The Great Australian Survey, an established provider of opt-in consumer data has launched a sister web-site, The Great Australian Business Survey focusing on the B2B market.

In the past five years The Great Australian Survey has grown to become a highly respected source of profiled opt-in consumer data in Australia. “We are using this experience and success to launch The Great Australian Business Survey with the intention of bringing the same level of responsive, targeted data to the B2B market,” said Managing Director Aaron O’Sullivan.

“While there are existing sources for B2B data in Australia, up until now no-one has focused on collecting B2B data online. There is an especially large gap in the market for opt-in, spam compliant email data, and we expect to fill that gap.”

“Clients will have access to a growing database of high quality B2B data which can be used for research projects, CPM campaigns, Performance Campaigns, co-registration and sponsored questions.”

“The survey is open to both employees and employers and in return for taking part we offer a range of great prizes, including cash, holidays and computer and software packages,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

The survey collects detailed demographic, company and purchasing authority data on people who join and complete the questionnaire.

The survey is open to anyone in the workforce and comprises a survey covering information such as industry, occupation and job title; company name, size and annual turnover.

Survey participants choose to complete the survey including how much or how little information they share and nominate their preferred contact channels, ensuring the survey obtains 100% opt-in permission and spam-compliant data.

For more information on participating in the survey or obtaining data visit: www.ausbizsurveys.com.au.

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The Total Recruitment Group is pleased to announce the appointment of a new regional manager, Nathan Sewell.

Nathan Sewell will be responsible for managing all recruitment operations for the Total Recruitment Group in South East Queensland including Bluestone Recruitment and Clements Recruitment.

“I am delighted to be given the opportunity to build the Queensland business, increasing the overall profitability and contribution the Queensland sector makes to the Total Recruitment Group’s overall business,” said Mr Sewell.

“I am excited to work with a vibrant privately owned company, who are aware of the vast opportunities available in Queensland and in particular, the South East Queensland region.”

“I have a desire to succeed in not only growing the bottom line of the business, but also to develop a team that can share the benefits that growth brings to their careers.”

Mr Sewell brings to the role extensive knowledge of the Queensland recruitment industry and has been committed to the growth of the industry for over 12 years.

The Total Recruitment Group includes ABC Global Services, Bell Recruitment, Bluestone Recruitment, Clements Recruitment, Clexan Peak Personnel, Online Personnel and OnlineRail.

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About Total Recruitment Group
The Total Recruitment Group is one of the fastest growing privately owned employment agencies in Australia, offering recruitment, labour hire and human resource solutions. It specialises in the provision of temporary and permanent employees across the IT, executive and office, financial services, healthcare, government, hospitality, industrial and trades, manufacturing, warehousing, engineering (civil and rail) and mining sectors. 

Organisational health and risk management provider, Konekt believe that local businesses simply can’t afford to ignore occupational health and Safety (OH&S) risks.

Konekt Tuggerah Branch Manager Jordan Telfer said: “When it comes to complying with OH&S legislation, the biggest risk of all for an organisation is to do nothing. Konekt see so many injured workers because of inadequate OHS procedures.”

“Local businesses need to make OHS an integral part of their business management to avoid compensation claims and potential fines. They also benefit from creating a happier, healthier and more productive workforce because workers are working in a safer, injury free work place,” said Mr Telfer.

Mr Telfer said the keys to creating a safer workplace are:

Understand your responsibilities: Every company is responsible for the safety of their workplace. It is important to understand the legal OH&S requirements that affect each business. These requirements need to be developed into a health and safety policy clearly outlining the business’ safety commitment.

Consult your workers: It is vital to involve workers in any decisions that may affect their health and safety. It is important to regularly consult all groups of employees on all safety matters.

Identify, assess and control risks: It is important to have clear systems in place to help identify hazards and assess and control risks. Having employees report hazards, conducting regular workplace inspections, analysing incident data and even using an external auditor to inspect your workplace help you to identify hazards.

Konekt has opened a new branch in Tuggerah offering services to local business including pre-employment screens, manual handling training, risk and hazard assessments, and return to work injury management, as well as a range of job seeking solutions and skills development.

The services are delivered by a highly skilled team with expertise in Occupational Therapy, Occupational Rehabilitation, Exercise Physiology, and Career Development.

“We are committed to getting locals back into the workforce after injuries and have a dedicated job seeking room with dedicated job seeking computers, staffed by a Careers Advisor.”

“We also teach people how to manage job interviews and have a specific room designed for mock interviews and injury disclosure training,” said Mr Telfer.

