Peppercomm’s Steve Cody: Communicators must stay one step ahead of the marketplace

Over the past 18 months, communicators on the agency side have changed the way that they nurture client relationships to build trust.

The most strategically minded agency communicators were able to anticipate the ever-changing wants and needs their clients’ stakeholders, staying one step ahead with a sense of humor that made it easy for clients to collaborate with them.

Ahead of his panel at Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference on Nov. 17, we caught up with Steve Cody, CEO of Peppercomm, to learn how his agency understands strategic communication as the key to reputation management and why his agency believes in the power of “not taking yourself seriously at all.”

Ragan: What’s the first thing that you do when you get out of bed each day?

Cody: I get right back into bed. No sense tempting fate.

After burrowing back under the covers, I scan my various newsfeeds on the ever-trusty (if highly temperamental) iPhone. I will search/read everything from BBC America and the PR industry trades and catch up on overnight client-related emails [alongside] fun, informative reads/viewing experiences á la Skimm and TikTok.