Thursday, March 11, 2010

Say It Loud

I have just started using Audio Boo, a new social media application that allows you to share audio files via the Internet.

Audioboo is an application for recording and sharing your voice with the world. The free version allows you to create audio up to 5 minutes in length and post that to an account on the web. You can add titles, tags, geolocation info and a photo to the recording before you upload it and all that will be saved with the file.

I recently "did a boo" especially for people who attended one of our workshops. A sort of enhanced word of mouth.   Listen here

Audioboo could be a good way to go if the people you need to reach, prefer to listen rather than read information.


Monday, March 8, 2010

Stories: The Key Ingredient for Successful Launches


A launch of a new product, service, idea or campaign can either be just another occasion or like the launch of a rocket heading to the moon it can be an opportunity to inspire.  Too often in the hurly burly of a campaign it is easy to overlook the power and importance of a launch and fail to draw maximum value from it.

A launch provides the chance to introduce new ideas, different ways of working or even to bring forward a new CEO or team.  It can start the telling of a corporate story or continue the telling of a necessary tale.  And it can be a golden opportunity to gather, energise and send forth key supporters to promote your issue.  

Of all the different types of events the launch is one that should be as impactful and emotional as you can possibly make it.  After all if you are not excited about your issue at the outset, then why should anyone else care?  And these days just having one speaker follow another - unless each delivers riveting presentations - is hardly likely to make the grade.  Today audiences expect something novel and compelling.

I have attended two launches in recent weeks - both on similar issues.  One used a standard format with a succession of VIPs speaking in generalities.  The other got real people to share with the audience their personal stories of tragedy, triumph, failure and achievement.   The first was scripted.  The other poured straight from the heart.

Perhaps there is an old lesson to re-learned.  The art and craft of embedding personal stories into a launch should take primetime over the logistics of invitations, catering and other things that can so easily overtake our pre-launch efforts.


 

Sunday, February 21, 2010

32 Ways To Communicate A Construction Project


I have been looking at some recently completed community relations campaigns that have supported major developments in Australia.

Here’s some of the communications tools and strategies used by companies and government agencies to get community buy-in for large construction projects:
  • Advertising.
  • Blogs dedicated to the construction project.
  • Complaint management systems to register and track complaints.
  • Construction staff volunteering for local charities and events.
  • Employing local people and buying from local suppliers.
  • Conveniently placed information centres where residents can get information.
  • Dedicated website or minisites.
  • Demonstration projects.
  • Displays at community events.
  • Email channels for complaints or queries.
  • Employing local communicators who understand affected communities.
  • Fact sheets with specifc themes that can be mailed, emailed, downloaded or handed out.
  • Information packs for businesses, schools and retailers.
  • Interactive mobile kiosks in libraries, shopping and other high traffic areas.
  • Leaving behind legacy projects after construction such as new roads, school improvements, parks and other recreational facilities.
  • Media briefings on constructions sites.
  • Media relations.
  • One on one briefings with landholders and other key people.
  • Operational changes based on community feedback such as scheduling work at night or during school holidays.
  • Presentations to local groups on a one-off or regular basis.
  • Print materials such as newsletters, bulletins, advisories, bulletins, posters.
  • Transferring communications staff to live in the areas affected by construction.
  • Research on audiences and attitudes before, during and after construction.
  • Site tours and open days for the public.
  • Specially equipped information buses that can travel around communities.
  • Sponsoring organisations or events in areas affected by construction.
  • Staff from diverse backgrounds tasked to communicate with multicultural communities.
  • Stakeholder consultative bodies offering feedback on the effectiveness of communications.
  • Thank you events once a project finishes.
  • Toll free hot lines.
There was little use of social media in these constructions projects but this many change as more people use new digital platforms to get information on local developments.



Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Pollies Speak Plain English Please

 At the start of the year I invited PR people in Canberra to guest blog and discuss their communications concerns. My friend and senior Canberra PR consultant ,Nigel Catchlove, has taken up the the offer and here Nigel calls on politicians of all persuasions to speak plain English.  

The views below are entirely Nigel's.
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"Parliamentary question time is full of linguistic gymnastics performed by our elected officials so they may avoid answering a question.  Very little has changed with the change in Government although Kevin Rudd is a master when it comes to flapping his gums, gesticulating boldly and saying nothing.  In fact it’s not just during question time that our Prime Minister looks and sounds like he’s talking but isn’t making any sense. 

His press conference after the Major Economies Forum included a now famous gem; ‘It is highly unlikely that anything will emerge from the MEF in terms of detailed programmatic specificity.’ The use of an acronym such as MEF is also not unusual for this highly intelligent yet incomprehensible man.

Sir Isaac Newton surmised; ‘for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction’, and so it is in Australian politics.  The reaction to Kevin Rudd’s overuse of passive language is the emergence of the ‘say-it-how-it-is’ politician being jointly developed by Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce.

Using plain direct English allows for descriptions of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme as a ‘great big new tax’.  There’s not much depth to that statement but it was made in an environment where the government is unable to explain the intricacies of its policy and even the name is a truly awful piece of work.  Many would argue that carbon is not a pollutant and even more would point out that the scheme won’t reduce anything. 

But is plain English the way to go?  I think it is but like Aristotle suggested, ‘everything in moderation’.

The challenge comes when politicians don’t want to be cornered, don’t want to show their hand or simply want to obfuscate an issue.

This is all very easy for Kevin Rudd. Frankly, few can interpret what he says, so whether he is answering a question or is dancing around trying to avoid the issue, his speech is mostly white noise anyway.  His demeanour changes little as he speaks – always in control, always arrogant, always dismissive of anyone who dares question his wisdom. 

For the self-labelled plain speaking politician the challenge is a little different and carries a lot more risk.  If people are used to hearing Tony Abbot describe anthropogenic climate change as ‘absolute crap’ and Barnaby Joyce describing Labor as ‘having gone on a spending bender’, then they would have been confused to hear Barnaby try to avoid taking a position about the foreign investment review board and its approach to Chinese government owned enterprises buying Australian assets.

On Q&A on the ABC on 15 Feb, Lindsay Tanner played the all-knowing smarter-than-you politician very well coming across as articulate, perhaps arrogant but across his portfolio. Barnaby Joyce however looked decidedly uncomfortable and I was left at a loss when he changed demeanour, changed speaking style and tried to fudge his way out of a simple question that demanded a simple answer.

It is a refreshing change to hear a politician answer questions and speak succinctly rather than waffle endlessly without saying anything, however, consistency is the key.  Kevin Rudd may come across as a bland, intelligent uber-nerd but he does so most of the time. Barnaby Joyce changes depending on what he thinks will play best to the audience and reverts to the passive Orwellian speak we have all come to associate with politicians when the going gets a little tough. 

My advice is much like Aristotles – everything in moderation.  Politicians should use active voice but they just need to tone their rhetoric down a little."


Saturday, February 13, 2010

Bob's Online Library

Recently we started an online library to bring together references that can help your PR and marketing.  Visit the library here.

(It is based on Posterous a free social bookmarking software).