For further information, contact Jordan Telfer, Branch Manager on 0409 006 248 or email Tuggerah@konekt.com.au. Konekt Tuggerah, 152 Pacific Highway, Tuggerah.

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About Konekt
Konekt is a publicly listed Australian company and the largest private sector provider of organisational health and risk management solutions. Our focus is on helping organisations minimise workplace risk and the impact of workplace injury, resulting in reduced workers’ compensation premiums.
 
By examining a company’s OHS Management System and key areas of an employee’s lifecycle, Konekt can assist to improve processes, identify escalating costs and non-compliance in occupational health and safety, risk management and injury management.

Recently I did a presentation at the networking group LetsDoBiz on social media. A friend of mine nearly fell over when she read about it on Twitter. You see, I make everyone else do presentations, but I don’t do them. They scare the bejesus out of me.

In one of the numerous conversations I have had with people about public speaking we realised it’s the whole centre of attention thing. You either love it or hate it. I am on the hate it side, but am now dipping my toes into the spotlight, and doing it in a way that suits me (i.e. baby steps).

The reason I encourage everyone to participate in speaking opportunities is that they offer a cost effective way of reaching a captive, and quite often a large and influential audience. They increase the brand awareness of your business and provide a platform for you to be a credible industry expert.

You can get some some tips on how to public speak by watching the experts! There is a great conference coming up discussing the future of journalism in the social media age. The Media140 conference is on 5-6 November in Sydney. As a reader of this newsletter you receive 20% discount on tickets, enter the CP140 code when registering.

I am organising a brunch to support breast cancer research at Aqua Dining at Milson’s Point on Tuesday 27 October, 9:30-11:30. It will be a champagne brunch including fruit, pastries & hot breakfast and a fashion show. Aqua Dining donates 100% of the cost of the breakfast to breast cancer research and we make a tax deductable donation of $80. Let me know if you are interested – it’s a great combination: champagne & supporting a good cause!

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter.

Maximise the power of public speaking

It is a well known fact that the fear of public speaking ranks higher than the fear of death. This means most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy at a funeral! However public speaking doesn’t have to be a traumatic experience; in fact when done right, it can often be the most effective form of communication.

It is so powerful we build speaking opportunities into our clients PR strategies. Here are some useful tips for effective presentations.

Practice practice practice
If you are a nervous public speaker as most people are, the best way to overcome nerves is to practice your speech over and over. Practice in front of family and friends, the bedroom mirror – wherever.

Know the audience and the venue
Before your presentation find out who the audience will be and how much knowledge they will have on your topic so you can pitch it at the right level. It is essential that you tailor the presentation to the bulk of the audience and understand what makes them tick and what drives them. 

Clients can share your story
Often co-presenting with a client, or using case studies or anecdotes will help reinforce your story and build credibility. Your clients have a unique perspective that is often more convincing and ‘real’ compared to your story.  

Go to our Public Relations Sydney blog to read more presentation tips including get to the point, use efficient body language and don’t read the whole time.

Writing a great media release

One of the highest key word searches on our website and blog is “how to write media release”, so we thought we would share with you how to write a great release.

Developing and distributing a media release is one of the most effective methods of telling your story to the media.

A media release can contain information such as the work your business is doing, a new product release, the signing of a new contract or commenting on industry issues and trends.

The main rule is that all releases have to be newsworthy. If a release isn’t newsworthy, then it simply won’t get picked up. What makes items newsworthy differs greatly from one publication to the next or even from one section to the next. News is something new, up-to-the minute and of interest to the readers.

Following are some guidelines for good press releases:

• The lead paragraph is the most important and should provide a ‘hook’ for the journalist. It should contain who, what, when, where, why, and how.
• Write in the inverted pyramid style. After the lead paragraph, each remaining paragraph should be less important than the one preceding it. That way the editor can trim your release from the bottom. 
• Write in short sentences, short paragraphs and keep the information simple and to the point. Try to keep the release to one page.
• If you read an article in the paper, you will see they always include quotes. So you should give them the quotes to use. Attribute them to a particular person in the organisation and ensure they are newsworthy. 
• A good press release has no typographical or grammatical errors. 
• Head the release with “Media Release” and date it clearly. 
• Use a catchy headline. 
• At the end of the release add contact details so the editor can easily contact you for an interview.

Go to our resources section of our website to see a media release template.

Top 7 social media tips

In a really clever PR strategy, one of our Twitter friends, AJ Kulatunga (@ICT_GURU) has launched 31 Days of Technology. Linking it with the Northern Territory’s October Business Month, they are giving away a free technology tip everyday for 31 days in their blog and Twitter.

We asked him to give us his top seven social media tips.

