New ways to reach your NT audience
Posted by Janelle Rees
I’ll let you in on a little secret – up to one third of the NT’s potential free-to-air audience isn’t being reached by the traditional channels.
The introduction of Channel 10 in May 2008 and the upcoming introduction of regional advertising footprints by SBS will permanently change the face of Territory television advertising.
So what does that mean for your business?
To borrow a few clichés, by jiggling your advertising budget around even just slightly, you can borrow from Peter to pay Paul and reap some of the following benefits:
- Get ahead of the crowd. No everyone is doing it. This is your opportunity to get out in front and expand your reach beyond your competitors.
- ‘Brands look bigger in a small space’, says the SBS marketing tagline. SBS has the shortest ad breaks on commercial TV, giving viewers less time to get bored of ads and tune out. Channel Ten is growing its client base, but those ad breaks with vision of the Territory and annoying music everyone talks about are a sign they’ve got plenty of ad space available for you.
- Talk to someone new. Channel 10 primarily targets a younger audience than their competitors. SBS reaches more tertiary educated professionals and managers than all the other channels. Start a conversation with a more targeted audience – they’ve probably been waiting for you to get in touch.
- Spend less to get more coverage. At the moment, the cost entry points for SBS and Channel 10 are lower than their competitors and it is potentially easier to get sought-after placements during primetime.
While Channel 10 is only available in Darwin, SBS will be offering two advertising footprints: Darwin; and SA+NT, covering the remainder of the Northern Territory. Almost half of Territorians live outside Darwin and Palmerston, so the SA+NT footprint might be handy for reaching your consumers in some of those out-of-the-way places.
And now something for those who are impressed by statistics – or who need help selling it to senior management. Across regional Australia*, SBS’s regional audience share is around 5 to 6 per cent, depending on which survey period you are reviewing. Channel 10 enjoys an audience share of 15 per cent. That’s a total of 20-ish per cent out of a total 64 per cent of people watching commercial, free-to-air TV on any given night. Or to put it another way – a third of your potential viewing audience.
So should you do next? Think about integrating SBS and Channel 10 into the advertising mix for your next campaign. Expand your current campaign to include these channels. The sooner you get onboard, the sooner you will be able to start enjoying the results.
*Regional Australia: Australian viewing audiences outside the five capitals, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
Want more information?
Free TV Australia:
http://www.thinktv.com.au/
ABS NT population statistics:
www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/851BBD844853978CCA2574EF001387AA?opendocument
Monday, December 22, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Power of Positive Speech
Some friends of mine have just returned from a magnificent round-the-world trip and spent some time regaling me with their holiday stories.
They finished the conversation with this classic: “It was one of those holidays when everything that could go right did go right.”
Hang on – did I hear that correctly? Everything that could go RIGHT?
In PR, we’re always telling our clients how important it is to develop messages that are positive, not negative. “Keep the focus on you,” we tell them.
This story illustrates that point very clearly. Imagine if the story my friends told me was about everything that went WRONG? What would it leave me feeling at the end?
“Typical airlines … I’ve had just that experience with them before … can’t be trusted … who’d go to that country anyway … for the amount you pay you’d think the hotel could at least be clean …. “. And so on, and so on. My focus would be on all the companies and people who had made this holiday a bad one.
Negative messages can divert our attention from the main game. Instead of focusing on the key points I am trying to get across, by being negative I risk leading my audience down another path.
So what happened when my friends told me everything that went RIGHT? What did I feel?
“Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving couple …. good on them …. what a great holiday …” And so on.
Whether you are talking up a product or fending off a developing issue, positive language can be very positive in getting people on side. It builds confidence with the listener and keeps them focused on you and your message.
Think about this scenario: You are the chairman of a company that has had a food product tampered with. You’re facing a media conference. Which of the following messages is going to do the most good for both you and your customers:
a. We can’t believe anyone would do such a terrible thing.
b. We’re going to find this criminal and make him pay.
c. We will stop at nothing to make our food safe for customers.
Think positive, talk positive. It’s the key to clear communication.
They finished the conversation with this classic: “It was one of those holidays when everything that could go right did go right.”
Hang on – did I hear that correctly? Everything that could go RIGHT?
In PR, we’re always telling our clients how important it is to develop messages that are positive, not negative. “Keep the focus on you,” we tell them.
