Saturday, September 10, 2011
Digging For Victory Interview
Monday, September 5, 2011
Is Ten A Magic Marketing Number?
At least that is what I think it meant. Crammed wall to wall with graphs, equations and symbols the paper was barely readable.
In the Rogers and Hammerstein song "Stout Hearted Men", the late Nelson Eddy calls for ten brave men to join him and change the course of history. And for centuries military structures have used ten as the basic building block for sections and squads, the fundamental units involved in action.
So is ten some knind of magic number or tipping point when it comes to communicating ideas and generating action?
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Great Advice for Not For Profit Social Media Newbies
- Setting a social media governance framework with clear boundaries.
- Resourcing social media efforts and train those who manage social media platforms.
- Monitoring and listen in to social media platforms before you start to advocate.
- Using a personal voice because corporate speak does not cut it in social media.
- Engaging, supporting and responding to others with valuable information.
- Give people a simple call to action – something they can easily do online to contribute or participate.
- Provide fresh content as the campaign unfolds.
- Tell people your targets and graphically show how and where you are achieving them.
- Show who else is involved.
- People appreciate acknowledgement so find a way to recognise those who donate dollars, time, and effort or otherwise support your cause.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Great Word Of Mouth Starts With Great Topics
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
14 Ways Charities Can Use Facebook
- Allowing people to make on-line donations.
- Encouraging people to follow you by linking with your other social media platforms.
- Coaching visitors on lobbying business or politicians on your issue.
- Linking to media releases and news reports.
- Marketing your courses or products.
- Polling supporters about your issue.
- Posting general and area-specific status updates on your organisation.
- Profiling the work of inspirational staff or volunteers.
- Promoting an information session, rally or event.
- Reporting the progress you are making on a cause or what influential organizations or individuals think about your issue.
- Running a competition so users can create content for your cause.
- Sharing educational content through words, images, video or case studies.
- Thanking supporters and donors for their involvement.
- Using case studies that show your services helping others.
- Ask users and potential users to spread your information.
- Add an icon to your webpage to connect people directly with your Facebook page.
- Askg users to link their websites to your page.
- Include your Facebook URL in emails, media releases, in advertising and in print.
- Use Facebook ads to draw particular demographics or communities of interest to your page.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Communicators Must Adapt Slowly or Perish Quickly
Life it seems is too complicated and inter-connected to rely on giant leaps forward to bring lasting solutions. We just need to look at the range of current world issues to see the truth in this - the Afghanistan War, Climate Change, the Global Financial Crisis, #Hackgate in the UK etc. There are no simple strategies for any of these issues and if ever there were silver bullets, we fired them off long ago.
- Continually seek out new ideas and try new things.
- Introduce scaled change so when new ideas fail - as they often will - our organisations will survive.
- Learn from mistakes and continually and consciously adjust and improve.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
The Needle Has Barely Moved For Social Media
- Are your clients, staff, volunteers and others you wish to engage using these new platforms? If not and now, should you?
- There are no gatekeepers in social media and people freely share information and opinions without restraint. In cyberspace they can comment on anything, including how your organization performs. If you want to succeed in this freewheeling universe you must engage in, not try to control, the conversation with your on-line audience. If your communications style is traditional and based on command and control it may be just too unsettling to embrace social media. Can you handle the participation and democracy of the new communications as well as its technologies?
- Social media is a space of informal conversation. There is no room for insider talk, corporate speak or jargon. Sure, never dumb down your information but the nature of social media means it must be uncomplicated to be effective. Are you ready to be simple?
- Measurement is easy with social media. People leave behind digital footprints as they upload content or visit digital spaces. Their conversations and level of engagement can be tracked and recorded. Are you prepared to measure the quality of your social media relationships? While people may follow you or become a fan or a connection, can you translate their on-line support into the real world where their involvement may be critical?
- New social media tools hit the market at a bewildering rate. Most not for profits would be better off choosing social networking platforms that have already gained community traction before experimenting with new applications. What platforms should you invest in and what do you let pass by?
- In new media, like traditional media, it takes time, effort and persistence to succeed. Do you have the time, effort and energy to try, operationalise and integrate new ways of communicating into your marketing?
Sunday, June 12, 2011
7 Steps To Promoting Your Event Through Social Media
- Set up your social media infrastructure by opening accounts on popular platforms such as Facebook,Twitter, YouTube and Linked-in. Also search for and open accounts in chat rooms, forums and other niche digital areas where potential audiences for your event gather online.
- Monitor the conversations on these platforms to identify the opinion shapers, what content is carried, what topics are popular and how people express themselves. Generally six to eight week monitoring period is sufficient to get a good understanding of how a site really works.
- Provide advice on your upcoming event plus educational content on the issue it is associated with. Do this through your own social media accounts, post information to others that support you as well as any forums and links you share with others.
- Contribute information about your event on a regular basis while avoiding the perception of either dominating the conversation or appearing boring. Change the wording of your updates so content arrives fresh every time it is posted.
- Be prepared to answer questions about the content you post or additional event information people may request.
- Link all your digital accounts so information posted to one platform automatically migrates to others. In most cases this simply involves checking the account settings sections of your Facebook, Twitter or other accounts.
Credit to the Cvent authors of the recently released Event Marketing 2.0 e-book.
5 Reasons To Use Social Media For Events
- People on social media platforms can network before, during and after the event and build a richer personal experience.
- Planners can share educational content on their issue in the lead up to an event on social media platforms. And after the event this content remains as an online library.
- You can get feedback on the planning and execution of your event to make future activities even better.
- You can crowd source for creative ideas from friends and followers to find that 'wow' factor that makes your event different and engaging.
