When you develop a marketing and communications plan for your business, you’re likely to come across a common conundrum.
Do you focus on advertising or content marketing?
Although content marketing and advertising are both trying to sell a product, they take two very different paths to get to the same goal.
Advertising
With advertising, a company will promote a product’s company and services through traditional forms of advertising on the television, radio, magazines, newspapers, billboards, brochures, trade fairs and so on.
The aim is to educate or excite a consumer about the product that is being sold and then convince them to visit the company’s website.
Advertising is essentially a one-way dialogue between the company and the consumer. The consumer will listen and then decide whether they will buy.
Content Marketing
Content marketing, on the other hand, is subtler than advertising.
The aim is to convert a customer that has already visited the company website.
Content marketing isn’t about slapping the consumer over the head with stories about how amazing your product is. Rather, it’s about selling the ‘idea’ of a product.
It’s about creating and publishing consistent, relevant, valuable, interesting and engaging content to attract your key demographic.
For instance, if you manufacture running shoes, the content you publish might include topics like ‘How to Improve Your Running Style’, ‘The 10 Best Tracks For Your Running Playlist’ or ‘The Latest Fashion Trends for Runners’.
Content marketing may be more labour intensive, but if you do it right, your key target audience will keep coming back to your website again and again. The more they love your brand, the more likely that devotion will convert to sales.
It used to be said that today’s news is tomorrow’s fish and chip wrappings. Meaning what was written today is gone forever tomorrow.
The rise of Google and search has changed all that. Today, the number of people who find your content days, months or even years later through search engines can far exceed the number who click on it initially through your direct or social channels. A well written piece of content with simple search engine optimisation can have value for many years.
That means it is vital to ensure that your content is well ranked by Google and other search engines and that it comes up when people are searching the right keywords. While there are now an incredible array of complex SEO strategies available and an entire industry dedicated to the skill, the basics can be understood and used by anybody capable of publishing on the web
Regardless of the number of times Google updates their indexing algorithm the five most important aspects of any article written for the web remain the same.
Title
The first step is to choose which keywords you are targeting and include them in the title of your article.
Meta-Description
SEO copywriting is not just about ranking. It’s also about what your content looks like on a search engine results page. The meta description of your content is the “snippet” for the search result below the title, and it influences whether or not you get the click.
Lead off your meta-description with the keyword phrase and briefly summarize the page as a reassurance to the searcher that your content will satisfy what they’re looking for. Try to keep it under 165 characters so the full description is shown.
Article body
For search optimization purposes your writing should be tightly on-topic and strongly centred on the subject matter of the keyword phrases. Very brief content will have a harder time ranking over a page with more substantial content so try to have a content body length of at least 300 words.
Keyword Frequency
Keyword frequency is the number of times your targeted keyword phrase appears on the page. Keyword density is the ratio of those keywords to the rest of the words on the page. Keyword frequency affects ranking so try to use the word regularly, but be careful. If you keyword density is over 5.5 per cent, Google could think you are “keyword stuffing” and it will de-rank you.
Linking Out
Search engines want to know you’re sufficiently “connected” with other pages and content, so linking out to other pages matters when it comes to search engine optimization. It is best if you link to relevant content fairly early in the body copy. Ideally you should link every 120 words of content.
Ben Ready is Managing Director of RG Communications. He has been a journalist and communications professional for nearly 20 years.
How you say something can be just as important as what you say. Developing a unique voice for your brand helps your customers understand what your brand is all about. If they like your voice they are more likely to build an affinity with your brand and feel comfortable with the underlying messages of your content.
Email technology group MailChimp is one brand that has put a lot of thought into their voice and use it to help people understand their own writing. They explain their ‘voice’ as :
MailChimp’s voice is human. It’s familiar, friendly, and straightforward. Our priority is explaining our products and helping our users get their work done so they can get on with their lives. We want to educate people without patronizing or confusing them.
A well defined brand voice primarily serves the purpose of making your content more readable by your audience. Defining your brand’s voice can be as complex or a simple as you want. The process of finding your voice is appropriate can be done in a range of different ways:
Understand your brand’s ‘personality’
Your voice should be a reflection of your brand’s personality. One of the best ways to understand your brand’s personality is to use the same framework developed by psychologist Carl Jung to better understand humans. Jung defined 12 primary archetypes that symbolise basic human motivations. Each type has its own set of values, meanings and personality traits.