This story illustrates that point very clearly. Imagine if the story my friends told me was about everything that went WRONG? What would it leave me feeling at the end?
“Typical airlines … I’ve had just that experience with them before … can’t be trusted … who’d go to that country anyway … for the amount you pay you’d think the hotel could at least be clean …. “. And so on, and so on. My focus would be on all the companies and people who had made this holiday a bad one.
Negative messages can divert our attention from the main game. Instead of focusing on the key points I am trying to get across, by being negative I risk leading my audience down another path.
So what happened when my friends told me everything that went RIGHT? What did I feel?
“Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving couple …. good on them …. what a great holiday …” And so on.
Whether you are talking up a product or fending off a developing issue, positive language can be very positive in getting people on side. It builds confidence with the listener and keeps them focused on you and your message.
Think about this scenario: You are the chairman of a company that has had a food product tampered with. You’re facing a media conference. Which of the following messages is going to do the most good for both you and your customers:
a. We can’t believe anyone would do such a terrible thing.
b. We’re going to find this criminal and make him pay.
c. We will stop at nothing to make our food safe for customers.
Think positive, talk positive. It’s the key to clear communication.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Building brand strength in a stormy climate
Posted by Janelle Rees
It’s the build-up in the Territory and while the air conditioning market might be booming, other sectors aren’t weathering the changing economic climate quite so well.
During an economic downturn one of the first budgets to get cut is often marketing and communications.
As communications professionals we play an important role in demonstrating to senior management the advantages of maintaining the communications spend during stormy financial times.
It’s important to convince management that in many cases an economic downturn can be an opportunity to build brand strength. While your competitors are cutting back, you can be investing in your brand positioning and building long-term shareholder value. When the economy picks up (as it inevitably will), you will be in a strong position to capitalise while your competitors are busy playing catch-up.
Additionally, one of the many factors influencing the weakening economy is consumer confidence. As AMI Chairman Roger James points out, consumer confidence is in many cases as much about perception as reality – and that’s where there is an opportunity for marketing and communications professionals to rise to the challenge and influence public perception.
So how do we effectively communicate that we can’t afford to stop communicating?
Research: Know what your competitors are doing, and how they are doing it. Know your target audience. How have they been affected to date by the economic downturn? Have a general understanding of your organisation’s financial position. Can they feasibly afford to maintain the marketing spend?
Evaluate: Senior management is responsible to shareholders, and shareholders are often most interested in the bottom line. You need to be able to demonstrate how effective your communications activities are to maintaining and growing the profitability of the organisation.
Diversify your communications activities: Are there more effective ways you can reach your target audience? Are there cheaper ways you can reach your target audience? Do you already make the most of cost-effective communications in areas such as public relations and social media? Is there an opportunity to borrow a small amount from your TV spend to pilot a social media campaign or extend your public relations activities? Or do you have the internal skills to pilot a social media campaign for next to nothing?
As communications professionals we need to be able to demonstrate our ability to adapt to changing market conditions while still playing a role that demonstrably benefits our organisation’s reputation and bottom line.
It’s the build-up in the Territory and while the air conditioning market might be booming, other sectors aren’t weathering the changing economic climate quite so well.
During an economic downturn one of the first budgets to get cut is often marketing and communications.
As communications professionals we play an important role in demonstrating to senior management the advantages of maintaining the communications spend during stormy financial times.
It’s important to convince management that in many cases an economic downturn can be an opportunity to build brand strength. While your competitors are cutting back, you can be investing in your brand positioning and building long-term shareholder value. When the economy picks up (as it inevitably will), you will be in a strong position to capitalise while your competitors are busy playing catch-up.
Additionally, one of the many factors influencing the weakening economy is consumer confidence. As AMI Chairman Roger James points out, consumer confidence is in many cases as much about perception as reality – and that’s where there is an opportunity for marketing and communications professionals to rise to the challenge and influence public perception.
So how do we effectively communicate that we can’t afford to stop communicating?
Research: Know what your competitors are doing, and how they are doing it. Know your target audience. How have they been affected to date by the economic downturn? Have a general understanding of your organisation’s financial position. Can they feasibly afford to maintain the marketing spend?
Evaluate: Senior management is responsible to shareholders, and shareholders are often most interested in the bottom line. You need to be able to demonstrate how effective your communications activities are to maintaining and growing the profitability of the organisation.
