PR and marketing

When was the last time you day dreamed? Did you know that day dreaming helps with creativity and innovation? It helps your brain notice new connections, to see the overlaps that we normally overlook.

I’m reading Imagine: The Science of Creativity, which is all about how the brain ‘has a creative impulse built into its operating system’. It’s about how we imagine.

You don’t have to be an artist or naturally inventive to be creative. As the book says, we tend to assume that some people are simply more creative than others, that originality is a predetermined personality trait.

However, by merely sitting in a blue room or spending time looking at the blue ocean or the sky you can double your creativity.

Productive daydreaming (where you’re not letting your mind wander so far away it gets lost) can lead to great insights. When you are struggling with seemingly impossible problems, find time to unwind.

Rather than relentlessly focusing, take a warm shower or walk on a beach. Do a little day dreaming.

As the book says, it’s not until you let yourself relax and indulge in distractions that you will discover the answer; the insight arrives only after you stop looking for it.

So maybe it's time to stop looking and start day dreaming.

Million Paws Walk - We are participating in the Million Paws Walk 2012 on Sunday 20 May to help raise money for the RSPCA. We hope that by participating in the Million Paws Walk we can raise money and awareness to help neglected animals, but we need your help.

Please support our team and the RSPCA by donating to our CP Communications fundraising page. Help us achieve our (very achievable) fundraising target of $250!

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter.
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How to respond to negative tweets
Responding to a negative tweet can be tricky, especially since you don’t want to escalate the problem further. So how do you respond to a negative tweet and resolve the issue quickly while still maintaining a good reputation for your business?

The worst thing you can do is to ignore the tweet or respond in a negative way. This could escalate the issue and lead to a major crisis situation if other followers join the conversation.

Here are some tips to help you respond to a negative tweet.

• Tweet a polite public reply in response to the negative tweet and offer a clear process to resolving the issue. For example you could explain the issue better or offer them a discount on their next product.
• If you are following the person who wrote the negative tweet than you can send them a polite direct message explaining in further detail how to resolve the issue or asking them to explain the issue further.
• If you’re not following the person who wrote the negative tweet then send them a public reply and start following them. Ask them to follow you back so you can then send them a direct message.
• Deal with the issue on a more personal level by asking for their contact details. Send them an email or call them on the phone. This will be easier to resolve the issue when you can write more than 140 characters.
• Remember to address the problem quickly.
• Always stay calm and do not aggravate the situation further by getting angry or responding negatively.
• You can also research the person’s profile who wrote the tweet to understand their personality. This will help you to communicate better with them and help to meet their needs.

It is important to maintain good customer service while using twitter, which means responding to complaints quickly, being helpful, treating customers with respect and always being friendly and polite.

Read the full article here.
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How to use evergreen stories to your advantage
There are heaps of events that occur every year that the media will always publish stories about such as Christmas or Valentine’s Day. These stories are called evergreen stories.

Evergreen stories are kind of like ground hog day. They come around every year and from a media perspective, they remain interesting and newsworthy every year.

Journalists are always looking for a new angle for an evergreen story because they don’t want to publish the same story as last year. You can use this to your advantage and gain publicity for your business by coming up with a fresh new angle.

An example of an interesting evergreen angle is around New Years Eve when there are always hundreds of stories about New Year’s resolutions – quit smoking, get fit or get a new job. You could add a new twist to this angle such as: What are your New Year’s business resolutions and how to achieve them.

You could even write a success story about how your business achieved last year’s resolutions and the amazing result that occurred.