• Use what works for you. If you’re not a fan of Facebook use a blog or Twitter instead. Mix and match the tools to suit your availability and personality.
• Make personal comments but remember everything you do represents the “face” of your business online.
• Social media involves giving and receiving, so make sure you help out others by promoting their ideas. 
• You’re in business so measure the results of your tools against your marketing strategy to see what works and what needs tweaking e.g. TweetReach
• Social media can be used for training as well. Popular “how-to” clips on You Tube can be fantastic staff training tools.
  Some tools to try are WordPress(blogging), Digg (articles) and Twitter (conversations with people).
• Check out GoogleWave – when it comes out it will change the way you think about communication online.

  Click here to sign up to receive the CP Communications newsletter directly in your inbox. 

The Persuasive Communicator™

Register Now! Melbourne 23. Oct. and Sydney 30 Oct

A practical, interactive 1-day skills program to help you communicate more effectively

The Persuasive Communicator™ is an intensive 1-day skills training program. The Program equips participants with skills and a reliable tool for communicating more powerfully and persuasively in any type of business or social situation.

The new skills are easy to learn and immediately applicable to real-life work challenges. The Program is based on Persona’s Social Styles and Trust Models, which have been validated over 20 years and are at the core of many of the most effective communication skills training programs.

Key Features
• 360 Degree Feedback – Participants select 4-6 business colleagues to complete a profile on how they perceive him/her as a communicator. This awareness is key to developing new skills.
• Actionable – The emphasis is on acquiring immediately usable skills, not on learning theory.
• Profiling Tool – Participants learn how to profile anyone they deal with and how to adapt their own communication style for maximum impact.
• Case Study – All participants are coached to develop a Game Plan for communicating more effectively with a specific individual; usually someone they fail to engage effectively.

Who should participate?
•    Professional services teams who need to influence and want to build trusted relationships with their clients
•    Account managers dealing with high-value or complex client relationships
•    Sales executives looking to improve their selling techniques
•    Leaders, managers and supervisors who want to be more effective at managing, coaching and incentivising their staff Persuasive Communicator™ Program

Benefits of the Program
Individuals will benefit by:
•    Rapidly identifying the social styles of others and knowing how to adapt their proposals accordingly for greater impact
•    Learning how to build trust, project empathy and coach effectively, leading to reduced friction and greater co-operation
•    Understanding how to motivate others to achieve better team outcomes
•    Recognising the interpersonal dimension of the sales process and client relationships, leading to greater sales success

Companies have reported:
•    Improved top and bottom line results
•    Enhanced client relationships
•    More effective staff communication and greater flexibility in times of change.

For more information about the Persuasive Communicator™ Program, customisation options for your organisation or for the upcoming Open Programs, please contact Matt Lohmeyer.

Digital agency, @www has announced the relocation of cofounder and Managing Director, Josh Frith from the UK to be based permanently at @www in Australia.

Mr Frith has been @www Managing Director for over 13 years and is relocating to Sydney with the aim of expanding the growth of the multiplatform and branded content aspect of the business.

“I am looking forward to working with the @www Australian team directly again after being based in the UK for more than six years.” 

“As the Managing Director I will be working with the management teams to ensure we have the best talent to create and deliver our client work.”

“I will be focused on keeping abreast of the latest trends in the industry as well as working to promote new digital marketing approaches we have honed in the UK,” said Mr Frith.

While in the UK, Mr Frith worked with broadcasters and TV production companies, including ITV, BBC, FremantleMedia, and Endemol to develop their online brands. This included working with Britain’s Got Talent to unleash Susan Boyle into the international online community. 

Mr Frith is responsible for the @www group including digital agency @www in Australia and the UK as well as sister multiplatform agency, dubz.tv and financial communications agency, Iposoft.

Recently creative head of dubz.tv Justin Buckwell relocated to Australia and is working with Mr Frith to meet with media groups and marketers about multiplatform and branded content marketing approaches that they have honed in the UK.

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About @www
@www Digital is a strategic and commercial digital partner to its clients. The agency marries creative with technical to deliver client campaigns grounded to commercial and audience needs. And being a veteran of the industry with 13 years under its belt the agency has delivered more than 3,500 projects for clients across Australia, Asia, Africa, North America, Europe and the United Kingdom. Other @www blue chip accounts include BHP Billiton, ING Direct, AMP Capital, Engin, Seven Network and Brookfield Multiplex.

When I set up CP Communications I had no idea about networking.

I had never needed to network in my corporate and government jobs. It didn’t really cross my mind. At the start of my business I was lucky enough to pick up a few big clients so I didn’t really think about networking then either.