Diversify your communications activities: Are there more effective ways you can reach your target audience? Are there cheaper ways you can reach your target audience? Do you already make the most of cost-effective communications in areas such as public relations and social media? Is there an opportunity to borrow a small amount from your TV spend to pilot a social media campaign or extend your public relations activities? Or do you have the internal skills to pilot a social media campaign for next to nothing?
As communications professionals we need to be able to demonstrate our ability to adapt to changing market conditions while still playing a role that demonstrably benefits our organisation’s reputation and bottom line.
Friday, November 21, 2008
We just keep on asking WHY.
Posted by Tracy Jones
I’m a dedicated fan of Lyn Truss’ Eats, Shoots & Leaves. As a bit of a punctuation Nazi myself, I’m always the one wielding the red pen around here.
So, you might ask, why is there no question mark at the end of the header to this story?
We recently created a campaign for a client about road safety. The campaign theme is WHY. (with a full stop and without a question mark). Here's one of the ads (the other is at the end of this post).
Since it was launched, we have received lots of comments from the punctuation Nazis declaring us to be the enemy of the English language as we know it.
So, before we all get too carried away, where did the question mark go?
The first point to make is that the idea of advertising is to impart a message, a feeling and (hopefully) an action, not to educate the public on grammar. We wanted to start a conversation with the public about road safety and the terrible tragedy of road deaths to every single individual.
WHY. has certainly made people talk – and wonder – about the question mark. Here’s a selection of what people have said:
I’m a dedicated fan of Lyn Truss’ Eats, Shoots & Leaves. As a bit of a punctuation Nazi myself, I’m always the one wielding the red pen around here.
So, you might ask, why is there no question mark at the end of the header to this story?
We recently created a campaign for a client about road safety. The campaign theme is WHY. (with a full stop and without a question mark). Here's one of the ads (the other is at the end of this post).
Since it was launched, we have received lots of comments from the punctuation Nazis declaring us to be the enemy of the English language as we know it.
So, before we all get too carried away, where did the question mark go?
The first point to make is that the idea of advertising is to impart a message, a feeling and (hopefully) an action, not to educate the public on grammar. We wanted to start a conversation with the public about road safety and the terrible tragedy of road deaths to every single individual.
WHY. has certainly made people talk – and wonder – about the question mark. Here’s a selection of what people have said:
- "WHY is a rhetorical question – we don’t expect an answer to it. The answer to the road toll is so obvious. So when you say WHY it’s an expression of frustration.”
- “This answer is stupid. A rhetorical question is a figure of speech used to persuade the reader to question or think about a particular issue. This isn’t the same thing.”
- “More than one person has pointed out that a full stop is neither appropriate nor accurate. In the case of these advertisements the aim is to have viewers/readers think about what has happened and why it has happened. You’re saying people don’t expect an answer as to why they’ve lost a family member/friend. We’re asking them to question why this is happening so we can try and avoid it and raise awareness. We’re not posing the question for the sake of it; for no response. This would mean no change. "
- “It is not a question - we know the answers. People just continue to ignore the glaringly obvious consequences of driving drunk, speeding, traveling without a seatbelt – this uncomfortable feeling that some people seem to suffer from is a good thing regarding this campaign. Look at the whole, the “Why.” icon is just that, a logo a brand a statement of intent – to the drunk driver – we don’t need a question mark as he has no response/answer to justify his behaviour.”
- “You people are in serious need of a good proof reader. I can offer you my services.”
- “I can’t figure out whether you guys are incredibly clever or incredibly dumb. "
What do you think?
Sunday, October 05, 2008
The Brand Approach to Marketing
Owning a space in the consumer’s mind
Every shop, company, product, person, location and government has an “image”. A favourable image allows you to attract new markets or sell at a higher price. An unfavourable image makes you unpopular, making it difficult to attract business or sales. A brand strategy is a tool that allows you to manage your image in a way that contributes positively to your reputation and therefore your business.
What is the difference between a product and a brand?
• A product is something made in a factory. A brand is something bought by consumers.
• A product can be copied by a competitor. A brand is unique.
• A product is an object. A brand has a personality that can own a space in the consumer’s mind.
What is the difference between a product or service brand and a corporate brand?