Read about how evergreen stories can benefit your business on our Public Relations Sydney blog.
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Upcoming events
Here are some events coming up that we thought you might be interested in:

Social Enterprise Unconference
At this event you will learn about the social enterprise, what it is and what it means for your business. You will also learn how the social enterprise impacts social innovators. This event offers the opportunity for you to network with other like-minded people to build your network and drive social innovation in Australia.
14 April 2012 – Paddington, NSW

6 Steps to a Better Business
At this free workshop you will learn how to make you business work more effectively so you don’t have to work so hard. Learn how to turn your advertising into an investment instead of an expense, leverage your time to maximise your profits and efficiency and learn how to recruit and retain the best employees for your business.
17 April 2012 – Crows Nest, NSW

Social Media Management
This conference will teach you how to create a sustainable presence for your business on social media. You will learn how to handle negative issues on social media and how to develop the best community on social media for your business. You will hear practical advice from a number of social media and marketing experts.
17-18 April 2012 – Sydney, NSW 

SEO for Beginners
Learn how to make your website Google friendly with search engine optimisation (SEO). You will learn about the definition of SEO and how to use it to get your business to appear on the first page of Google searches. Marketing expert Dave Chaffey of Netreach will provide practical advice and tips on SEO and how to find your own SEO consultant.
18 April 2012 – Sydney, NSW

Think Women Think Business
This one day conference is for women who want to invest in their future and receive a tool kit of ideas to grow their business. There are six available workshops to attend on the day and you can choose to attend any three that best suit your needs. You can also network with like minded women from a range of professional backgrounds. The conference concludes with a keynote presentation.
20 April 2012 – Perth, WA

Social Media Live! - Sydney
Attend this interactive workshop and learn how to use social media strategically and effectively for your business. At the end of the day you will have created your own Twitter account, LinkedIn profile and company page, a Facebook Business page and a social media strategy to manage these new sites. You will be given a workbook and instructions, which explain how to use these sites.
30 April 2012 – Sydney, NSW

Responding to a negative tweet can be tricky, especially since you don’t want to escalate the problem further. So how do you respond to a negative tweet and resolve the issue quickly while still maintaining the good reputation of your business?

The worst thing you can do is to ignore the tweet or respond in a negative way. This could escalate the issue and lead to a major crisis situation if other followers join the conversation.

Here are some tips to help you respond to a negative tweet:

• Tweet a polite public reply in response to the negative tweet and offer a clear process to resolving the issue. For example you could explain the issue better or offer them a discount on their next product.
• If you are following the person who wrote the negative tweet than you can send them a polite direct message explaining in further detail how to resolve the issue or asking them to explain the issue further.
• If you’re not following the person who wrote the negative tweet then send them a public reply and start following them. Ask them to follow you back so you can then send them a direct message.
• Deal with the issue on a more personal level by asking for their contact details. Send them an email or call them on the phone. This will be easier to resolve the issue when you can write more than 140 characters.
• Remember to address the problem quickly.
• Always stay calm and do not aggravate the situation further by getting angry or responding negatively.
• You can also research the person’s profile who wrote the tweet to understand their personality. This will help you to communicate better with them and help to meet their needs.
• Always be on the lookout for tweets about your business. You can use Google alerts, Twitter hashtag searches or http://tweetbeep.com/ to find mentions of your business. You can also use http://monitter.com/ to see a live feed of tweets related to or about your business.

It is important to maintain good customer service while using twitter, which means responding to complaints quickly, being helpful, treating customers with respect and always being friendly and polite.

Measuring the value of social media with Tracey Brown

With growing numbers of Australian businesses using social media, the need to measure the effectiveness of social media activity is becoming increasingly important.

Surprisingly, many businesses do not measure the effectiveness of their social media activity, or they’re unsure what to measure or where to start.

Tracey will discuss the importance of measuring social media activity by looking into how success can be defined and measured using simple tools.

She will explain how to get the most out of your social media measurement tools, how to measure the success of a social media campaign and what the future holds for social media measurement.

About Tracey:
Tracey Brown has worked in online for over 15 years, from Westpac eBusiness, to co-founding Tipping Point in Sydney, before moving to London as Head of Digital for Schroders. She also held a global online CRM role for Vodafone Group.

Now back in Sydney, Tracey co-founded eMarketingConnected in December 2010.

Her breadth of experience ranges from online strategy, strategic email marketing, social media strategy, benchmarking and optimisation strategies, to user experience definition and content strategy.

Tracey has delivered workshops and training programmes in USA, Asia, Sth Africa, UK & Europe. She also conducts events and workshops for clients and members.

