Collecting money with Xero is now faster and easier than ever with a new partnership between two of Australia’s most innovative software companies. Leading payments technology innovators IntegraPay has teamed up with cloud-based collections automation business ezyCollect to accelerate accounts receivables recovery for small businesses using the Xero accounting platform. Under the new partnership, businesses that have signed up for ezyCollect’s automated invoice reminder add-on can integrate with the IntegraPay add-on to make it easier for their customers to make payments using a range of different options including credit card, BPAY and bank debit. The combination of regular reminders and easy payment options offered by the new solution can have a dramatic impact on accounts receivable with some clients reducing overdue debt by more than 50% and reducing bad debts by more than 90%. IntegraPay Chief Executive Officer Chris Urry said the partnership brought together two solutions with a shared goal of helping clients to collect payments faster and more efficiently. “Collecting outstanding invoices is one of the biggest challenges for small and medium sized business,” he said. “By combining regular, automated reminders using ezyCollect and giving clients a range of payment options using IntegraPay, debtor days are smashed and cash flow become much easier for businesses.” “Individually, we have both been able to demonstrate the value of our systems… combining them together on the Xero platform will give businesses a great opportunity to get ahead of their receivables and improve their bottom line.” According to a study from Dun & Bradstreet, more than 90% of business fail due to poor cash flow. The leading cause is bad receivables management. ezyCollects software solves this problem by intelligently automating unproductive, manual and repetitive tasks done by accounting departments. This allows businesses to focus on the most important part of their business – growing sales and building customer relationships. The results speak for themselves, with most customers seeing a 50% reduction in overdue debts in under three months. ezyCollect CEO Arjun Singh said the partnership with IntegraPay brings together two unique platforms. “We both understand the importance of cashflow to business success and have developed solutions that unblock the payment pipeline at key points,” he said. “The combination of ezyCollect and IntegraPay has the potential to slash your overdue debtors in weeks.” The IntegraPay Xero add-on brings together a number of important features, including utilising all the most popular payment methods, and for the first time allows you to include BPAY as a payment option. IntegraPay allows customers to pay Xero one-off invoices or recurring payments using a range of other options including credit card, bank transfer or regular direct debit, straight from the invoice. Customers click on the Pay Now button on their invoice to be directed to a menu of payment options. From there they simply select the solution that works for them and make the payment. IntergaPay’s Xero payment solution automatically reconciles payments from the invoice in Xero to reduce manual data entry and administrative costs while removing the risk of reconciling a payment with the wrong invoice.
Four Easy Ways To Engage Media (Without Being Annoying)
Whether you’re an individual or company with a product or message, maintaining a relationship with media – either through yourself or through a public relations agency – is vital in shaping your message and sharing your story. There are endless ways to engage with earned media owners. 
It’s crucial to harness knowledge, professionalism, and to never be that pushy, 10-times-a-day-follow-up caller. Equally, it’s important to effectively craft your company communication in a way that’s valuable and meaningful for both your audience and the journalist. Below we share four (of many!) ways you can deliver information and connect with media. 1. The Opinion Piece Media outlets are increasingly happy to publish your content in its entirety if it contains content that’s valuable to an audience. Put aside all self-serving and advertising-esque writing, though, because that’s a sure fire way to land your pitch in the ‘junk’ folder.A value-packed, educational opinion piece can be a great way to get your name or product out there, particularly if it offers a differing or alternative perspective. 2. The Tip Off Just as Daily Planet’s mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent *always* seems to land breaking news on Superman, tipping off your best stories to the media provides them with an exclusive and gives you plenty of space to prepare your information in advance. Perry White would be proud! 3. The Backgrounder Making a journalist’s job easy with a simple backgrounder about who you are and what you do makes their job a million times easier. Who wouldn’t love that?Journalists are busy people. And just like Gordon Ramsay, they prefer everything handed to them on a plate, deconstructed, so they can serve it all out.. …Stay with me. The backgrounder serves the purpose of parsing out information for media. You don’t want to leave writers digging around for your story; you want to hand them all your information, complete, with the proverbial cocktail umbrella on the side, right? The backgrounder exists as a separate, discrete piece of information that you can distribute alongside other PR collateral. 4. The Media Release aka The Elder Wand of PR If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’ll know I’m kidding… There’s no way anything can be as powerful as the most powerful thing in the history of Wizardkind! GOSH.But seriously, the media release is definitely up there.This tool still remains by far the number one way for brands to communicate with media. It allows you to cleverly construct your key messages and deliver them in journalistic format. A smashing, well-timed, value-packed, efficient media release truly is half the job done.