In basic terms, a corporate brand is about people, whereas a product brand is about attributes. The fast pace of technological change makes it harder and harder to achieve sustainable competitive advantage on the basis of functional product brand attributes, as competitors can easily replicate areas of added value. This is where the company itself may be a powerful source of vital competitive advantage.
Reputation, culture and personality are key discriminators and the corporate brand provides the source of such values.
Corporate brand is a mix of the visible (shopfront, logo, uniforms, etc.), the perceived (external perception of your advertising, promotions and communication), the experience (external interaction with employees), the heritage and culture, and the product brands.
Stephen King puts it succinctly: “…increasingly the company [corporate] brand itself will act as the main discriminator. That is, consumers’ choice will depend less on an evaluation of the functional benefits to them of a product or service, more on an assessment of the people behind it – their skills, attitudes, integrity, behaviour, style, responsiveness, greenism, language: the whole company culture, in fact.” (King S. ‘Tomorrow’s Research’. Admap, September 1991.)
Customer Segmentation: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? These questions are asked to help breakdown a market into identifiable segments, each of which may have its own special product requirements and each of which is likely to exhibit various habits affecting its exposure to your communication. Other factors likely to vary between each segment are price, performance, design, service, usage, benefits and personality.
Brand Positioning: What do the customers need? What is the company capable of? What are the competitors offering? Mapping helps determine key purchase motivators for specific customer segments. It helps you understand where the brand is now (versus the competition) and where it could be in the future. Brand positioning relates brand benefits to customer needs and defines the brand’s competitive advantage in relation to the competition.
Competitive Advantage: This is NOT about quality or value: all products have a ‘quality’ and as soon as someone purchases a product it has a ‘value’. It’s about the ability to meet customer requirements in a superior manner to competitors. The combination of attributes (added value) given to a brand must reflect customer requirements and set the brand apart from the competition.
The Creative Territory Approach: Giving your “brand” a personality
The best brands make an emotional connection with the audience.
Think about Cadbury Chocolate, named by a recent Readers Digest poll as Australia’s most trusted brand. Cadbury doesn’t try to sell you chocolate. It doesn’t even try to sell you a feature or benefit of chocolate. It sells you a whole experience. Let’s face it, wouldn’t it be nice if the world really WAS Cadburys?
The best brands have a distinct personality that the consumer can touch and feel. They don’t sell a “thing” but impart a special value that is desired by the audience.
At Creative Territory we treat your brand like a personality to help you uncover the other personalities that matter to your brand – the personalities of your audience, of your company/ product/ service, of your competitors and of the brand itself.
Desk Research: We start by having a long, hard look at you and your brand. Is it new or has it been around for a while? Does it stand for anything? Does it have a personality? Does the promise match the delivery? Who are its competitors? Who else is in its family (or should be)? This first task is generally undertaken through desk research and helps us gain a picture of what your brand is now.
New Primary Research: If required, we commission new primary research. This may include interviews with existing customers and potential new ones, suppliers, people who have stopped being customers. Telephone surveys can also be undertaken if required.
Brand Attributes: The next stage is to ask you and as many others as possible to use a tool we have developed to help gather together all the attributes of your brand. We start by giving you a list of 100 or so words which you need to rate according to how closely they are (or should be) associated with your brand. It’s important that you don’t think too hard about your answers – we truly are trying to get a “gut dump”. It should take each participant less than 2 minutes to complete this task. We then collate all the answers ready for the next stage.
Workshop: With the homework complete we move on to a three-hour workshop with your team. During this workshop we will examine the results of your gut dump, find out more about your competitors, learn about the personalities of your target audiences and develop a common understanding of the personality of your brand. We usually undertake this workshop with your most senior management team as well as the person responsible for marketing in your organisation.
Workshop Outcomes: Following the workshop, Creative Territory will work with our design partner Sprout to develop strategic recommendations on your brand as well as some examples of the creative direction. Within 2-3 weeks of the workshop, we will be ready to present these findings back to your senior management team.
Development of a Marketing Strategy: The next stage is the development of a complete marketing strategy to take your brand and business forward. This will include the identification of strategies, tactics and tools that bring the brand to life for your new clients including media, advertising, web and new media strategies, point of sale strategies and direct marketing. Detailed costings for suggested strategies would be undertaken at this stage.
Creative Execution: With the strategy set, we are also able to provide a full agency creative service through our partnership with Sprout Creative.
