Top UK Communicator Planning Canberra Visit

IABC is working to bring Russell Grossman to Canberra

 It's tough times ahead for content marketers in Australia's Public Sector

Four months into office and the Abbott Government is scrutinizing staffing levels across the public sector in a bid to cut government expenditure.  

That means bad news for government communicators of all persuasions as well as other staff.  Facing the Treasury scalpel Departmental leaders will be looking at ways to trim the ranks of employees, motivate the teams that survive and and exhorting bureaucrats to do more with less.

That's a tough task for executives at all levels.  In the coming months cool-headed, strategic management and internal communications will be at a premium across the Capital.

Top UK communicator Russell Grossman is someone familiar with engaging and motivating public sector staff in times of change. And he is certainly worth listening to.  A polished speaker, he currently leads a UK Government program to strengthen internal communications for the 440,000 staff who work in the UK Civil Service and Government bodies. He is also the Director of Communications at the UK’s Department for Business and a former Head of BBC Internal Communications.

Grossman is planning a visit to the National Capital in early March to share insights with his Canberra colleagues. 

He will most likely talk on ground breaking UK research on employee engagement and how the UK Civil Service is embedding an engagement mentality among its staff for competitive advantage.  He has also been asked to reveal UK Government efforts to improve the performance of Whitehall communications teams, strengthen communications as a profession within government and move bureaucratic thinking from ‘press release by default’ to ‘digital by default’.

The Canberra Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators is finalising arrangements for Grossman's visit. 

Strut Your Stuff Gold Quill Style

Last year Canberra communicators created some outstanding content marketing campaigns so how should we recognise that Aussie excellence?  

It's time to enter the IABC’s 2014 Gold Quill Awards which celebrate the best of the best communications and marketing practices from around the world. Entering the Awards can bring international acclaim to a local campaign success.   

Winning a Gold Quill boosts your resume, earns global recognition for your team and is a source of personal pride in your accomplishments.

Entries close on 10 March 2014 so start today by visiting IABC.

The History of Social Media

Media Relations Is Not a Dying PR Skill

Peter Hilmer leads Flatiron Communications

"...we must be mindful that a great “placement” in and of itself no longer has the capacity to drive a contemporary communications campaign. Stand-alone news stories are simply too ephemeral or lost altogether in the vast ocean of dynamic content. For a story meme to take hold today, it must reside and be amplified across multiple news and social channels even if that means using alternative (e.g., sponsored) means for achieving it."
Peter Himler

You hear a lot about the death of traditional media.  

But I have yet to meet a client who does not want to be on TV, score favourable print coverage or hear the Boss on radio. Few, if any, demand more Facebook and less conventional coverage.

So, it was refreshing to read a recent post about media relations continuing to be important and no way is it a dying PR skill.  

New York-based PR pro Peter Himler says old school media is still critical for success but must be part of a broader engagement program.  He claims many PRs have failed to keep up with changes in journalism which means they are not earning the coverage they previously did in less digitally challenging times.

It's tougher than ever to get media coverage, so Peter suggests a good way to boost your chances is to avoid making the 25 mistakes that drive reporters nuts.

Read Peter's very thoughtful post.

...and while we at it ... a recent Neilsen Poll shows US consumers are more likely to trust traditional media advertising over other forms. So hold the funeral notices for traditional platforms.

Infograph courtesy of Statista Inc.

Creating Infographs The Easy Way

Creating Infographs the Easy Way from Bob Crawshaw