Whether it’s media releases, media engagement or simply content you’re after… Please get in touch with us! Header image: 123rf.com/profile_alexpokusay’>alexpokusay
Is sourcing great content, without the hassle, possible?
Like many traditional public relations firms RG Communications has seen first hand the growth of content marketing from a small niche player in the marketing world to all-pervasive monster. We have also seen first hand how companies have sometimes struggled to deal with the large volume of content required to feed the beast. Content can get complex, painful and expensive very quickly; particularly in a small team where resources are scarce and priorities numerous. We wanted to find a way to ease the pain for marketers who know what they want and when they want it. We wanted to be able to provide content on demand. Over time we developed the idea for a portal that provided organisations with the ability to refine their content ideas and out-source the hard yakka to professional writers, giving them the chance to focus on more important things. We call it ‘short order’ content, and naturally, we called the site Content on Demand.
Briefing is the key
As part of the planning process we quickly realised that to make developing one-off content pieces cost effective you need a briefing system that provides writers with a clear, unambiguous brief about the project. Understanding the purpose and style of your content from the outset is the easiest way to streamline the content production process.
Much of the frustration with content production comes from the endless iterations that are a direct result of having limited consensus among stakeholders about the purpose of the piece.
That is why Content on Demand is underpinned by an intuitive briefing system we’ve called EziBrief. EziBrief allows customers to order a range of different content types by completing a simple briefing form. The brief is then assessed by one of our in-house editors and assigned to either an in-house writer or external subject matter expert. Think of it as your inspiration, and our perspiration. You develop the idea and we bring it to fruition. A range of standard content pieces are available to be ordered through the site, including media releases, feature articles, advertorial/editorial, testimonials, white papers, blogs and case studies. Each project is priced based on the quality of the brief and the expertise required to produce the content.
What we believe
In developing Content on Demand we were cognisant of the fact that there are already numerous marketplaces available that provide a link between brands and the masses of freelance writers. Our vision was a bit different and we based our business on four founding principles: Quality content, requires quality writers We believe the skills required to produce high quality content that engages customers takes many years to develop and expert practitioners are hard to find; and extremely valuable. Technology has an important role to play We believe traditional methods of sourcing content can be improved by utilising technology to streamline the process, making it more efficient and affordable. Great briefs = great content We believe that by streamlining the content briefing process while maintaining high standards we can help business maximise the opportunity of content marketing. Speed is of the essence We believe good content producers should be able to quickly understand your business and content needs quickly and deliver high quality content in a timely and cost effective manner.
A bit about us
Content on Demand was designed and built by RG Communication’s in-house digital design business Villain Designs using WordPress and Gravity Forms. RG Communications was established in 2014 by Ben Ready and Brenton Gibbs and services a range of clients across the tourism, travel and property industries. Clients include AirAsiaX, Aquis Australia, Oliver Hume, Daydream Island, Devine Limited, FIIG Securities and Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ).
The Funding Network Returns To Brisbane
Following last year’s highly successful event, The Funding Network is coming together once again to present its collaborative ‘social investment experience’ at PwC on 15th June. Three leading social entrepreneurs will take to the floor and pitch their programs to a live audience. Each charity has been selected for their innovative approach and potential to have a significant positive impact on QLD communities in need. Josh Chalmers, PwC Partner said: “We’re very excited to be hosting this event having heard so much about TFN from colleagues in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. Supporting social entrepreneurs aligns perfectly with PwC’s focus on innovation and value creation. I’m sure it will be an inspiring experience.” The three pitching organisations are (more detail in appendix): Cores Australia provides community suicide prevention through training, education and early intervention. www.cores.org.au Heartfelt Homes provides subsidized accommodation for regional, rural and remote families of patients in hospitals far from home. www.heartfelthomes.org.au Orange Sky Laundry is Australia’s first mobile laundry for the homeless, custom-fitted vans to offer a free service for those in need. www.orangeskylaundry.com.au Each presenter aims to raise at least $15,000 from the audience on the night. Pledges are from as little as $100 so anyone can get involved sponsoring these ground-breaking grassroots charities. Everyone is welcome and tickets are available to the public for $30 via this invitation link. The event is being held on June 15 to coincide with the Queensland Community Foundation’s Philanthropy Week and is being presented in collaboration with Silver Chef, the Morgans Foundation and PwC. Silver