Every shop, company, product, person, location and government has an “image”. A favourable image allows you to attract new markets or sell at a higher price. An unfavourable image makes you unpopular, making it difficult to attract business or sales. A brand strategy is a tool that allows you to manage your image in a way that contributes positively to your reputation and therefore your business.
What is the difference between a product and a brand?
• A product is something made in a factory. A brand is something bought by consumers.
• A product can be copied by a competitor. A brand is unique.
• A product is an object. A brand has a personality that can own a space in the consumer’s mind.
What is the difference between a product or service brand and a corporate brand?
In basic terms, a corporate brand is about people, whereas a product brand is about attributes. The fast pace of technological change makes it harder and harder to achieve sustainable competitive advantage on the basis of functional product brand attributes, as competitors can easily replicate areas of added value. This is where the company itself may be a powerful source of vital competitive advantage.
Reputation, culture and personality are key discriminators and the corporate brand provides the source of such values.
Corporate brand is a mix of the visible (shopfront, logo, uniforms, etc.), the perceived (external perception of your advertising, promotions and communication), the experience (external interaction with employees), the heritage and culture, and the product brands.
Stephen King puts it succinctly: “…increasingly the company [corporate] brand itself will act as the main discriminator. That is, consumers’ choice will depend less on an evaluation of the functional benefits to them of a product or service, more on an assessment of the people behind it – their skills, attitudes, integrity, behaviour, style, responsiveness, greenism, language: the whole company culture, in fact.” (King S. ‘Tomorrow’s Research’. Admap, September 1991.)
Customer Segmentation: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? These questions are asked to help breakdown a market into identifiable segments, each of which may have its own special product requirements and each of which is likely to exhibit various habits affecting its exposure to your communication. Other factors likely to vary between each segment are price, performance, design, service, usage, benefits and personality.
Brand Positioning: What do the customers need? What is the company capable of? What are the competitors offering? Mapping helps determine key purchase motivators for specific customer segments. It helps you understand where the brand is now (versus the competition) and where it could be in the future. Brand positioning relates brand benefits to customer needs and defines the brand’s competitive advantage in relation to the competition.
Competitive Advantage: This is NOT about quality or value: all products have a ‘quality’ and as soon as someone purchases a product it has a ‘value’. It’s about the ability to meet customer requirements in a superior manner to competitors. The combination of attributes (added value) given to a brand must reflect customer requirements and set the brand apart from the competition.
The Creative Territory Approach: Giving your “brand” a personality
The best brands make an emotional connection with the audience.
Think about Cadbury Chocolate, named by a recent Readers Digest poll as Australia’s most trusted brand. Cadbury doesn’t try to sell you chocolate. It doesn’t even try to sell you a feature or benefit of chocolate. It sells you a whole experience. Let’s face it, wouldn’t it be nice if the world really WAS Cadburys?
The best brands have a distinct personality that the consumer can touch and feel. They don’t sell a “thing” but impart a special value that is desired by the audience.
At Creative Territory we treat your brand like a personality to help you uncover the other personalities that matter to your brand – the personalities of your audience, of your company/ product/ service, of your competitors and of the brand itself.
Desk Research: We start by having a long, hard look at you and your brand. Is it new or has it been around for a while? Does it stand for anything? Does it have a personality? Does the promise match the delivery? Who are its competitors? Who else is in its family (or should be)? This first task is generally undertaken through desk research and helps us gain a picture of what your brand is now.
New Primary Research: If required, we commission new primary research. This may include interviews with existing customers and potential new ones, suppliers, people who have stopped being customers. Telephone surveys can also be undertaken if required.
Brand Attributes: The next stage is to ask you and as many others as possible to use a tool we have developed to help gather together all the attributes of your brand. We start by giving you a list of 100 or so words which you need to rate according to how closely they are (or should be) associated with your brand. It’s important that you don’t think too hard about your answers – we truly are trying to get a “gut dump”. It should take each participant less than 2 minutes to complete this task. We then collate all the answers ready for the next stage.
Workshop: With the homework complete we move on to a three-hour workshop with your team. During this workshop we will examine the results of your gut dump, find out more about your competitors, learn about the personalities of your target audiences and develop a common understanding of the personality of your brand. We usually undertake this workshop with your most senior management team as well as the person responsible for marketing in your organisation.
