In today’s episode of Signal in the Noise, Jennie Hardin, VP of Communications at ezCater, explains how ezCater transformed from supporting sales reps with meals to becoming a leading food tech platform for workplaces. Signal in the Noise is hosted by Daniel Gaynor, Head of Strategic Solutions at Signal AI.
Below is just a snippet of the conversation. For more episodes, check out the Spotify channel to listen or the YouTube channel. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
“How do we pull that consistent thread of where we began, who we are now, and where we're headed, so that transformation is easily understood not only by our external audiences but our employees?” - Jennie Hardin.
Dan Gaynor: You're the head of communications [at ezCater]. You do everything in the world of communications from internal to external. How do you tell a consistent narrative? What does your job consist of across such a diversified and dynamic business?
Jennie Hardin: A lot of it comes down to discipline. So as you mentioned, we have a lot of different stakeholder audiences that we're targeting, and we want to make sure that our message resonates with each one of them. But at the end of the day. We also have to not lose sight of that north star of what our core value prop is and our core messaging so that we're telling that consistent narrative, and that gets really difficult when we're talking about the fact that we send this incremental business and these high-value orders to our restaurant, we can be an engine to power the local economy, but then we're also talking about how we're modernizing the workplace.
Like you said, it's easy to kind of teeter too far in one direction. And so it's really important to stay disciplined. I think the other aspect of this is that we're a high-growth tech company. So there's always some element of transformation that's happening when we're looking at ways to grow. How do we pull that consistent through the thread of where we began, who we are now, and where we're headed so that that transformation is easily understood not only by our external audiences but our employees as well?
You know, it's a really interesting balance to strike. It's definitely not easy. But that's where I think leaning on the data and insights that we gain, not only from our platform but also from our partners like Signal AI is really important so that we're blending those human-driven hypotheses with the data-driven insights and coming up with a really informed narrative that we know is going to resonate and also advance our brand awareness.
“That's another example of how we're using data insights to talk, think about our audiences, tell a story that resonates with them and tap into areas that are under-penetrated.” - Jennie Hardin.
DG: Let's double-click deeper into that. I would love for you to break down the different audiences that are a top priority... and then how you use data to knit together what you think would be a really smart message that resonates with audiences that don't always connect.
JH: I'll distill it into four key pillars: restaurants, which are our supply side; customers, which could be everything from facilities, managers; employee experience, professionals, the HR department, or your executive admins; prospective and current employees, who touch on workplace culture and the opportunities ahead in terms of our transformation and growth plans; and tech and business leaders.
I think what's been super helpful in how we've used data and we definitely have your team to thank for this, Danny, is that we were able to partner with your team to really look at Signal AI's data and identify the areas in which we're doing really, really well in terms of our net sentiment score, where our storylines are resonating, and also where we're underpenetrated and we have opportunities to do more.
The restaurant side is where we're particularly successful. So, we've learned a lot about our thought leadership there to partner with our restaurant partners. We have them explain the value we provide them from that first-party perspective, which is becoming even more important in the media show, not tell.
We found that through [Signal AI] insight and analysis, our net sentiment score in that category was 93 percent. So we're like, 'Great, that's working well. Let's keep doing more of it.' And maybe even apply more of that ethos on our customer side.
Where we found we were under-penetrated is in that tech category, which, you know, may seem like an obvious opportunity. As a tech company at our core, how could we be under-penetrated there? But the reality is that we were pulling the tech thread through a lot of our other messaging but not necessarily putting it at the forefront. So, by looking at our competitors and the sentiment analysis that your team was able to provide, we saw a big opportunity to learn from our peers who are creating their own categories and charting their own paths, applying that for ezCater.
And so the ways in which we've operationalized that is we have invested more time and energy into standing up our CTOs, executive thought leadership platform, not only in the media, but also on LinkedIn. And we've seen some great success so far. We've got some top-tier coverage. Her LinkedIn platform just went live a little bit earlier this month, and we're excited to see some initial engagement, but that's another example of how we're using data insights to talk, think about our audiences, and tell a story that resonates with them and tap into areas that are under-penetrated.
"I think PR people get a bad rap for spinning up a story without any factual or foundational information, but it's about connecting with people, understanding what motivates them, and showing you genuinely care." - Jennie Hardin.
DG: So much in your world is about this concept of reliability and trustworthiness. It's got to show up on time. The pickles have to be on the side, the dietary restrictions have to be respected. And you have to do this at a mass national scale. If you think about it in terms of how personal food is, how are you building trust with the stakeholders that really depend on the platform?
Jennie Hardin: It's a great segue, right? Reliability and then trust. Trust is core to what we do in communications. And if we don't have trust [built] with our employees, our executive team, the media, our stakeholders, then we're just simply not going to be successful. You mentioned our new CEO and our new executive, our new chief revenue officer who just joined us and building trust with them. The whole management team is so important. Whether it's executives or employees of the media, it comes down to really getting to know people and connecting with them on a human level. So that's where that theme pulls in what's inspired and motivated me throughout my career.
At the end of the day, it's not just about pushing your own agenda, or the story you want to tell, or the headline you want to land. It's about understanding what motivates people, what's important to them, and what their priorities are, and then simply listening and asking how you can support them. That's the key to building trust: showing that you genuinely care and want them to succeed. That's how we think about building trust with our stakeholders. That's how I personally think about building trust with my peers.
If we're going to be successful, it's really important not only that we spin a story. I think PR people get a bad rap for spinning up a story without any factual or foundational information, but it's about connecting with people, understanding what motivates them, and showing you genuinely care. And that's really the key to getting those shared outcomes.
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Signal in the Noise is a podcast dedicated to helping today's business leaders navigate the complexities of decision-making by leveraging data and groundbreaking technology—first and foremost, artificial intelligence (AI). You can also watch the interview on our Signal AI YouTube channel here.