokes discussion:
Demonstrates curiosity:
Incorporates personal passions.
Talks about more than just work:
Connects to corporate
resources where appropriate:
Stays positive (doesn’t engage
with trolls):
Shows emotion:

6
2. Current awareness and
positioning
How the market thinks about you and your business

Where is Jason Wyatt most commonly positioned at present?
7
On this slide, we’re looking to see how a broad
set of your stakeholders think about and position
Jason Wyatt.
On the left, we’ve visualised individuals who
feature alongside Jason in prominent press
articles. Larger bubbles represent more frequent
mentions alongside Jason.
Those positioned most commonly alongside
Jason are a combination of established
Australian businessmen and young
entrepreneurs.
This positioning has been heavily influenced by
startup funding announcements, and the lack of
industry based newsflow.
Source: Google News Archives, Top 50 results (see page 30)

Where is Marketplacer most commonly positioned at present?
8
Source: Google News Archives, Top 50 results (see page 30)
On this slide, we’re looking to see how a broad
set of your stakeholders think about and position
Marketplacer.
On the left, we’ve visualised organisations who
feature alongside Marketplacer in prominent
press articles. Larger bubbles represent more
frequent mentions alongside Marketplacer.
There is no consistent positioning – with a range
of Australian online businesses positioned
alongside the company.

(46%, 96%)
(100%, 100%)
As a result, we’re benchmarking the following comparables
Matt Barrie Scott FarquharCollis Ta’eed
Relative CEO and brand awareness:
Internal
metrics
LTM
revenue:
C. $50 M
Valuation: na
Employees: 260
External
metrics
Search
volume
(Brand)
92%
Search
volume
(CEO):
0%
Alexa rank: 1,141
Internal
metrics
LTM
revenue:
$26 M
Valuation: $456 M
Employees: 470
Internal
metrics
LTM
revenue:
$600 M
Valuation: $8bn
Employees: 1,988
External
metrics
Search
volume
(Brand)
46%
Search
volume
(CEO):
96%
Alexa rank: 827
External
metrics
Search
volume
(Brand)
100%
Search
volume
(CEO):
100%
Alexa rank: 1,513
50% 75% 100%25%0%
0%
50%
100%
75%
25%
Brand presence
CEO presence
(1%, 0%) (92%, 0%)
CEO centric
Risks around succession
and long-term awareness
Brand centric
Not humanised, risks
around trust,
•  This chart benchmarks relative awareness for both brand and
individual CEO
•  All numbers are Google search volumes for “Organisation” and
“CEO name”. 100% represents maximum search volume for any
term over last 12 months.
Source: Annual reports, Google Trends (LTM max search volume), Alexa
We’re benchmarking the following comparables:
9
Internal
metrics
LTM
revenue:
na
Valuation: na
Employees: 27
External
metrics
Search
volume
(Brand)
1%
Search
volume
(CEO):
0%
Alexa rank: 941,588
Jason Wyatt

10
3. Thought leadership fundamentals
Great CEO communicators are trusted, interesting and
visible

Great CEO communicators are trusted, interesting and visible
3. Visible
1. Interesting 2. Trusted
2. Trusted
Signals we look for:
•  Shows appropriate vulnerability
•  Individually relatable
•  Consistently communicates the
same narrative over time
•  Connected to society as a whole,
not just the business
•  Has a clear purpose
See page 14 for a relative assessment
1. Interesting
•  Human first
•  Talks with full range of emotions
•  Tells stories
•  Short messages, consistent long-
term narratives
•  Talks about the future
•  Appropriate mix of crazy and
inevitability
•  Avoids robo-speak / corporate
language
3. Visible
•  Is accessible across a range of platforms
•  Addresses multiple audiences
•  Has public views on corporate, industry and
societal issues
•  Regularly quoted by third parties
Interesting and visible is a trap that
many politicians and CEOs fall into.
It’s relatively easy to build this
position with strong reactionary
positions.
Whilst this positioning does lead to
airtime and profile, it leads to very
little influence and action because
there’s no underlying foundation of
trust.
Trusted and visible is a position
that’s hard to achieve without
substantial conferred status and
trust (i.e. the position of Governor
General).
Anyone with this positioning will
always achieve stronger
communications performance by
being more interesting.
It has never been more important to get the right balance of interest
and trust. Old media PR strategies typically focused excessively on
interest factors, which translate poorly in an always on, authenticity
driven new media environment
11

Content examples we’ve analysed in depth
12
As a basis for this audit we’ve picked five typical market facing communications featuring or authored
by Jason.
This analysis is our basis for understanding current CEO communications to stakeholders (including
story, narrative and style)
The content we’re using in this audit:
•  Dynamic Business - A Great
Business Idea Is Only The
Beginning
•  26 August 2016
•  http://
www.dynamicbusiness.com.
au/entrepreneur-profile/a-
great-business-idea-is-only-
the-beginning.html
•  LinkedIn – Understanding
network effects for online
marketplaces
•  12 December 2016
•  https://www.linkedin.com/
pulse/understanding-
network-effects-online-
marketplaces-jason-wyatt?
trk=prof-post
•  Marketplacer Blog - More
than ever, we need
bipartisan support to grow
Australia’s digital economy
•  9 November 2016
•  http://marketplacer.com/
2016/11/09/13962/
•  LinkedIn – Understanding
the growth of niche markets
and the tribes that grow
with them
•  26 October 2016
•  https://www.linkedin.com/
pulse/understanding-
growth-niche-markets-
tribes-grow-them-jason-
wyatt-1?trk=prof-post
•  Marketplacer Blog - How
marketplaces benefit new e-
commerce entrants
•  18 October 2016
•  http://marketplacer.com/
2016/10/18/how-
marketplaces-benefit-new-e-
commerce-entrants/