Many financial services companies often adopt a Sage archetype. Sages are driven by a desire to understand and know the world around them. They represent wisdom, asceticism and destiny. The Everyman demonstrates the virtues of simply being an ordinary person, just like others; they are unselfish, faithful, supportive and friendly. Everyman brands give people a sense of belonging or being part of a group, of friendship and care. Ikea is a great example of an Everyman brand.
See where your brand fits and develop a voice that reflects your personality.
10 minutes, three words
A simple way to develop and quantify your brand’s voice is to get your marketers and executives in a room for 10 minutes and agree the three words which accurately reflect your brand. Are you passionate, quirky and funny? Are you mature, stable and assured? Are you relaxed, comfortable and friendly?
If you have another ten minutes get the thesaurus out and add some flavor to each of your brand’s characteristics by further defining each one of your traits. You could end up with a brand voice something like this:
Mature – established, complete, settled
Friendly – welcoming, approachable, responsive
Assured – secure, confident, poised
The three c’s of brand voice
As explained on Marketing Land, you can start developing a voice for your brand by examining your culture, community, and conversation.
Culture – What does your company stand for? What makes you stand out from all the others who are after the same audience? Your unique qualities make your culture special, and these should be a pillar of developing your voice.
Community – Listening can reveal how your community speaks and can help you speak easier with them and to them. You can use their language and meet them on their terms.
Conversation – Personality and authenticity are key here. What do you want to add to the conversation? As you think about what you can offer, you’ll start to see a better picture of where your voice might fit.
Ultimately, how you develop your voice is not as important as having one. Once you have found your voice, it may also be worth considering your tone. What’s the difference?
It seems like everyone today says you need content marketing. But why?
Content marketing has proven to be effective because it educates rather than pushes products or services. It allows consumers to engage and learn, making their own informed decisions through the different forms of content your create.
When it comes to search rankings and having an online presence, the importance of developing solid, relevant content cannot be stressed enough.
If you’re still not convinced here are six reasons why you need to incorporate content marketing into your overall marketing strategy:
1. Positions your brand as a leader
Producing and curating great content will position your brand as a leader in its field, helping to push word-of-mouth recommendations. This is particularly important as consumers today are less likely to trust sales messages. Establishing your reputation as a leader through word-of-mouth is much more valuable than paid endorsements and advertising.
2.Boosts awareness
Creating content is largely about increasing brand awareness. The more real, relevant content you produce, the more likely it is to be shared online and gain exposure. When your content does get shared on social networks it’s going to rank higher in search engine results, helping to boost your business and brand’s visibility online.
3.Increase sales
One of the main reasons businesses invest in content marketing is to improve or increase sales. By aligning your content with your customer’s needs it encourages them to take action whether that means booking appointments, purchasing your product or hiring your services.
4.Drives traffic
Traditional marketing tactics such as social media accounts, pay-per-click and digital banner advertisements don’t work well without any actual content to promote. To drive traffic to your website you need well produced content to advertise and click through to. This content is the reason consumers will come to your website and return in the future.
5.Keeps your website up to date
As your business’ website is usually the first point of call between you and your customer it’s important that it makes a strong first impression. A sparse, stale website is much less engaging than one with a wide range of interesting content and images. Customers who are researching their options will often visit numerous websites selling or offering the exact same thing. If your website stands out with new and relevant content, it’s more likely you’ll win the business over your competitors.
6.Growth
Building relationships with your target audience is key to growing your business. To build these relationships you must establish yourself as a reliable source, a place consumers come to find the best product or service. By offering customers engaging content you are successfully building these relationships. Once there your customers will return the favour through referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations.
Content marketing develops relationships with customers through each stage of the sales cycle. More sales convert when the customer trusts the brand. If you haven’t taken advantage of content marketing in your business strategy, what are you waiting for?
Every day people are being bombarded with messages, whether they are advertisements on the local bus, text messages on their smart phones or the latest posts on their Instagram, Twitter or Facebook feeds.
If you want to cut through the noise with your web content, your message needs to be on point. Here’s how:
1. Be Brief
Your web content should always be short and sweet. Why, you might ask? I don’t know about you, but my eyes tend to glaze over if I see a wall of text. In this day and age, it’s all too easy to click on a different story if you get bored. You need to grab the reader’s attention quickly and hold it. Be concise, but engaging.
2. Use Headings and Bullet Points
Remember what I said about text heavy content? No one likes it. Be kind to your readers and break up your content into easy, readable chunks. Use headings, subheadings and bullet points to draw attention to each section. Readers will appreciate this – they can quickly skim the content and determine if they want to read a particular section or skip it.
3. Condense Your Copy
One A4 page of content is more than enough to keep your readers engaged, but not too long that they will lose interest. An ideal word count is 250-400 words.
