J&L Communications Turning CFO Insight Into a Finance Transformation Content Engine
A large US Accounting firm engaged J&L Communications-and our survey partner-Potloc-to engage middle-market CFOs with credible perspectives on finance transformation-grounded in real-world experience, not generic trends.
The client’s goals were to:
- Understand where CFOs truly are in their finance transformation journeys
- Identify the operational, technology, and talent barriers holding them back
- Translate insight into content that supports advisory conversations and go-to-market efforts
“We didn’t just deliver a report-we built an insight engine that fueled content, conversations, and campaigns.”
Our Solution
We built a research-driven insight program designed to deliver credibility, speed, and activation-not just data.
Partnering with Potloc, a research firm specializing in professional services and PE organizations, we combined rigorous questionnaire design with real-time analytics to ensure findings were immediately usable across marketing and business development.
Key elements included:
- Developing questions mapped directly to CFO pain points such as legacy systems, skills gaps, data-to-decision challenges, and ROI justification
- Targeted outreach to CFOs and senior finance leaders at middle-market companies ($50M–$250M in revenue)
- Live monitoring and AI-powered analytics that allowed narratives to take shape while fieldwork was still in progress
Audience
The program centered on decision-makers with real authority and accountability:
- Roles: CFOs, Controllers, VPs of Finance
- Company size: $50M–$250M in revenue
- Industries: Industrial manufacturing, technology, retail, real estate & construction, healthcare, and professional services
From Insight to Activation
Rather than stopping at a static report, the program was built as a content engine.
Deliverables included:
- A client-branded report with benchmarks and practical implications
- A content toolkit (presentations, articles, one-pagers, and thought leadership)
- Support for PR and social assets including press materials, infographics, and carousel posts
- Paid media creative for LinkedIn, display, and search
- A channel plan across owned, earned, and paid media
The research blended quantitative benchmarks with qualitative insight to capture both measurement and meaning.
Core themes included:
- Finance operations and organizational design
- Legacy technology and process debt
- Talent upskilling and capacity constraints
- Data accessibility and insight generation
- Risk, ROI, and investment prioritization
CFOs were also benchmarked by transformation maturity-clearly defining what “leading” organizations do differently.
“By grounding the narrative in CFOs’ lived challenges, the client gained credibility that generic thought leadership can’t deliver.”
Impact
The work delivered measurable strategic and marketing value:
- Stronger audience resonance: Content spoke directly to CFO priorities
- Greater credibility: Client-facing teams were armed with evidence, not anecdotes
- Scalable activation: Teams had ready-to-use assets across channels