When I decided I wanted to grow my business what did I do? I started to network. It seemed an obvious place to start to build business contacts. I dedicated two nights (or lunches) a week to networking and got used to walking into a room full of strangers which I initally found very daunting! Networking is still a big part of my PR & marketing strategy.

I believe that networking has helped me build a successful business. Along the way I have made some very dear friends, worked with fantastic clients and met some really interesting people. 

This week I was so thrilled to be listed as one of the top 100 PR people worldwide worth following on Twitter.  It listed PR people who participate and contribute to their Twitter page, share valuable information, and contribute to the profession. The article, consisting mainly of US PR director’s, featured only three Australians including @IdeasCulture, @trevoryoung and @catrionapollard. Follow me on Twitter at @CatrionaPollard or http://twitter.com/catrionapollard  

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter.

Does networking really work?

From specific association networks to broad business groups, there are many opportunities for SME owners to network. But does networking actually work?

In my experience, the answer is a huge YES. However it isn’t enough to just turn up to a few events. And it isn’t just about flicking your business card around and getting new clients either.

Building your professional networking will take time before you start seeing measurable results consistently flowing into your business.

You can never have too many contacts
Networking isn’t just about acquiring new business; it is about surrounding yourself with a support network for your life in general. I have never met anyone who said they have too many contacts!

Without networking running a business can be an isolating and stressful experience. Networking provides insight into the business community, an avenue to learn about different types of businesses, and an opportunity to share your experiences.

A cost effective alternative
Networking can also be the most cost effective way of reaching hundreds of potential clients, which is particularly worthwhile for SMEs with tight marketing budgets.

While costs of attending lunches or events can add up, it is powerful advertising when you connect with people on a personal level. In fact, so powerful, we build it into all of our client’s PR strategies.

Read more about networking, including how to take control, networking for business development, joining an industry specific network, commitment and how to become a successful networker on our Public Relations Sydney blog.

Making a good first impression

We recently met with a new business starting up. They have a great business idea, are really enthusiastic and are spending heaps of time building networks and developing new business leads. They are set to fly.

At the “business card exchange” moment in the meeting, they said they didn’t have a card. I asked what their web address was so I could go away and read more about them and they said they didn’t have a website yet (they are in the business of websites!). I asked them what their rates were. You guessed it. They haven’t figured out their rates.

So they are spending heaps of time in business development, but no time in developing the image and marketing for the business. From a marketing & PR perspective, that is just crazy.

We have a few media opportunities that would suit them perfectly, but there is no point in getting media coverage if readers can’t go to a website to get further information – even contact information if they want to buy from them.

The tip is: don’t get bogged down in the details and getting it perfect the first time. Understand that your business image will change over time, as will your rates etc.

Key things to do when setting up a business (from a marketing perspective):
• Get a business card
• Upload a website (or start with a blog if you don’t have the funds for a website yet)
• Work out your products or level of service
• Develop your rates/charges
• Put together information on your business and product that you can leave behind at the meeting or email after the meeting.

Don’t bother with business development unless you can come across professionally - especially if you are establishing your business. A good first impression is essential.

Save time by using RSS feeds

Do you start your morning by visiting numerous websites to find the latest information and updates? Do you find it annoying trying to remember lots of different log in names, user names and passwords? RSS feeds can help you eliminate this time consuming process.

So what is RSS anyway?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. In its simplest form RSS can be described as a list of a web site's new or updated content. It is a format for delivering regularly changing web content straight to your email inbox.

RSS was originally developed to allow news services to syndicate their content by displaying headlines, links and article summaries on other web sites.

What is the point?
The main purpose of an RSS is to manage the organisation and collection of information from the internet. RSS is a time management tool for businesses and people who regularly use the web. It allows you to stay updated by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in.

You save time by eliminating the need to visit each site individually. There is also the added bonus of ensuring your privacy, as you do not need to sign up to each individual site’s newsletter.

How do I start?
To start receiving RSS feeds you need an RSS aggregator, more commonly referred to as a ‘reader.’

There are a lot to choose from, some popular feed readers include AmphetaDesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), FeedReader (Windows), and NewsGator (Windows - integrates with Outlook). There are also a number of web-based feed readers available including My Yahoo, Bloglines and Google Reader. 

Once you have decided which Feed Reader is best for you it is a matter of finding sites that offer an RSS service. On most sites you can easily see if RSS is offered by the inclusion of icons with the acronyms RSS, XML or RDF.

To add the feed to your reader simply follow the instructions provided for your chosen RSS reader. It will automatically keep track of your feeds and let you know when they are updated, saving a lot of precious time.

Click here to sign up to receive the CP Communications newsletter directly in your inbox.