4. Images and Videos
As mentioned in points 1 and 2, readers are terrified of too much text. Keep their interest by interspersing your copy with interesting and relevant photos, graphs or videos. Hey presto! Your story instantly becomes more exciting.
5. Use Spell Check
Enough said.
So there you have it. These are just a couple of simple ideas for ensuring your web content is appealing and easy to read. Now go get ‘em!
AirAsia X has launched its service from the Gold Coast to Auckland, New Zealand and in turn will connect New Zealand to its vast network of over 100 destinations with the first flight to Auckland taking off on 22nd March, 2016.
This new route for the popular low cost carrier goes on sale tomorrow morning (2.01am Gold Coast time 13th January) until 24 January 2016, or until sold out, with an incredible low fare available for a limited time only of from AUD$119* one-way to Auckland. Bookings can be made at www.airasia.com.
The travel period is from 22 March 2016 to 5 Feb 2017.
AirAsia X’s popular Premium flatbed seats will also be on sale from AUD$299* one-way.
AirAsia X will commence services with daily flights between Gold Coast and Auckland. Flights will depart Gold Coast at 9.05am each day for Auckland arriving at 3.30pm local time.
AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail said, “We’re delighted to launch this service and bring added competition to this popular route across the Tasman and provide another low cost travel option.
“The Gold Coast was AirAsia X’s inaugural route from Malaysia and has been well supported by our Australian and international guests.
“We’re also delighted to offer New Zealand as an exciting destination for travellers looking to enjoy the many unique experiences which New Zealand offers.”
An Airbus A330-300 aircraft will operate the route with a seating capacity of 377. The configuration will be AirAsia X’s standard configuration of 365 economy seats and 12 Premium flatbed seats.
AirAsia X commercial manager Australia and New Zealand Russell Hole said, “The Gold Coast is perfectly situated to allow convenient travel between our Asian network from Kuala Lumpur to New Zealand.
“Two flight arrivals each day reinforces the Gold Coast’s importance to our network and continues to open up travel opportunities in this region.”
Gold Coast Airport Chief Operating Officer, Marion Charlton, says, “The commencement of this daily service is a demonstration of AirAsia X’s commitment to the South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales regions.
“The Gold Coast community are familiar with AirAsia X and the variety of destinations they offer by flying via Kuala Lumpur, as such, we are confident this route will perform strongly both from an inbound and outbound perspective.
“Gold Coast Airport look forward to working closely with AirAsia X to ensure the success of this service into the future.”
AirAsia X was the first low cost carrier in the world to introduce flatbed seats, which have standard business class specifications of 20” width, 60” pitch and stretch out to 77” in full recline position.
They feature universal power sockets, adjustable headrests and built-in personal utilities such as tray table, drink holder, reading light and privacy screen.
Business Class guests also enjoy complimentary products and services including Pick A Seat, Priority Check-in, Priority Boarding, Priority Baggage, Baggage Allowance, Flight Change, Combo Meal and Premium Pillow & Duvet.
The Quiet Zone is another innovative product option available to guests on AirAsia’s A330-300 fleet.
The Quiet Zone has been reserved exclusively for guests aged above 12 and comprises the first seven economy class rows (row 7-14), immediately after the Premium cabin. The section also features ambient soft lighting for a more relaxing cabin atmosphere as well as early meal service.
AirAsia X, together with AirAsia, provides New Zealanders with low fares and connectivity toover 100 destinations across 22 countries.
AirAsia X was named the World’s Best Low Cost Airline Premium Seat and the World’s Best Low Cost Airline Premium Cabin titles at the 2015 Skytrax World Airline Awards. The AirAsia Group also received its seventh consecutive year title as the World’s Best and Asia’s Best Low Cost Airline at the awards.
For bookings or further information visit www.airasia.com Flights and fares are subject to availability.
Travellers can also log onto AirAsia’s one-stop travel portal at AirAsiaGo.com which offers more than 80,000 three-star, five-star and boutique hotels to choose from.