Workshop Outcomes: Following the workshop, Creative Territory will work with our design partner Sprout to develop strategic recommendations on your brand as well as some examples of the creative direction. Within 2-3 weeks of the workshop, we will be ready to present these findings back to your senior management team.
Development of a Marketing Strategy: The next stage is the development of a complete marketing strategy to take your brand and business forward. This will include the identification of strategies, tactics and tools that bring the brand to life for your new clients including media, advertising, web and new media strategies, point of sale strategies and direct marketing. Detailed costings for suggested strategies would be undertaken at this stage.
Creative Execution: With the strategy set, we are also able to provide a full agency creative service through our partnership with Sprout Creative.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Getting sport a run in your local paper
Regional dailies and other local newspapers are funny creatures in Australia. They have a written law that prohibits non-local news from occupying any of the first five pages of the paper.
It’s a great thing for the local readership. If we want to read about John Howard we’ll buy a national paper thanks. Or go on the internet and look it up (particularly if you live in Darwin where The Australian arrives at midday if you’re lucky and you can’t afford to buy it anyway by the time you pay for freight).
The downside to this obsession for local content is that your local newspaper can sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to find a local angle to a national or international story.
There’s always the Ballarat Lad Caught in Timor Terror, the Orange Aunty Narrowly Misses the Hurricane Horror and the Darwin Debutante Dances at Queen’s Ball (even if they left Darwin when they were three months old).
With all this commitment to local content, you’d think the rule would be applied evenly across the newspaper. But one section misses out – Sport.
Preparing for a media workshop, we looked at two months worth of our local newspaper the Northern Territory News to examine what makes news and what doesn’t. And the results were eye opening.
Of 1013 stories in the Sports section of the paper, 54 per cent were either national or international stories.
A further 18 per cent were stories about local sportspeople who had made good on the national or international stage (good on them!).
Only 28 per cent of all the sports stories in the sports section were genuinely local stories about local sports.
I’m not suggesting the News should change its focus (even if local sporting clubs would like it to). The paper is running a business and it no doubt knows what local people want to read in the sports section – otherwise they wouldn’t be buying the paper.
But it offers useful information for sporting clubs trying to break through the clutter and get their story heard in the media.
A further analysis of what did make the news showed that sporting clubs can get a good run in the local paper with the following:
Great photos: Even stories that aren’t stories can get a run if the photo is quirky, cute or visually appealing enough
Topical: Sporting personalities who talk about topical issues can get their story heard
Novelty: Do, say or try something different – the media will pick it up.
Some of the rules that work in the general news section don't necessarily work in sport. For example, people who are winners often make the general news but in sport, there are always winners and losers (it's probably a bigger story if no-one wins or loses).
It’s a great thing for the local readership. If we want to read about John Howard we’ll buy a national paper thanks. Or go on the internet and look it up (particularly if you live in Darwin where The Australian arrives at midday if you’re lucky and you can’t afford to buy it anyway by the time you pay for freight).
The downside to this obsession for local content is that your local newspaper can sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to find a local angle to a national or international story.
There’s always the Ballarat Lad Caught in Timor Terror, the Orange Aunty Narrowly Misses the Hurricane Horror and the Darwin Debutante Dances at Queen’s Ball (even if they left Darwin when they were three months old).
With all this commitment to local content, you’d think the rule would be applied evenly across the newspaper. But one section misses out – Sport.
Preparing for a media workshop, we looked at two months worth of our local newspaper the Northern Territory News to examine what makes news and what doesn’t. And the results were eye opening.
Of 1013 stories in the Sports section of the paper, 54 per cent were either national or international stories.
A further 18 per cent were stories about local sportspeople who had made good on the national or international stage (good on them!).
Only 28 per cent of all the sports stories in the sports section were genuinely local stories about local sports.
I’m not suggesting the News should change its focus (even if local sporting clubs would like it to). The paper is running a business and it no doubt knows what local people want to read in the sports section – otherwise they wouldn’t be buying the paper.
But it offers useful information for sporting clubs trying to break through the clutter and get their story heard in the media.
A further analysis of what did make the news showed that sporting clubs can get a good run in the local paper with the following:
Great photos: Even stories that aren’t stories can get a run if the photo is quirky, cute or visually appealing enough
Topical: Sporting personalities who talk about topical issues can get their story heard
Novelty: Do, say or try something different – the media will pick it up.