How Jason performs on the interest benchmark
Human first:
Talks with full range of
emotions:
Tells stories:
Short messages,
consistent long-term
narratives:
Appropriate mix of
crazy and inevitability:
Avoids robo-speak /
corporate language:
Communicates concisely, on consistent
topics. Evidence of long-term narrative.
Evidence of your personal values and
beliefs. Talking about your personal life,
sharing and celebrating special events.
Regular evidence of communication with
a full range of emotions.
Communicates through stories, not
messages.
Strategic content that is equal parts crazy
and inevitable. Takes strong opinions.
Talks in simple, conversational language.
Talks about the future
16 (57%)Total score:
(/28)
Talks strategically. Does not only
communicate on a reactive basis.
How each factor builds interest:
In a social media era, it’s expected that all opinions can be condensed to 140 characters.
The length of story is shorter than ever. But those messages must sit inside consistent long
term narratives – otherwise the messages will come off as shallow, short term and un-
coordinated.
As humans we’re built to be interested in humans first. Whatever your job, role or
company, humans are most interested in human stories. As a result, it’s important to
communicate as a human first. Before you’re a CEO, you have to show that you’re a real
person, just like your audience.
Humans respond to stories that engage them on an emotional level. Communicators that
highlight appropriate emotions will always outperform dry corporate communication.
Talking with a full range of emotions doesn’t mean consistently “happy”, “sad” or “angry”
– rather expressing emotions on the extreme end of the spectrum as appropriate.
People have always communicated through stories, rather than repeating messages or
sound bytes. Today’s stakeholders are suspicious of corporate messages that are
increasingly dry and fail to capture the imagination. Communicating through stories
ensures memorability and action.
The most interesting thought leadership content balances equal parts crazy and
inevitability. As a thought leader, you're speaking about ideas that are dramatically
different to current "best practice". This means that there's always a risk that you'll be
perceived as somewhat 'crazy’. You can mitigate this risk by positioning your ideas as the
inevitable future - whether the reader/listener accepts this or not.
All stakeholders have become increasingly suspicious of “corporate speak”. CEOs must
communicate in simple and conversational language that builds a human connection and
rapport with all their audience. Buzz words and corporate speak do nothing but drive
disengagement.
Today’s stakeholder is suspicious. To be a leader you must set direction for the future.
Thought leadership is about moving beyond the reactionary day-to-day… instead focusing
more on a long term agenda for the future. For the company, the industry and society as a
whole.
What we’re looking for:
Consistently Regularly Occasionally Rarely
4 3 2 1
Source: Benchmarked on basis of publically available articles and reports.
13
Jason communicates consistent
messages about the tech start up scene
– but the narrative around Marketplacer
is less clear.
Rarely cited. Personal passions and
values need to be integrated more often
in Jason’s content.
Relatively dry. Showing more emotions in
published content and videos will make
the arguments more compelling and
drive engagement.
Rare use of stories across the
benchmarked content (though you
always feel that they’re sitting
underneath the surface).
Jason regularly publishes strategic
content but the positioning is largely
conservative.
Language is a strength. Uses simple
words in all published content.
Jason regularly talks about
Marketplacer’s future expansion plans
and entering new markets.
Assessment:
1
1
1
2
4
3
4

1
How Jason performs on the trust benchmark
Shows appropriate
vulnerability:
Communication that shows appropriate
vulnerability (failures, mistakes and
shortcomings in the context of your
current success).
Individually relatable:
Connected to society
as a whole, not just the
business:
Has a clear purpose:
Consistently
communicates the
same narrative over
time:
Source: Benchmarked on basis of publically available articles and reports.
Consistent messaging, stories and
narratives over the medium to long term.
Does the audience feel like they know
you as a person? Do they understand
and empathise with your passions, wants
and flaws? Do you talk with your
audience or down to your audience?
Discussing issues bigger than the
business (whether industry, societal or
personal).
Strong and believable individual
purpose.
11 (46%)Total score:
(/24)
Content that shows you're vulnerable strengthens your credibility and signals that you’re
both genuine and honest. Both of these signals lead to trust. If you’re willing to share your
failures, mistakes and shortcomings, it makes it easier for any audience to connect with you
and trust what you’re saying.
Consistency is critical for building trust. In the same way that we don’t trust people that
we’ve just met, we don’t trust narratives that we’ve just heard. It takes time and repetition
to build trust. This is established through consistently communicating the same narrative
over an extended period of time. Whilst your messages and stories can change over time,
these should stay inside a consistent overarching roadmap to build trust (this is your
narrative).
Trust is built on a foundation of individual likeability. We like people who we can easily
relate to. Relatability can be easily measured by asking questions such as “Would you like
to have a beer with this person? Or “Would you invite this person round for dinner?”
Focusing on issues bigger than just the business helps stakeholder trust. It improves
relatability by demonstrating alignment of interests - you’re motivated by the greater good
(for employees, the industry, society). Talking about issues beyond the business makes it
much easier for stakeholders to find points of agreement and alignment with you as the
CEO.
Many stakeholders are sceptical of CEOs as being excessively profit motivated. Having a
clearly stated and believable purpose makes your motivation clear to all stakeholders. This
purpose needs to be simple and a “higher calling” to be believable. If this purpose isn’t
contextually coherent with the CEO and company’s actions, then it can appear duplicitous
and damage trust (rather than improve it).
How each factor builds trust:What we’re looking for:
Consistently Regularly Occasionally Rarely
4 3 2 1
14
Rare to find anything personal in Jason’s
content. Definite opportunities to start
building trust and authenticity.
Consistent topics focused on start-up
advice and policy.
Directly discussing more personal
passions (i.e. bikes, family) would make
Jason more relatable and drive
engagement.
Start-up policy is a focus, but needs to
be extended to whole-of-society
impacts.
In reading Jason’s content it’s implied
that Jason is committed to building both
Marketplacer and the Australian startup
ecosystem. There is a disconnect as
these are never discussed at a personal
level.
Assessment
1
2
4
3