Tracey’s company eMarketingConnected has recently produced a comprehensive report on the social media activities of Australia’s 500 largest organisations, ‘How the Largest Australian brands use Social Media’. The company has also produced other reports such as ‘Why The Largest Australian Retailers Are Losing The Online Battle’ and ‘How Are Australian Brands Using Facebook’.

Twitter: @traceybrown74

Please note: This month's Social Media Women is being held on the FIRST Tuesday of the month as the second Tuesday falls too close to Easter.

A not to be missed event - learn about the importance of measuring your social media activity by using simply tools.

LUCKY DOOR PRIZE - You could win a corporate headshot session from Polly Street valued at $385! This includes: 30 to 45 Minutes on location photo session, an online preview gallery to select your favourite shots, 3 Edited and retouched high res image files.

Register now for our April event at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1933221317

Date: Tuesday 3 April 2012 (First week in April)
Time: 6:00pm - 8:30pm
Venue: The Supper Club at the Oxford Hotel,
134 Oxford St, Darlinghurst.
(Enter the Oxford St side of the hotel and walk up the stairs. Metered parking is a few steps away on Bourke St, $1.10 per hour)

Meet amazing women as well as discussing the ever changing world of social media.

Reputation matters- Klout, Kred, and the growth of the social recommendation economy with Kate Carruthers.

How do you measure reputation on social media? It’s so much more than the number of followers you have.

Both Klout and Kred measure influence based on your ability to drive action. The Klout Score uses data from social networks to measure true reach, amplification and network impact. Kred analyses billions of tweets from the last 1,000 days to calculate your Kred. Every interaction you have made in that time is part of your score. It measures Influence and Outreach level.

But are they accurate? Kate will explain the new social recommendation economy and why reputation matters. She will discuss how to make the new social recommendation economy work for you.

About Kate:

Kate Carruthers is an expert and forecaster in online collaboration, social media, digital integration, unified communication, email and search marketing.

With extensive experience in senior executive roles for diverse organisations such as GE, AMP, Westfield and State Government she currently works in business strategy and implementation roles. Kate has also lectured in postgraduate business at Macquarie University and taught TAFE level courses in business and management.

She is Co-Founder of Social Innovation Sydney and was a long standing member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers and is a Senior Member of the Australian Computer Society. She is on the Advisory Board for the　Schools of Computer Science & Software Engineering and Information Systems & Technology at the University of Wollongong.

Kate is currently studying law part time as an external student with Queensland University of Technology.

Twitter: @kcarruthers 
Blog: http://katecarruthers.com/blog/

Please note: This month's Social Media Women is being held on the FIRST Tuesday of the month as the second Tuesday falls on Valentines Day.

A not to be missed event- learn about the new social recommendation economy and why reputation matters.

Register now for our February event at

Date: Tuesday 7 February 2012 (First week in February)
Time: 6:00pm - 8:30pm
Venue: The Supper Club at the Oxford Hotel,
134 Oxford st, Darlinghurst.

(Enter the Oxford St side of the hotel and walk up the stairs. Metered parking is a few steps away on Bourke St, $1.10 per hour)

On the weekend I attended the launch of ln Situ, an exhibition featuring traditional sculptural works and contemporary installations in shops along Military Road in Mosman.

The exhibition is billed as “Australia’s newest art trail with over sixty works by Australia’s leading sculptors and installation artists.”

One of my fibre sculptures is featured in the exhibition and when I was listening to the speeches it occurred to me that Mosman Council is using this as a tactic to create community as well as drive visitors to the area.

This year it is part of a bigger event called Festival of Mosman with the tagline as “An unmissable Sydney experience”. Obviously Mosman isn’t Bondi, but Mosman Council is aiming to draw in crowds from outside the area like Sculpture by The Sea. It’s a great idea.

The sculptures are in shops so it’s like taking art to the people, and hoping they shop while they are there!

They using Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to promote the event and build online engagement. When I was installing my sculpture a videographer shot footage for the Youtube channel and was taking photos for the Facebook page.

They have also used an augmented reality program,Layar, which recognises real world objects and display digital AR experiences on top of them using a smartphone.

