Overview

For more than a century, the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) has been at the forefront of the management accounting profession, championing the value of management accountants as indispensable to modern business. It needed to do the same for its own organization.

For 15 years, VVK PR + Creative (then Stern Strategy Group) helped them do exactly that. What began as a trade media relations engagement grew into a fully integrated communications program, including executive thought leadership, social media strategy and execution, content development, national and vertical media, and more — all focused on a single goal: a more credible, more influential, more sought-after management accounting profession and the membership growth that follows.

The Strategy

Elevating a professional association requires a sustained, multi-channel effort to shape how an entire field is perceived. We built a program designed to increase IMA’s visibility, deepen its credibility and position its leaders as authoritative voices across every tier of media that mattered. Key elements of our strategy included:

A three-pronged media relations approach to ensure IMA’s perspective reached the right audiences, including mainstream business outlets for broad influence, accounting and finance trade publications for professional credibility and consumer-facing media to expand the profession’s reach beyond its existing base.

Leveraging IMA’s data and research to establish/reinforce credibility and position the organization’s executives and subject matter experts as trusted thought leaders at the center of the profession’s biggest challenges and opportunities.

Recurring earned platforms with influential business publications created consistent visibility. Rather than chasing individual placements, we cultivated ongoing relationships that gave IMA a consistent, recognizable presence that cemented the organization and its leaders as a reliable source of insight and knowledge about the forces shaping and impacting the profession.

Social media as a visibility and content engine, not just an amplification tool. We developed original content, elevated executive voices and built platforms that gave IMA a distinct, authoritative presence where its members and prospective members were already paying attention. The result was stronger engagement, broader reach and a community that increasingly looked to IMA as the pulse of the profession.

The Work

Fifteen years of sustained visibility required much more than a strong strategy; it demanded consistent execution and continuous evolution. As IMA’s needs shifted, as the media landscape changed, and as the profession itself navigated new challenges and opportunities, our work rose to meet every moment while anticipating the next one. What didn’t change was our mission: help IMA stay ahead of what was next, and show up with relevance and authority when, where and how it mattered most.

The Impact

• 100+ feature placements annually across mainstream business, accounting trades, and vertical and consumer-facing media, including visibility in high-profile outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, CFO Brew, Accounting Today and more
• Recurring contributor platforms for IMA leaders in Forbes and CFO magazine, resulting in nearly 200 published articles that established IMA’s president and CEO and board chair as authoritative, go-to voices for the profession’s most influential business audiences
• New business leads and partnership opportunities generated directly through media visibility and content
• Sustained growth in engagement with IMA’s membership, certifications, research and educational resources
• Grew IMA’s brand social media channels significantly over the course of the engagement, building an active, engaged community of management accounting professionals and expanding the organization’s organic reach and influence
• Elevated IMA President & CEO’s personal social media presence, establishing him as one of the profession’s most followed and engaged thought leaders on LinkedIn