How Jason performs on the visibility benchmark
Is accessible across a
range of platforms:
Addresses multiple
audiences:
Has public views on
corporate, industry and
societal issues:
Regularly quoted by
third parties:
Jason’s content is largely focused on
startup policy makers. There are
opportunities to integrate the broader
stakeholder set.
Rarely quoted.
Visible and accessible across both
LinkedIn and Twitter.
Jason doesn’t regularly engage on topics
outside the e-commerce/startup sphere.
Even so, there’s opportunities to connect
to whole-of-community impact.
9 (34%)
Search volume:
(score /10)
4
0
Total score
(/26)
Current low visibility relative to
comparables (see page 9)
Presents your expertise across a broad range of issues. Shows custom understanding and
perspectives related to the issues of each stakeholder group.
Visibility is substantially driven by how others talk about you. We’re looking for evidence
that you’re regularly treated as an authority in your space.
In an increasingly fragmented media environment, consistent presence across multiple
channels increases visibility and provides proof of authenticity. Stakeholders expect a CEO
to communicate through a range of channels (not just press releases).
For both visibility and trust the CEO must engage the full spectrum of corporate, industry
and societal issues. Speaking across a broader range of issues increases the number of
opportunities for you to appear, and for your audience to see you.
Ultimately, the best predictor of future visibility is current visibility. The more visible you
currently are, the more opportunities for future visibility will present themselves.
How each factor builds visibility:Assessment:
Source: Benchmarked on basis of publically available articles and reports. Consistently Regularly Occasionally Rarely
4 3 2 1
15
Addressing a broad range of stakeholder
groups including customers, employees,
investors, NGOs and government.
Regular quotes by third parties show that
you’re providing interesting and relevant
commentary on topics that media and
influencers find interesting.
Authentic communication across multiple
channels of communication including
press, owned media, events/conferences
and social media.
Communicates on across a full range of
business, industry and societal issues.
In this case we’re measuring current
visibility relatively, through Google
Trends search results.
What we’re looking for:
1
2
2

16
4. CEO and company narrative
Identifying and strengthening your current narrative

What is a CEO narrative (and why does it matter)?
Difference
Purpose
FuturePast Narrative
What’s the difference between
messaging and narrative?
Messaging
•  Emphasises key messages that are
used repetitively through all
communications
•  Messages tend to be rote delivered
and have low ability to respond to
context
•  Can sound scripted
Narrative
•  Emphasises an underlying story that’s
used repetitively through all
communications
•  A narrative is flexible and adapts to
the context
•  Easily remembered
•  Sounds authentic
Your individual narrative should build on the strengths and
differentiators of the business. It must be intellectually
aligned but individually unique and meaningful.
17
Thought leadership and all CEO communication is grounded
on a strong narrative. A narrative combines your past, future,
difference and purpose into a short and compelling
framework to guide all your communication.