Its early days for their social media engagement, but it’s good to see a council taking steps to use social media and art to engage their community.

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter.

Outsourcing your social media campaign
So you want to start up a social media campaign for your business but don’t know where to begin? If you decide its best for your business to work with an expert there are a few things you need to think about.

Do your research before picking a company. Different companies work within different sectors, such as lifestyle and retail, and can be experts in different fields.

Set targets: Know what you want out of the social media campaign and set realistic targets. This can be a certain amount of engagement, comments on a blog or number of customers taking up an offer from a social media site.

Communicate with the company to make sure you are both on the same page. Social media is an ongoing, daily activity and you want to make sure you both have the same idea when it comes to the message and public persona you want to showcase. 

Read the article on CP Communications News.    

  
How to determine your target audience
Your target audience are the individuals, groups and communities that have influence and decision making power over your brands’ products or services. They are the ones you are trying to attract and sell to – they are the people want to communicate with.

The key is to dedicate time to really refine your audience before you start ‘talking’ to them. To clarify your target audiences answer these questions:

• Who needs to hear your message? Who are the people that would be interested in hearing and learning about what you have to offer them?
• Who are the influencers? All target audiences have people who have great influence over their decisions. They can be family members, friends, authoritative figures such as doctors and even the media.
• Who must be moved to action? Who are the targets that actually follow through with the purchase?
• Who has the greatest impact on the business’s outcome? Who are the people who will affect whether you fail or succeed?

Once you have researched and determined your target audience, you can now begin to create strategies, messages and tactics that are tailored to your target audiences needs, wants and values.

Read the article on the Public Relations Sydney blog.    

  
Upcoming events
Here are some events coming up that we thought you might be interested in:

Social Media Women: Website and Ecommerce: Set- up and beyond - Tips, trends and ideas with Nancy Georges
Websites and Online Stores are essential for EVERY business. Integrating the website to your social media & offline activity is as important as the site itself! Nancy will discuss her own experiences with a wide range of products and services, and will give you the information to get you started and to define the world that we are now operating in.
8 November – Sydney, NSW

Magazine Week
Magazine Week is a full week of events that will bring all segments of the magazine publishing industry together to learn and share the latest information on business and technology trends. Featuring international and local industry experts and case studies, the Magazine Week conference will offer guidance on how to do better business.
9 November - Sydney, NSW

Google Analytics Seminars for Success
Learn Google's own best practices directly from a Google Analytics Certified Trainer. Ensure the accuracy of your website visitor data and learn how to use Google Analytics to measure the performance of your website and online marketing results. The seminar is great for people involved in marketing, advertising, public relations, e-commerce, business development or web management.
9, 10 and 11 November - Melbourne, Vic

ADMA Digital Day
Marketing is evolving more rapidly than ever before as technology empowers customers and marketers across the globe. Digital Day brings you some of the world’s most successful digital marketers from leading brands to help you improve marketing efficiency and effectiveness through deeper insights, enhanced capability and the implementation of new platforms and technologies.
14 November - Melbourne, Vic

Social Media and Communications Summit
The Social Media and Communications Summit brings together Australia's leading social media intelligence, communications, Innovation, generation and trend practitioners to share industry insights with your organisation. Four of Australia's thought leaders on social media and digital communication will power your organisation with a SWOT analysis of your social media strategy.
15 November - Sydney, NSW

The 5 Pillars of Web Engagement Management Revealed
Online Engagement Management is the new idea in web publishing – it’s no longer enough to simply publish material and hope your customer gets the right message. Join Mammoth Media, and web veteran Greg Baxter from Sitecore, for a journey through the new paradigm, and understand the power behind the “connected customer”.
18 November - Brisbane, Qld   

So you want to start up a social media campaign for your business but don’t know where to begin?

There are many different types of social media from Facebook to Twitter to Foursquare and blogs. Knowing how to use each one, getting the best results and keeping up with your ROI can be a full-time job in itself. Not to mention constantly updating the content that is on topic and interesting.

Experienced social media companies will be able to do the research for you and develop a comprehensive social media strategy.