Flight Schedule
KUL-OOL-AKL-OOL-KUL
FLT NO
DEP
ARR
STD – LT
STA – LT
Day
Aircraft Type
D7 206
KUL
OOL
21:40
7:50
Daily
A333
D7 206
OOL
AKL
9:05
15:30
Daily
A333
D7 207
AKL
OOL
17:00
17:25
Daily
A333
D7 207
OOL
KUL
21:40
4:00
Daily
A333
*Flights from Gold Coast to Auckland will commence on 22 March 2016. Flights and fares are subject to availability. Booking period 13 January 2016 from 2.01am AEST – 24 January 2016, or until sold out. Travel period 22 March 2016 – 5 Feb 2017. Seats are limited and not available on all flights/days or at peak periods. Fares are for one-way travel, hand luggage only and fully inclusive of all taxes and charges. Fees apply for checked baggage. Business Class fares come with complimentary services as advertised on airasia.com. Lowest fares available online at airasia.com. No processing fees are applicable for online bookings made with PayPal. Next best possible fare available via phone with additional $25 service fee. All amounts are in Australian dollars unless stated otherwise. See airasia.com for full details and Conditions of Carriage. Flights subject to regulatory approval.
When I was studying journalism at university, we were taught to write all news stories with impartiality and objectivity. At the time, impartiality was viewed as the cornerstone of high quality, credible journalism.
Our job was to deliver comprehensive coverage of news and current affairs without colouring the story with our own personal prejudices or biases. It was important; we were told, to report a wide range of options and perspectives fairly and accurately, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions.
Today, the value of an impartial or objective approach in contemporary journalism is increasingly being questioned.
New York University academic Jay Rosen is critical of impartial journalism, describing it as the “view from nowhere”. Rosen said: “If in doing the serious work of journalism–digging, reporting, verification, mastering a beat–you develop a view, expressing that view does not diminish your authority. It may even add to it.” 1
Transparency, it seems, is the new ‘black’. Silicon Valley CEO and academic at Berkley Journalism School Alan Mutter argues impartiality should be replaced with “a realistic and credible standard of transparency that requires journalists to forthrightly declare their personal predilections, financial entanglements and political allegiances so the public can evaluate the quality of the information it is getting”. 2
Others question if impartiality is even achievable. In his paper, Delivering Trust: Impartiality and Objectivity in the Digital Age, Cardiff University’s Professor of Journalism, Richard Sambook asks: “Does a neutral voice hold the same value today as it did a century ago? Is the emphasis on impartiality in news actually an impediment to a free market in ideas? And with technological convergence is?”
So is the decreasing relevance of impartiality in journalism purely an academic debate? Taking a look at recent newspapers headlines, it seems that the proof is in the pudding. We are continually bombarded with newspaper headlines that are proudly free of objectivity. One recent example is The Courier Mail’s coverage of the Gerard Baden-Murder trial in Queensland. The newspaper published a series of headlines objecting to Baden Clay’s successful appeal for his murder charge to be downgraded. One headline proclaimed: The Law is An Ass.
The Daily News in the United States has also taken a strong stance against the pro-gun lobby. Following a number of mass shooting in California, it has printed controversial and now infamous headlines such as Blood on Your Hands; Same Gun, Different Slay; Shame on U.S. and God Isn’t Fixing This.
Given the declining circulation of newspapers3 and the need to produce eye-catching and ultimately saleable headlines on a regular basis, it seems likely that impartiality in journalism will take a back seat for a while.
Navigating this new era of journalism will be tricky. Writing high-quality articles that deliver transparency over impartiality will require finesse; they will need to be built on a strong foundation of solid journalism. Facts will still need to be sourced, attributed and double-checked for accuracy. News articles featuring strong viewpoints may be the future of journalism – whether good or bad – but let’s avoid the trap of creating click-bait style headlines that are controversial for controversy’s sake.
Ben Ready is Managing Director of RG Communications. He has been a journalist and communications professional for nearly 20 years.
In the late noughties people and businesses began to grasp the power of content and its ability to drive brand awareness, customer engagement and sales.
The proliferation of mobile technology combined with the power of search engines and the reach of social media meant marketers had to fundamentally re-think everything they knew about engaging with their customers. The changes presented both challenges and opportunities for brands prepared to throw time and resources towards content.
Many of those who embraced content are now enjoying the benefits as their digital footprint grows, along with their audience and influence. These brands have discovered the benefits of the infinite publicity loop.
What is the infinite publicity loop?
For many smaller organisations, growing their brand reach (in a cost effective manner) is the greatest marketing challenge they have. Compared to paid media, using content to build reach is one of the most affordable and effective strategies available.
The infinite publicity loop is the holy grail of content marketing. It is when your content (even a single piece of content) delivers you an ongoing stream of value long after you have made the investment. Regardless of how you define ‘value’ it is the time aspect of the loop that is important.
The loop is all about creating content that delivers engagement, enquiry and sales well into the future. It is now feasible for a piece of content that you invest in today, to still be delivering value in five years with almosy immeasurable ROI.