Identifying ways to strengthen Jason’s CEO narrative
Past
Key narrative questions:
1.  Where has the company come from?
2.  What was the problem the company set
out to solve?
3.  How has your journey shaped you and the
company today?
Purpose
1.  Why is the CEO driven to make this
company succeed?
2.  What is the company’s purpose?
3.  What values differentiate the company and
its culture?
4.  What are your obsessions?
Difference
Key narrative questions
1.  How is Jason meaningfully different to
other CEOs in the competitive set?
2.  What do customers uniquely love about
the business?
3.  What opportunities are open to Jason and
Marketplacer as a result of the positioning
of competitive set?
Future
1.  Where is the company going in the future?
2.  What’s the publically stated direction of
the company?
3.  What’s the world changing ambition or
goal of the company?
4.  How is the unique future that Marketplacer
is creating meaningfully different from the
competitive set?
Key company and market commentary:
“We are unique. There is no other successful
marketplace platform that has opened their technology
up for others to use. We accelerate marketplaces 10
years in a day”
- Lifehacker, Sep 2016
“The biggest reward was seeing over 30 million annual
customers from eight countries around the world use our
online marketplaces. Our team has created a business
that can scale and help the shopping experience be
more enjoyable and it’s great to see that this is
resonating with our global customers”
- Advance, May 2016
“The one thing that I’ve learnt over a short career and
owning a business, I’ve only been here for 10 years, if
you can create that sense of belonging and get those
strong values and belief and have people drive them
through and actually help create your values and belief,
then that’s the most powerful thing you can do in any
community”
- Management Disrupted, Sep 2016
“Separate yourself as a founder and focus on what’s best
for the company”
- Business Insider, July 2015
“If you can create an organization or you can create a
business where you can get customers to feel that they
belong and they have that sense of belonging, then
you’re not worried about the day-to-day grind KPIs
because they passionately care about your community,
whether that be your internal teams, whether that be
your internal structures, whether that be your customers”
-Management Disrupted, Sep 2016
“We’ll continue to take good strategic stakes where we
can leverage our tech processes, knowledge and access
to capital”
-Startup Smart, June 2016
“We had a fantastic year in 2015 with BikeExchange
globally. In the USA we launched about this time last
year. We’ve got about 400 retailers now who are
showing products through BikeExchange in America. To
put that in perspective, it took a good three to four years
in Australia to get that level of retail engagement, so we
see a huge amount of momentum in that American
market and it’s obviously a huge opportunity. America is
a much larger market and population”
-Bicycling Trade, Jan 2016
“We have been building marketplaces since 2007 and
we understand what it takes to win. With 2 million
people using our marketplaces monthly, we have created
successful marketplaces globally such as
www.BikeExchange.com.au, HouseofHome.com.au,
TiniTrader.com.au and Outdoria.com.au”
-Lifehacker, Sep 2016
“We’re trying to leverage our tech processes and really
enable people to create beautiful and scalable
marketplaces globally”
-Startup Smart, June 2016
“When creating a marketplace, you just can’t go grab a
Shopify off the shelf and spin it up and get a
marketplace. It doesn’t work like that. There are those
core components. You need a technology platform,
business processes that are custom built for a
marketplace and its philosophies. Then you need to
understand the community and the heartbeat for the
marketing and customer perspective”
-Management Disrupted, Sep 2016
“I see us as a borderless businesses with an Australian
heartbeat and culture. Hard working, smart, driven and
looking after your mates is the Australian DNA we are
exporting all over the world”
- Advance, May 2016
“It’s an understandable enough assumption to make, for
example, that Marketplacer is a company that creates a
technology and business platform for marketplaces. (And
we’re very good at that.) But that’s sort of the surface
view of what we do. In our case, what the software we
create is really about is bringing people together – it’s
about tribes”
- Marketplacer Blog, March 2016
18
Jason’s narrative is clearly defined and regularly referenced across past,
difference and future. More regularly connecting to purpose would
dramatically strengthen Jason’s narrative

19
5. Stakeholder review and
prioritisation
Identifying your key audience(s)

What are the key audience groups for all CEO communication?
The next page presents an audience prioritisation analysis for Jason Wyatt…
There’s six broad audience groups that CEOs must engage through communication. The relevance and
prioritisation of each audience group depends on both industry and company stage:
20
1. Customers
•  Targeting
potential
customers.
Where sales are
based on trust,
it makes sense
for the CEO to
leverage a
digital platform
to build
recognition in
advance of
physical sales
activity.
2. Partners
•  Engaging
potential and
current
partners. Given
partnerships are
built on trust, it
makes sense for
the CEO to
leverage a
digital platform
to reinforce
build
relationships/
dialogue and
reinforce
commitment to
key partners
3. Recruiting
•  Targeting
potential and
existing
employees.
Builds trust and
alignment.
•  Most relevant
where there is a
large recruiting
requirement
from a relatively
small or
unknown
organisation.
4. Investor
relations
•  Targets existing
and potential
investors. Most
relevant in
public markets
– however there
is relevance
ahead of
fundraising
events to build
awareness and
demonstrate
traction.
5. Regulators
•  Targets
regulators and
their
stakeholders.
•  Companies
facing specific
regulatory
challenges.
Whilst the end
target is
regulators, an
approach here
may focus on
the general
public or other
stakeholders.
6. Industry
influencers
•  Targeting
industry
analysts and
thought
leaders.
•  Designed to
translate to
recognition in
‘industry leader’
lists, speaking
at conferences
and front of
mind
recognition.