Another point of difference is social media campaign companies will have experienced writers on staff who can utilise their skills for the different platforms from writing 140 character tweets to 1000 word technical blog posts.

Tips for working with an outsourced company:

Do your research before picking a company. Different companies work within different sectors, such as lifestyle and retail, and can be experts in different fields.

Set targets: Know what you want out of the social media campaign and set realistic targets. This can be a certain amount of engagement, comments on a blog or number of customers taking up an offer from a social media site.

Communicate with the company to make sure you are both on the same page. Social media is an ongoing, daily activity and you want to make sure you both have the same idea when it comes to the message and public persona you want to showcase.

Once upon a time, in a non-digital world, people met in real life and got to know each other as people rather than as brands. Business and branding were an extension of a person but they didn't make a person.

Today everyone is, in one way or another, digitally branded. Whether it is through Facebook, Twitter, a blog or LinkedIn, your personality and your brand - in both colour and design - are online for all to see.

So what happens when you meet your friends and contacts in real life? Does your personality in real life match the experience people have of you online? In real life do you reveal another (better or maybe worse) aspect of yourself? How do you live up to the expectations that have been created by you online?

Mariette Rups-Donnelly will share with you some tips, tricks and techniques to make sure that when you meet your contacts in real life you live up to every expectation and perception that they have of you.

Mariette will explain that in order for your physical being to compliment your digital one, you must first understand that people have created perceptions of you because of what you put out there both in branding and online presence.

When you understand that, then you can actively work to make sure your real life presence is just as strong.

About Mariette Rups-Donnelly:
Mariette has taken her years of experience as a leading actor and teacher of actors and combined it with an astute business understanding to create programs that go to the core of presence, presentation skills and business performance.

Through her company, Powerhouse Presentation, she runs a wide variety of one on one programs and customised workshops for small business owners, professional speakers, executives and corporations.

As a professional speaker and MC she is becoming more and more aware of the disconnection between people's online presence and their 'In Real Life' presence and performance.

She draws her expertise from a 34-year career as an Actor/Singer/Dancer and 26 years of teaching in some of Australia's leading acting institutions.

Her professional acting work is both national and international and includes theatre, television, film and cabaret with leading roles in A Chorus Line, Annie, Big River, Company, The Seagull, Hamlet, Emerald City, Away, among many others, and the title role in Evita, twice.

With her experience both in the performance world and the business world she has a wealth of knowledge to share.

A not to be missed event - learn how to match your real life presence to your online presence.

Register here for our September event.

Date:      Tuesday 13 September 2011
Time:      6:00pm - 8:30pm
Venue:   The Supper Club at the Oxford Hotel,
                134 Oxford St, Darlinghurst.
(Enter the Oxford St side of the hotel and walk up the stairs. Metered parking is a few steps away on Bourke St, $1.10 per hour)

Enter the draw to win LUCKY DOOR PRIZES, simply by attending!

Meet amazing women as well as discussing the ever changing world of social media.

The open discussion about social media is one of the best parts of the event. So bring your social media questions for the group to answer.

Social Media Women is all about inspiration, collaboration, supporting each other and growing. Join the community:

• Become a fan and check out the launch photos and post comments on Facebook
• See, subscribe and view the guest list on SocialMediaWomen.posterous.com
• Join and start discussions on LinkedIn
• Visit the official Social Media Women Site
• Follow us on Twitter @SocialMediaWomn

Decoding the world of marketing and PR can be a challenge, especially for a small business. Uncover the many elements of effective marketing and public relations and identify the right strategy for you and your business.

Catriona Pollard will share tips with you on how to build the profile of yourself and your business through events. This will include attending networking groups and exhibitions, and public speaking.

Other topics to be covered include:

• Why you should use PR, and its benefits
• How to make the most of media coverage
• Sources you can use to gain free publicity
• The role of social media as part of your PR strategy

Don’t miss this rare opportunity!
Top tips and hot topics in the one event!

Date: 16 September 2011
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM (doors open at 2:30 PM)
Venue: Level 47, MLC Centre 
            19 Martin Place, Sydney, 2000

Register now for this event, click here.