Some of the rules that work in the general news section don't necessarily work in sport. For example, people who are winners often make the general news but in sport, there are always winners and losers (it's probably a bigger story if no-one wins or loses).
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Is your database winning you business?
One of the most valuable assets a company can have is a database of customers and potential customers. But you can only turn those people into business if you use that information to help you build and manage a relationship with them.
Here’s a good example. Two months ago I went to a conference and visited the various exhibitor displays attached to it.
I was particularly interested in a number of new products and services available and made a point of talking directly to the person on the display, explaining how I could use their services for some of my clients.
Each one of them promised to follow up later with detailed information about their products, services and pricing.
Two months later, only one of them has.
Which leads me to wonder, why are these people throwing their money away?
A couple of thousand dollars in sponsorship, exhibitor fees, travel and accommodation put them right in front of a potential client with the will and the money to spend and they haven’t converted me into a customer.
Sure, I’m on their database. But because they have not followed through on the relationship I am no longer interested in doing business with them.
Here’s a good example. Two months ago I went to a conference and visited the various exhibitor displays attached to it.
I was particularly interested in a number of new products and services available and made a point of talking directly to the person on the display, explaining how I could use their services for some of my clients.
Each one of them promised to follow up later with detailed information about their products, services and pricing.
Two months later, only one of them has.
Which leads me to wonder, why are these people throwing their money away?
A couple of thousand dollars in sponsorship, exhibitor fees, travel and accommodation put them right in front of a potential client with the will and the money to spend and they haven’t converted me into a customer.
Sure, I’m on their database. But because they have not followed through on the relationship I am no longer interested in doing business with them.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Can you take me to your website?
I was sitting watching television the other night when another community service announcement came on with photos of a mother lovingly breastfeeding her baby.
As my brain slowly tuned out this message, the baby opened his eyes and spoke.
By this stage, the double Yuk factor has set in – breastfeeding and talking babies. Could this get any worse?
But it was the words the baby spoke that made me sit up and take notice:“Get ahead in life. Suck up to the boss.”
You can see the ad for yourself on the Australian Breastfeeding Association’s website at http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/media/breast01.mpg
Whether or not you like the idea of breastfeeding or even the ad itself, it offers some useful lessons for anyone creating advertising for any medium.
As my brain slowly tuned out this message, the baby opened his eyes and spoke.
By this stage, the double Yuk factor has set in – breastfeeding and talking babies. Could this get any worse?
But it was the words the baby spoke that made me sit up and take notice:“Get ahead in life. Suck up to the boss.”
You can see the ad for yourself on the Australian Breastfeeding Association’s website at http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/media/breast01.mpg
Whether or not you like the idea of breastfeeding or even the ad itself, it offers some useful lessons for anyone creating advertising for any medium.
- Surprise: Not the fact that the baby spoke, but what he said.
- Humour: The play on words was funny.
- Contrast: Between the softness of the breastfeeding shots to the starkness of the talking baby.
Will it make more women breastfeed? Probably not.
But it made me go and look at their website.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Who owns your story?
If you or your business has ever been the subject of intense media scrutiny, it can be a daunting experience. Reputations can be made and lost in the heat of a battle.
Some people and companies try to duck for cover when the media comes knocking on the door, hoping the story will go away. And sometimes it does.
But what if it doesn’t? And who do you want controlling the agenda when your reputation is at stake?
Let’s look at a recent example we all remember well.
Following the devastating accident at Beaconsfield Mine in Tasmania, Australian Worker’s Union secretary Bill Shorten immediately put himself up as a spokesman for the workers. As the events unfolded, he was the one the media turned to to find out what was going on.
While mine managers said "no comment" and promised to provide details soon, Bill Shorten was expressing concern for the families, questioning the safety credentials of mine management and generally setting the agenda of the day.
Put simply, Bill Shorten owned the story. Not the mine, not the families, not the town or the Mayor or the Government.
While mine management did reclaim some ground once it sorted itself out (and who could not feel for Matthew Gill as he faced the media day in and day out), the agenda had already been stolen.
How different things might have been had Beaconsfield Mine taken the early lead and owned its own story right from the start. The trapped miners would not have been released any earlier.
No lives would have been saved. But Beaconsfield Mine management would have come out with a stronger reputation as a result. And in business, reputation equals money.