What are the key audience groups for Jason Wyatt and Marketplacer?
Industry influencers/analysts Regulators/GovernmentInvestors Employees
Customers
None/Low Some influence Many/most read
Influence of influencers on customer behaviour?
0 5 10
Leading player Emerging player New entrant
Current industry positioning?
5 10 15
Current investors - Total score:
low
priority
0-5
moderate
priority
5-10
high
priority
10-20
highest
priority
20+
Low Medium High
Risk of medium term changes in industry based regulations or
requirements?
0 5 10
Insignificant/
Low
Moderate Substantial
Current impact of industry or company specific compliance/
regulation on profitability?
0 5 10
0-10 10-100 100+
Number of external investors?
0 5 10
Unlikely Possible Highly likely
Additional capital requirement over next 24 months?
0 5 10
Below
expectation
At expectation Above
expectation
0 5 10
Returns to current investors?
Customers maintain multiple
relationships with
competitive set
Strength of competition?
5 10
Recurring Project One-off
Nature of customer relationship?
5 10 10
Customers maintain only
one relationship with
competitive set
Next 12 months revenue growth goals?
Channel Physical sales Inside sales
Primary means of customer acquisition
5 10 10
B2C (Impulse) B2C (Complex/high value)B2B
Product complexity / trust required
0 5 10
Digital
10
0-10% 10-30% 30-100%
3 5 10
100%+
20
Size of organisation
Low Moderate High
Level of industry and organisational change
0
5 10
Extreme
20
0-30 30-100 100-500
0
2 5
500-1000
10
1000+
20
0-3% 3-10% 10-30%
Forecast employee growth over next 12 months?
0 3 10
Low Moderate High
0 5 10
Competitiveness in target talent markets?
30%+
20
Current customers Potential customers
Current Employees Potential employeesPotential investorsCurrent investors
Low Moderate High
0 3 5
Current customers
Potential
customers
Current employeesPotential employees
Current
investors
Potential
investors
Highestpriority
High
priority
Moderatepriority
Low
priority
Employees
Industry influencers
Investors
Regulators
21
Partners
Negligible Low
Risk of partner churn?
0 5
Typical time to close?
Non-exclusive Exclusive
Nature of partner relationship?
0 10
0-3 months 3-12 months 12 months+
3 5 10
Current partners Potential partners
0-20% 20-40% 40%+
Percentage of current revenue delivered through partners?
5 10 15
Moderate
10
Partners
Current
Partners
Potential
PartnersHighest
priority
High
priority
Moderate
priority
Low
priority
low
priority
moderate
priority
high
priority
highest
priority
0-5
5-10
10-20
20+
Current customers –
Total score:
low
priority
moderate
priority
high
priority
highest
priority
0-5
5-10
10-20
20+
Current customers –
Total score:
low
priority
moderate
priority
high
priority
highest
priority
0-5
5-10
10-20
20+
Potential partners –
Total score:
low
priority
moderate
priority
high
priority
highest
priority
0-5
5-10
10-20
20+
Current partners –
Total score:
Potential investors - Total score:
low
priority
0-5
moderate
priority
5-10
high
priority
10-20
highest
priority
20+
Current employees - Total score:
low
priority
0-5
moderate
priority
5-10
high
priority
10-20
highest
priority
20+
Potential employees - Total score:
low
priority
0-5
moderate
priority
5-10
high
priority
10-20
highest
priority
20+
Industry influencers - Total score:
low
priority
0-5
moderate
priority
5-10
high
priority
10-20
highest
priority
20+
Regulators - Total score:
low
priority
0-5
moderate
priority
5-10
high
priority
10-20
highest
priority
20+
B2C (Impulse) B2B
Product complexity / trust required
0 5 10
Liquidity of investment?
B2C (Complex/high value)

22
6. Theme/topic prioritisation
Identifying the most important themes and topics to
communicate to stakeholders

What are the themes that CEOs should communicate on?
Customer–
Current
Customer-Potential
Partner–
Current
Partner–
Potential
Employee–
Current
Employee-Potential
Investor–
Current
Investor-Potential
Regulators/
Government
Analyst/
Influencer
Priority for Jason
Wyatt
High Highest High Highest Moderate Highest Low High Low High
Proportional
allocation for
Jason Wyatt:
10% 14% 10% 14% 14% 14% 2% 10% 2% 10%
1. Product/service level
• 1A. Customer problems and benefits
• 1B. Highlighting customer success / case
studies
• 1C. Key customer problems
• 1D. Product direction / launching new
product and services
• 1E. Differences vs. competition
• 1F. Differentiating beliefs
2. Company level
• 2A. Financial results
• 2B. Celebrating success
• 2C. Working at company
• 2D. Company culture
• 2E. Purpose and vision
3. Industry level
• 3A. Competitive landscape
• 3B. Industry level challenges and
opportunities
• 3C. Industry level regulation and policy
• 3D. Future of the industry
4. Society level
• 4A. Company benefits to society
• 4B. Economic trends
• 4C. Public policy discussions
• 4D. Personal views on societal issues
• 4E. National and global issues
Nearly all themes are relevant for multiple audience groups, for example:
We can make a broad proportional communications audience allocation:
Customer –
Current
Customer –
Potential
Partner - Current
Partner -
Potential
Employee -
Current
Employee -
Potential
Investor -
Current
Investor -
Potential
Regulators
Analyst/
influencer
1A. Customer problems and
benefits
Highest Moderate High Highest Highest Moderate Highest Moderate High Low
Audiences and topics come together for a weighted topic allocation on the following page…
Based on your audience prioritisation…
There’s four broad theme groups that CEOs are expected to communicate across:
23