The loop starts with great content which you distribute across multiple channels.If it is good enough, this content is consumed and shared by your audience, this consuming and sharing enhances its search value, which attracts new users who consume and share, improving its value for search.. and so on and so on, in an infinite loop of growing reach.
It all starts with valuable content
Creating great content that engages your audience and encourages social sharing is the starting point. Once you have done this it is important to work your distribution channels.
Earned media – make sure you have a solid PR campaign that is distributing content consistently to a broad range of media. Make sure you are sharing this content across your own social media platforms to maximise its reach and search-ability.
Owned media – publish your stories on your own platforms. If you don’t have a social and search friendly platform, get one (like WordPress). Make sure your content is SEO-friendly and is underpinned with high levels of sharing.
Influencer media – engage with your industry’s influencers and make sure they are using and sharing your content.
The loop only prospers when you feed it so regularly producing content and distributing it across your channels is fundamental to getting the loop spinning.
A little encouragement goes a long way
Sometimes the loop may need a little encouragement before it becomes self sustaining. There are a couple of ways you can give your content a little kick start.
Manufacture reach – SEO relies heavily on content usage so manufacturing a bit of usage to get the ball rolling is a good idea. One of the best ways to do this is ensure in your staff are sharing your content across their own social networks. Hit your family and friends up as well.
Pay for reach – if your content is gaining some traction it can be worth giving it a ‘boost’ with some paid promotion across Google AdWords or on social media.
The goal should be to have the content to develop an entirely organic process of reach as quickly as possible.
Thanks for reading and good luck with your publicity loop.
Public relations people have a role that is often misunderstood. Because many of us come from media backgrounds, it is sometimes expected that we will use our network of “mates” to secure good coverage of stories that would otherwise be rejected.
No doubt, practitioners themselves have been the most guilty of promoting this myth. But the truth is that contacts are the least important aspect of successful media relations.
Journalists, like the rest of us, operate in a competitive environment and have to look out for Number One.
This makes it realistic for any organisation to secure coverage if it understands some simple truths.
Below, we have outlined some of these.
News sells, puff doesn’t. A good story will almost always get coverage but a blowing your own trumpet without hard news won’t.
Most organisations have news. It just needs to be found and packaged properly, in a way that highlights its news value to relevant publications.
Relationships with key journalists are valuable but not essential. All journalists need good stories that are appropriate to their round, with the relevant facts, interviews and images easily available. If you have those, a prior relationship isn’t necessary. Of course, a relationship between the journalist and the client will mean it is more likely they will call you for a comment, or think twice before overplaying a negative story.
Stunts don’t work (unless they are awesome). To stage a successful media stunt you generally need a lot of money, a good visual, a justifiable reason for the stunt, and good timing. They are hard work and are only appropriate for a small number of situations.
Most publications cannot be manipulated. Metro newspapers in particular have rules and standards and they rarely bend them. They won’t run a confected story, show you the story ahead of publication, or pull a story unless it’s demonstrably false.
In response to Australia’s National Innovation & Science Agenda, the Australian Design Alliance [AdA], made up of fourteen peak national organisations, has identified a key area in Australia’s Innovation Eco-System that is missing.
Innovation and design are natural bedfellows, but this important connection has not been made in the Turnbull government’s newly released draft Innovation agenda, according to the [AdA].
This is a major omission.
Leading European economies embrace design as a sophisticated problem solving tool that is understood to provide an essential competitive advantage.
Whilst the [AdA] has praised Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for his leadership and the whole of Government exemplary approach of his team, it believes that there is an opportunity to build Australia’s economic capacity which may otherwise remain unfulfilled.
[AdA] Executive Director Jo Kellock said:
“[AdA] is keen to work with the Government to demonstrate what enormous advances are possible. Learning from our counterparts in Europe and Asia would mean improving on their ‘Design-Led Innovation’ platform. We believe that opening opportunities for the application of design to challenging problems will achieve substantial economic outcomes for Australia.”
Kellock goes on to say that:
“The process of design has important roles to play in collaboration, particularly in biomimicry and the application of advanced materials and process engineering, in skills development and knowledge transfer and in ICT at the interface between man and machine.”
[AdA] has recently been reviewing its own strategy and has a 12 month design policy initiative kicking off next week to develop a considered response to today’s announcement.
The [AdA] is a self-funded not for profit advocacy and facilitation organisation, with a combined membership amongst the alliance organisations close to 150,000 with a broader reach to over 500,000 design professionals.
Shopping Basket
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok
![A New Publicity Model[1]](http://rgcommunications.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/A-New-Publicity-Model1.png)