- Social media platforms provide another and cheaper way to reach people beyond advertising, fliers etc. Word of mouth through social media platforms can potentially reach anyone anywhere.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Science Of Twitter and Facebook Updates
Monday, May 30, 2011
The Perception of Social Media Marketing: It’s a Free Lunch | Social Media Today
Why run when you can walk? The evolution of the walkathon
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Four Motivations For PR People
Johann Van Goethe
"No matter what the level of your ability you have more potential than you can ever develop in a lifetime."
James T McKay
"Do not wait; the time will never be just right. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along."
Napoleon Hill
"PR is about resourcefulness not resources."
Anon
Friday, May 6, 2011
New PR Book for Not For Profits
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Seven Things A Media Spokesperson Should Be
- Know the topic you are presenting to the media.
- Be able to speak with authority about what your organization does and answer general as well as specific questions.
- Be well-groomed and dress suitably.
- Uses plain language and speak clearly and simply.
- Be continually contactable by mobile or cell phone.
- Be reasonably flexible about when and where to be interviewed.
- Be available by phone or email for any follow-up questions after the interview.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
The Media Are Hungry For Pictures
Friday, April 29, 2011
What The Royal Wedding Teaches About Events
While most events lack the glam of the Royal wedding, or the celebrity of the Oscars, any event planned well and based on a wow idea is certain to draw attention to your organization.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Automation Poses PR Risk For Qantas
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Defence In Communications War
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Selling A City
Monday, April 4, 2011
Write Well And Win Attention
I had to change when I entered PR but it took years to bring a more relaxed tone to my writing.
Five things I learned along the way are:
•Always opt for simple language over formal structures and if given the choice select a 25 cent word over a $10 one every time. 25 cent words are the simple words we use in everyday conversation.
• Shorter sentences are punchier sentences. Keep sentences short and certainly to 25 words or less. Sentences with too many words drain the energy from readers.
• Write in the active rather than passive voice. This helps to convey a sense of urgency, impact and energy. Passive language tends to clog up communication.
• Each word and every sentence must justify its existence. Eliminate unnecessary language.
• Get an independent assessment of your writing. I routinely use the Flesch-Kincaid readability tool in Microsoft Word and the UK software, StyleWriter, to rate my writing. And often I will ask someone to review an important piece of work before I send it off.
We are under enormous time pressures these days, so clear writing is at a premium.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Get Content Get Customers: Book Review
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Media Pitching Musts
Colonial Clock Makers Were Good Communicators
Each hour the clock strikes the time and is heard throughout the central business area. On the hour it starts with a simple, melodic chime followed by a single strike for each hour.
It is a simple system of communication that has worked well for more than a century. The chiming sound attracts attention and is consistent and dependable. It is also a reassuring and familiar element in Launceston's urban soundscape. You could literally set your watch by that clock tower.
Consistent, dependable, trusted, attention-getting. Those early colonial clock makers must have known quite a bit about the essentials of good communications.
Friday, March 25, 2011
The Simplicity Of An Idea
On one of the gallery walls sculptor Peter Costello shares his thoughts on simplicity in art - a thought that applies equally to communication.
"I try and keep my work very simple. Each piece needs to be predicated by one idea only.
If it has two good ideas in the piece it is one good idea too many. It becomes too busy, uncentred so I work entirely on a single idea ... I believe almost any idea will do.
The success of it relies upon how you execute the idea. So in a sense there's almost no such thing as a bad idea."
Likewise the best ideas in marketing and PR are simple and uncomplicated.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sell In Your Big Ideas
The audience were public affairs professionals working in Australia's three levels of public service. It was a challenging experience mainly because ideas are tools of trade for most PR people.
I think we all agreed that getting a good idea out of the door is sometimes the toughest task for any communicator. Simply getting the OK for a new way of working can often be harder than its implementation.
So consider these steps when it comes to succeeding with your next winning idea:
• Crystalise your big idea and make sure it is developed enough to make sense to others when you proudly announce it. Does it cover important issues like the benefits to be gained or the opportunities that may be lost if it is not taken up. What does it mean in terms of time, cost and effort? And is there a clear plan to roll it out?
Who do you need to consult to earn support and what relationships need to be sustained to execute your suggestion?
• But you need to balance the need to work out this fine print with the urgency of releasing your idea in sufficient time to have impact. If you take too long in thinking through an initiative it could be outdated by the time you announce it, or you could lose the energy to carry it through or worse still someone may steal it before you have the chance to act.
• Appeal to self interest when you sell ideas. Identify the benefits to others and to your organization if your suggestion goes ahead. Specify the time or money or effort it will save -hopefully all three? Your managers and team mates are more likely to support something new if they sense better outcomes on the horizon.
• The maths of innovation are simple: introducing a new idea involves continuing conversation. You can never over-communicate a new plan because just when you are thoroughly tired of talking, others are just beginning to understand.
• Welcome objections. Often we interpret legitimate concerns about our ideas as hostile criticism. You need to know all potential barriers so you can develop simple, clear responses to overcome the likely difficulties. Objections can be valuable in themselves when they attract attention and raise awareness of a new suggestion particularly in a jaded organisation.
• You need to convince more than 51 per cent of the hierarchy about the value of your vision. When the going gets tough, a slim majority can easily disappear and along with it can follow your great idea. Aim to get solid majority support for your plan but sidestep hostile opponents and leave them on the sidelines.
Above all remember new ideas are the lifeblood of any organisation. They are the propellant that makes a difference and reinvigorated your practices. So communicate with clarity and passion because if you are not excited about your big idea, why should others be enthused.
Good luck with your next grand plan.