Our recommended theme allocation for Jason Wyatt
Customer -
Current
Customer -
Potential
Partner - Current
Partner -
Potential
Employee -
Current
Employee -
Potential
Investor - Current
Investor -
Potential
Regulators
Analyst/
influencer
Weighted
proportional
topic allocation
Priority High Highest High Highest Moderate Highest Low High Low High
Recommended allocation for
Jason
10% 14% 10% 14% 14% 14% 2% 10% 2% 10%
Product/service level 34%
Customer/partner problems and
benefits 4 4 4 4 3 2 2 2 1 3 5%
Highlighting customer/partner
success 4 4 4 4 3 1 2 2 1 4 5%
Key customer/partner problems 4 4 4 4 3 1 2 2 1 3 5%
Product direction / launching new
products and services 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 1 4 6%
Differences vs. competition 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 1 4 6%
Differentiating beliefs 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 2 1 4 6%
Company level 25%
Financial results 2 2 2 2 4 1 4 4 2 4 5%
Celebrating success 3 1 3 1 4 4 3 4 1 3 5%
Working at company 1 1 1 1 4 4 3 4 1 2 4%
Company culture 2 3 2 3 4 4 3 4 1 2 5%
Purpose and vision 3 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 2 4 6%
Industry level 22%
Competitive landscape 4 3 4 3 3 3 4 3 3 4 6%
Industry level challenges and
opportunities 2 3 2 3 3 3 4 3 3 4 5%
Industry level regulation and
policy 3 2 3 2 2 2 4 3 4 4 5%
Future of the industry 4 4 4 4 3 3 4 3 2 4 6%
Society level 19%
Company benefits to society 2 2 2 2 4 4 3 2 3 2 5%
Economic trends 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 2 4%
Public policy discussions 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 2 4 1 4%
Personal views on societal issues 2 2 2 2 3 4 2 1 2 1 4%
National and global issues 2 2 2 2 3 2 1 1 2 1 3%
24

25
7. Content style analysis and
recommendations
Reviewing the coherence of language, tone and style

Content style recommendations for Jason Wyatt
Idiocentric:Reader centric:
Practical:Theoretical:
Complex:Simple:
Balanced:Opinionated:
Primarily dedicated to discussing personal feelings and emotions.
Inside out, rather than outside in. Characterised by more frequent
use of “I”, “we”, “our”
Focused on what the reader can take from the content.
Outside in, rather than inside out. Characterised by more frequent
use of “you”, “your”
Arguments justified with theoretical rationale.
Concepts rather than examples.
Arguments justified with practical case studies and real examples.
Easy to scan. Many subheadings.
Easy to jump in and out of the article.
Flowing article that is interdependent. Will struggle to get value
without reading in depth. Will tend to be longer
May take multiple readings to get full value.
Strong opinions. Generally tells only one side of the story.
Clear view about what is right and wrong.
Sits on the fence.
Tells both sides of the story.
Fundamentally, Jason’s current content does a lot
right. It’s well written and structured.
However there is a lot of reliance on third party
research, which leaves many articles feeling dry
and removed from Jason’s personal opinion.
Genuine thought leadership doesn’t always
require research. As a leader of the industry, it’s
ok and expected to carry an article on strength
of opinion and personal experience.
Content design
R
R
R
R
C
C
C
C
R
C Jason Wyatt– Current positioning
Jason Wyatt– Recommended positioning
26

Content style recommendations for Jason Wyatt
Corporate:Personal:
Formal:Conversational:
Written on a personal level.
Could be a conversation. Uses the simplest language choices to
convey meaning.
Uses deliberately sophisticated language.
Will not always use the simplest language choice.
Simple, descriptive language. Shorter sentences and paragraphs.
Speaks like an old friend, assumes trust and agreement.
Regular use of “you”, “your”.
Longer sentences and consistent paragraphs.
Theoretical, official and formal language.
Doesn’t assume agreement on any points.
Measured:Excited:
Disciplined:Playful:
Mature:Young:
Enthusiastic, eager.
Lots of energy. Speaks in an “off the cuff manner”.
Regular and measured language.
Thoughtful and planned language. Consistent. Restrained.
Regular jokes, may be self-depreciating.
Happy and friendly tone. Evident the author had fun writing the
post.
Controlled, consistent, habitual
Unlikely to be self-depreciating
Eager and enthusiastic language. Advanced, implies mastery
Self-aggrandising :Self-deprecating:
Regularly makes fun of self.
Does not present as being on a pedestal.
Only references to self are in a positive context.
Difficult for the reader to empathise with.
Jason’s content makes great language choices. It’s
accessible and easy to read.
Language
Tone
R
R
R
R
R
R
C
C
C
C
C
C
R
C Jason Wyatt– Current positioning
Jason Wyatt– Recommended positioning
27
Jason’s content generally suffers from being
impersonal. The tone is excessively
professional for the stage of business and
topics that he’s focused on.
More excitement and play throughout are
easy ways to introduce more personality –
and reflect the current growth stage of the
company.

28
Summary, recommendations and
next steps
Bringing it all together

Executive summary: Jason Wyatt and Marketplacer
1. Both Marketplacer and Jason have relatively low awareness. This is both a challenge
and an opportunity
•  Our market scan shows that Marketplacer and Jason have less visibility than Australian comparables.
•  There’s little consensus around peers – which opens up the opportunity for Marketplacer to define its own segment.
2. Jason struggles on the trust, interest and visibility benchmarks. Most of these issues
can be fixed with more personal content
•  It’s rare to find mentions of anything personal from Jason. As a result it’s hard to feel that you know or trust him at an individual level.
•  Increasing the frequency of stories and using a full range of emotions will deepen engagement and authenticity.
3. Jason’s narrative is strong, but can be strengthened with more frequent reference to
purpose
•  Jason’s narrative is clearly defined and regularly referenced across past, difference and future.
•  More regularly connecting to purpose will dramatically strengthen Jason’s narrative.
4. There’s a large number of stakeholder groups that Jason needs to address
•  Given the early stage of the business, there’s a relatively high priority across customers, partners, employees and investors. There’s a lot of people to
communicate to, which makes strategic topic prioritisation critical.
5. Given the stakeholder mix, Jason needs to communicate across more than just
startups and startup policy
•  Much of Jason’s current content is focused exclusively on startups and startup policy. This doesn’t speak to the full range of stakeholders, and we’d suggest
looking at a broader set of topics.
•  Based on the suggested audience prioritisation, we’d suggest that CEO communication from Jason should be allocated in the following themes/proportions:
Product/service level 34%, Company level 25%, Industry level 22% and Society level 19%.
6. Jason’s current content is generally well executed, but suffers from issues in
positioning and topics (as discussed above)
•  Fundamentally, Jason’s current content does a lot right. It’s well written and structured. It is worth remembering that genuine thought leadership doesn’t
always require research. As a leader of the industry, it’s ok and expected to carry an article on strength of opinion and personal experience.
29

