470 - I Don’t Target PR Teams. I Target CEOs
If you’re pitching PR, you’re delaying your impact. Learn why targeting CEOs directly leads to faster decisions, deeper influence, and stronger brand-building opportunities.
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I Don’t Target PR Teams. I Target CEOs.
In the world of personal branding, especially for B2B or enterprise-level businesses, the difference between progress and plateau often comes down to who you’re speaking to. This episode explains why the best branding strategies skip over PR teams and go straight to the top, to the CEOs themselves.
1. Why CEOs Are the True Accelerators.
When you pitch to a CEO, you’re not going through layers of bureaucracy. You’re talking directly to the person with the power to make decisions, fund initiatives, and act on insight immediately. CEOs aren’t evaluating through a corporate filter. They’re looking for clarity, value, and execution. If you can deliver that, you move forward fast.
2. PR Isn’t the Problem, but It’s Not the Priority.
PR teams play an important role. They manage risk, maintain control, and shape narratives, all necessary functions for any large organization. But they’re not built to innovate, shift direction, or say yes to new approaches without running it up the chain. That makes them the wrong audience when your goal is to drive change quickly.
3. A Real-World Example of the Disconnect.
In this episode’s story, a PR manager flat-out dismissed the idea that their CEO would ever embrace personal branding on LinkedIn. The same CEO texted back the next day, on a Sunday, to thank me and confirm that he’d already implemented the suggestions. The contrast couldn’t be clearer: PR said “never.” The CEO said, “Done.”
4. The Business Case for Targeting Upstream.
This isn’t about ego. It’s about efficiency. If you want your work to have an impact, it needs to reach the person with the authority to make a change. That’s where trust is built, decisions are made, and results happen. It’s a strategic move, not just a shortcut, but a smarter route to value.
Final Perspective:
If your message is high-leverage, send it where leverage lives.
This episode breaks down how targeting CEOs directly builds momentum faster and why cutting through the noise starts by avoiding those trained to maintain it.
Get the strategy that speaks up, not around. Listen now.
Highlights:
00:00 Introduction: Targeting CEOs
00:24 Business Decision: Why CEOs?
00:40 Case Study: Truck Company
01:06 Direct Communication with CEOs
01:26 Conclusion: Decision Power Matters
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Transcript:
So for you, um, what led you to focusing on CEOs? Um, and the background to that is, um, I'm thinking I, I feel like I have two target audiences that are pretty distinct and should I be looking at the intersection or kind of try to address both? Yeah, that's a difficult one from, I will start with the first question.
I target CEOs because they have the most money and they have the decision power. It is purely business decision. If I talk to the CEO or if I talk to the PR manager, different conversation. I had this the other day, I talked to the PR manager of a very large truck company. The CE sucks, like properly, is really bad on LinkedIn and it's huge business. Really huge. The biggest truck manufacturer in, um, the Netherlands. Netherlands is small, but still the business is big. And the PR guy said, never ever going to happen. Never ever going to happen. I was texting with the CEOA day later, so I was, I was doing a personal brand audit for the CEO and, and he texted, I, I told that story yesterday. He texted me back on a Sunday evening, Hey, Yens, thank you very much. Just implemented your, your, your input. So he changed his LinkedIn profile and, and the PR manager said, never ever. So number one is the people that have the decision power are the easiest to to target because then you just talk to the right person and then you have a decision.