Have a look at it the other way around. Bill Shorten came across as a person in control, concerned for the future and doing something. He came out at the end of the day as the media's next candidate for Prime Minister. Not bad for your reputation, eh? (assuming one would want to actually be the Prime Minister!)
If you ever find yourself the subject of media scrutiny, here's five golden rules to help you through:
1. Tell the truth - every single time.
2. Be the first to talk to the media about your issue.
3. Be open and honest. If you can't talk about something then say so.
4. Plan for interviews. Find out what the reporter wants to know so you can answer their questions.
5. Know your message and make sure you get it in.
Some people and companies try to duck for cover when the media comes knocking on the door, hoping the story will go away. And sometimes it does.
But what if it doesn’t? And who do you want controlling the agenda when your reputation is at stake?
Let’s look at a recent example we all remember well.
Following the devastating accident at Beaconsfield Mine in Tasmania, Australian Worker’s Union secretary Bill Shorten immediately put himself up as a spokesman for the workers. As the events unfolded, he was the one the media turned to to find out what was going on.
While mine managers said "no comment" and promised to provide details soon, Bill Shorten was expressing concern for the families, questioning the safety credentials of mine management and generally setting the agenda of the day.
Put simply, Bill Shorten owned the story. Not the mine, not the families, not the town or the Mayor or the Government.
While mine management did reclaim some ground once it sorted itself out (and who could not feel for Matthew Gill as he faced the media day in and day out), the agenda had already been stolen.
How different things might have been had Beaconsfield Mine taken the early lead and owned its own story right from the start. The trapped miners would not have been released any earlier.
No lives would have been saved. But Beaconsfield Mine management would have come out with a stronger reputation as a result. And in business, reputation equals money.
Have a look at it the other way around. Bill Shorten came across as a person in control, concerned for the future and doing something. He came out at the end of the day as the media's next candidate for Prime Minister. Not bad for your reputation, eh? (assuming one would want to actually be the Prime Minister!)
If you ever find yourself the subject of media scrutiny, here's five golden rules to help you through:
1. Tell the truth - every single time.
2. Be the first to talk to the media about your issue.
3. Be open and honest. If you can't talk about something then say so.
4. Plan for interviews. Find out what the reporter wants to know so you can answer their questions.
5. Know your message and make sure you get it in.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Is the crisis over yet?
There are probably 40 textbooks in my office devoted to public relations, media or communication – every one of which includes a section on crisis communications.
It seems to be one of the fastest growing areas in media and communication management, and there are plenty of experts out there to help out when disaster strikes.
But the recovery stage of a crisis, disaster or emergency can be harder than managing the emergency itself.
During the crisis stage, everyone is focused on immediate needs and it can be quite exhilarating for the various players involved – particularly the media. But as soon as the excitement is over the challenge for the media is to keep the story alive, so they move into the aftermath stage often before anyone else does.
There are plenty of definitions of the difference between an issue, an emerging issue, a crisis, an emergency and the recovery.
My definition is simple – the transition to recovery begins the minute the media starts to play the blame game.
It is during this transition period that your reputation is most likely to take a pounding.
The most critical thing any organisation can do at this point is to take hold of and keep the agenda.
It’s important to not let a vacuum develop during this stage – a vacuum the media will fill with rumour, speculation and heart-wrenching stories of individuals who have slipped through the cracks.
And for people affected by the disaster, it is often the time when they feel like others have lost interest in their cause. So it is critical on both counts that you pay attention to filling any information gaps.
In the end, it’s your reputation that suffers if the public and the media think you were only interested in the crisis when it was a big story. You need to keep on caring long after the glory of the crisis is over.
CreativeTerritory gives clients the following advice during the recovery phase of any crisis:
- Appoint your recovery team when the threat of the crisis is still emerging, so you achieve a seamless transition from crisis to recovery.
- Be the authoritative source of information on the recovery. If you don’t, one of the media outlets will be.
- Coordinate all information through a central source so your messages are consistent and packaged in a user friendly way.
- Do not let an information vacuum develop that may be filled by uninformed speculation or mischievous rumour.
- Use the web as much as possible to stop the media and public tying up people and phone lines unnecessarily.
- Make sure you don’t give the appearance that you have “packed up and gone home” once the “glory” of the emergency is over.
- The media will not go away just because you ignore them. Make sure journalists are delivered stories and vision in a format they can use and that they can access the people and information they need to do their job.
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