Validation and leveraging this audit
4. Content plan
(themes and topics)
•  Building a detailed plan of
content themes and topics to
capture thought leadership
•  Includes a medium term
roadmap of content to be
delivered (when and to who)
1. Audience prioritisation
•  Reviewing which audience groups
are the most important, and how
they think about your business and
CEO today
•  Ensures clear prioritisation of the
right messages for each audience
and stakeholder group
2. Narrative and messaging
strategy
•  Building a strong narrative
framework (past, future, difference,
purpose) to anchor all
communications
•  A strong narrative aligns the way
that stakeholders think about the
business/CEO, and makes all
communication more effective
5. Distribution strategy
•  Plan for which channels /
mediums should be used for
which messages
•  Timing and frequency of
communications
•  Concrete return analytics and
measurement framework
•  Key actions for increasing
sharability of content
3. Content personality, voice
and style
•  Selecting the right style of content
that speak to customers in a way that
builds expertise and trust
•  Assess tone, complexity and voice to
ensure you’re building a long term,
trusted relationship
•  Includes a content design framework
and benchmark to guide all content
creation efforts
The TLP approach to thought leadership
strategy
•  We use analytics, client interviews and a detailed
workshop process to build a comprehensive thought
leadership strategy
•  Heavy focus on validation through customer and
stakeholder interviews
•  You receive a comprehensive 90 page report,
designed for turnkey implementation and impact
through our supported CEO blogging process
•  Results delivered within 14 days
Key components of any successful thought leadership strategy:
This audit is a starting point for CEO thought leadership. Validation and planning are critical for success
30
1. CEO
communications audit
2. Thought leadership
strategy
3. Supported CEO
blogging
‘Build a
comprehensive plan’
‘Identify the problems’ ‘Implement and
measure’

The roadmap from here
1. CEO communication
audit
(this document)
2. Thought leadership
strategy
3. Supported CEO
blogging
‘Build a comprehensive plan’
•  Get started with a comprehensive
review and plan for success.
•  Built on detailed stakeholder
interviews, internal workshops and
detailed analytics review.
•  Findings presented in 90 page
report with detailed analysis,
review and implementation
recommendations.
‘Implement and measure’
•  Put strategy into action with our
thought leadership content creation
service.
•  Turnkey content delivery – we turn a
one hour video interview into a
month of content (five video
supported articles), Saving you at
least 24 hours of writing time each
month.
•  Options to build the presence of
your CEO and other executives
within your business.
‘Identify the opportunities’
•  This audit presents an introduction
to CEO thought leadership strategy.
•  We’ve conducted a desktop review
of strengths, weaknesses and
potential positioning for thought
leadership.
•  Includes individual communications
performance and benchmarks
against a group key competitors.
31

32
Appendix

The press articles supporting this analysis
33
Article Title URL Individuals Organisations
1
Marketplacer raises $11 million, led by rich lister Gerry
Ryan http://www.afr.com/technology/marketplacer-raises-11-million-led-by-rich-lister-gerry-ryan-20160530-gp6x0m Gerry Ryan, David Paradice Jayco, TiniTrader, House of Home, Outdoria and Tixstar
2 Tixstar aims to give punters the time of their lives http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/tixstar-aims-to-give-punters-the-time-of-their-lives/news-story/414fc9bac5ef373a4a4b26067dfdb291
Gerry Ryan, David Paradice, Peter Bartels, Tim Carroll, Shane Delia ,
Timothy Stonesifer, Patrick Hilditch Jayco, Village Roadshow, Hewlett Packard, Hilditch, Outdoria
3
Australian e-commerce startup Marketplacer is going to
take on big ticketing companies http://www.businessinsider.com.au/australian-e-commerce-startup-marketplacer-is-going-to-take-on-big-ticketing-companies-2016-2
4 Free delivery a slippery slope for online retailers http://www.afr.com/business/retail/free-delivery-a-slippery-slope-for-online-retailers-20160927-grpk3y Sarah Timmerman, Lana Hopkins, Beginning Boutique, Mon Purse
5
Entrepreneurs behind 5 successful Australian companies
explain how they turned an idea into a business http://www.businessinsider.com.au/entrepreneurs-behind-5-successful-australian-companies-explain-how-they-turned-an-idea-into-a-business-2016-8
Jess Dadon, Stef Dadon, Marta Higuera, Zoe Pointon, Mark Coulter,
Dean Ramler, Martin Hosking
How Two Live Blog, ASOS, The Zoe Report, Maybelline, Sportsgirl, Seed Teen, Big W,
TWOOBS, Open Agent, Temple and Webster, Milan Direct, Redbubble
6
“I put my house on the line”: How Stephen Jones
assembled million-dollar retailer marketplace Furniture
Exchange
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/people-human-resources/leadership/44985-i-put-my-house-on-the-line-how-stephen-jones-assembled-million-dollar-retailer-
marketplace-furniture-exchange/ Stephen Jones Furniture Exchange, Australia Post , KPMG,
7
Australian start-up Marketplacer completes rebrand,
raises $10m
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/australian-startup-marketplacer-completes-rebrands-raises-10m/news-story/
48bf333e4fa3633380b966d30905bfdb Gerry Ryan, Timothy Stonesifer HP
8 Eight things that drive small business owners crazy http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/the-things-that-drive-small-business-owners-crazy-20160705-gpytgo.html Neel Morley, Jay Chubb Neel Loves Curls, Nest Coworking
9 Furnishing from your armchair http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/furnishing-from-your-armchair/news-story/2d96746fce431f1adb0898076b5e52c1 Stephen Jones Furniture Exchange, KPMG,
10
Marketplacer Raises $7 Million To Power Two-Sided
Online Marketplaces http://www.forbes.com/sites/jlim/2015/08/03/marketplacer-raises-au10-million-to-power-two-sided-online-marketplaces/#7b790d94587f Uber, Airbnb, Alibaba
11 Australia Post Aiming at E-Commerce? http://www.australianetworknews.com/australia-post-aiming-e-commerce/ Ahmed Fahour, Andrew Dilenis, Australia Post, Zd. Net, Data 61,
12 5 crucial things to consider when rebranding http://www.businessinsider.com.au/5-crucial-things-to-consider-when-rebranding-2015-7 David Paradice, Gerry Ryan
13 Elevator Pitch: Marketplacer http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2015/09/elevator-pitch-marketplacer/
14
Marketplacer Turns to Hyperwallet to Improve the
Platform’s Global Payout Infrastructure http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/10/prweb13782268.htm Peter Burridge Hyperwallet
15 Here are 19 Australian startups that had an amazing 2015 http://www.businessinsider.com.au/here-are-19-australian-startups-that-had-an-amazing-2015-2016-1
Hon Weng Chong, Andrew Lin, Nick Austin, Melanie Perkins, Cliff
Obrecht, Cameron Adams, Damien Andreason, Paul Lupson, Dean
Jones, Audrey Khaing-Jones, Sam Chandler, Nick Bell, Philip Weinman,
James Spenceley, Matt Bullock, Taryn Williams,David Vitek and Roby
Sharon-Zipser
Atlassian, CliniCloud, Best Buy, Divvy Parking, Canva, Sendle, AirTree Ventures, Starfish
Ventures, Design Crowd, Macdoch Ventures, Adcock Group, Law Path, WME,
GlamCorner, Biteable Nitro, Invoice2go, Unlockd , Milan Direct, Locomote, Vocus
Communications, eWay, WINK Models, hipages

About Thought Leadership Partners
34
At TLP, we’re a specialist agency that builds thought leadership content
for C-level executives.
Watch a short video introduction, or read on below:
https://youtu.be/hndoVYfuQdk
We do this through first person videos and blogs, directed at customers,
investors and employees.
CEOs that we talk to generally recognise the rationale for thought
leadership to:
•  Build personal and brand authenticity and trust
•  Engage key stakeholders in ongoing conversations
•  Shape the industry agenda
But at the same time, we hear from CEOs that they just don’t have the
time to sit down and write a blog post. The 4-5 hours it takes to publish
a high quality article is time that busy executives just don’t have.
We’ve listened to this and built a video interview led process. Instead of
writing, you sit down in front of a camera answering questions. We
transcribe that content and a journalist reshapes it into first person
content to be published (with video) under your name.
How our process works:
1.  We do extensive preparation, on the right topics and articles for you
to publish
2.  You’re interviewed on camera about these topics (your commitment
is a one hour interview once a month)
3.  Our journalists build five topic focused, transcription driven blog
posts out of the interview
4.  Because all content is built on your voice, there’s never ghost-writing
issues with depth and credibility
5.  You publish five, 500-700 word articles highlighting your expertise
with video highlights
6.  We deliver fortnightly analytics, optimising for engagement from the
right stakeholders
Over and above everything else, our clients love two things about what
we do:
•  How we genuinely understand the pressures and stakeholders of the
C-suite. We know that every hour has an opportunity cost. We’re
incredibly time efficient in producing authentic thought leadership
content that drives the success of your business.
•  We’re substantially more analytical and quantitative than any other
player in the Comms/ IR / Marketing space. We bring this focus to
strategy, campaign design and performance analysis.

+61 3 9111 5659 | www.thoughtleadershippartners.com | Level 17 / 31 Queen St, Melbourne

CEO Communication Audit - Jason Wyatt, Marketplacer

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (16)

Similaire à CEO Communication Audit - Jason Wyatt, Marketplacer

Similaire à CEO Communication Audit - Jason Wyatt, Marketplacer (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

CEO Communication Audit - Jason Wyatt, Marketplacer