Chef founder and Philanthropy Australia board director Allan English said: “TFN is a genuine enabler and opportunity maker – bringing together the right people, resources and projects for social change. We have identified three great enterprises that can continue doing their extraordinary work with a little financial help so it would be good to see as many people as possible at the event.” https://youtu.be/xjkd9Llw-qA TFN offers grassroots charities the rare opportunity to showcase their work, secure funding and mentoring, and to expand their donor base and networks. The format also gives people the chance to learn about social issues and to engage directly with innovators and programs that are really making a difference. This year’s first TFN Sydney event at Macquarie Group facilitated over $270k – the most funding pledged at a TFN event to date. Followed by another match-funded event in Melbourne that finished up at $100k. Brisbane awaits… For more information and to buy your tickets visit: TFN Brisbane 15 June
RG Communications Launches Short Order Content Portal Content On Demand
Leading Queensland communications firm RG Communications (RGC) has today launched a short-order content portal designed to streamline one-off, custom content sourcing. Content on Demand has been more than six months in development and is underpinned by an intuitive content briefing system called EziBrief. The site allows customers to order a range of content types by completing the briefing form. The brief is then assessed by one of RGC’s in-house editors and assigned to either an in-house writer or external subject matter expert. RGC is one of Queensland’s most experienced communications, content and creative firms with extensive experience in brand publishing and content. The company owns and publishes MBA News Australia and the primary content partner for a range of independent publishers, including TheUrbanDeveloper.com Content on Demand Founder Ben Ready said the portal was designed to provide large brands and SME’s with efficient access to quality content producers, without the hassle of auctions or constantly sourcing new suppliers. A range of content pieces are available to be ordered through the site, including media releases, feature articles, advertorial/editorial, testimonials, white papers, blogs and case studies. “The site was borne out of our own frustrations with peer-to-peer marketplaces where expectations around quality are rarely met by the reality,” he said. “Content on Demand is designed to fill the gap for clients who know what they want and want it done at an affordable price by local writers with local knowledge.” Each Content on Demand project is priced based on the quality of the brief and the expertise required to produce the content. “Our writers and editors are professional content experts with many years experience with pricing reflecting that expertise…there are plenty of freelancing sites where you can get content cheaper but at what cost?” Mr Ready said smaller companies increasingly understood the importance and value of content marketing, but lacked the internal resources to generate consistently, high quality content. “Many SMEs struggle to keep up with the volume of content required to feed effective content, social and digital marketing strategies,” he said. “Good quality content that engages an audience The new site was designed and built by RGC’s in-house digital design business Villain Designs. RG Communications was established in 2014 by Ben Ready and Brenton Gibbs and services a range of clients across the tourism, travel and property industries. Clients include AirAsiaX, Oliver Hume, Daydream Island, Devine Limited, FIIG Securities and Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ).
Five ways to spearhead your Facebook content marketing
Creating content is one thing. Creating content that your audience loves and wants to share is entirely different. And if you aren’t generating content that your audience cares about, then you’re wasting valuable time and resources. How can you create something that matters to your audience, bolsters your company image and isn’t sales-y? Over many years of experience we have found some simple tips to help generate quality content and create authentic, engaging posts. First of all, ask yourself:
- Are you creating something that will serve to educate, improve or better the lives of your audience;
- Or, are you just trying to sell something?
People can easily sniff out the latter and will generally feel aggrieved if you duped them with the promise of great content, only to hit with a slogan. Here’s some simple ways to start generating valuable content on Facebook:
- If you’re at the early stages of social media, or your analytics are lagging behind, why not ask your followers: What do you want to see from us? Make a list of the requests and start from there.
- Create ‘Milestones’ on your company page; they can be both serious and fun, and it demonstrates your business growth.
- Don’t screen shot and post a graphic; instead, print out a hard copy and take a picture of the printout in a specific context; this makes your brand human, highlights your creativity, and makes your company less digital – even if it’s shared digitally.
- Tag other local brands and show appreciation for their work – but make it genuine. People can tell the difference.
- Highlight your company’s strongest assets – your employees! People love seeing well-written profiles of employees, what they do, and what they love about the company.
Social media presents a highly cost-effective way to generate brand awareness, so it’s important to ensure your online content is on-point. Here is a bit of a guide from the folks at Marketing Strategy HQ on maximising content on Facebook. 
The Essential Features Of A Successful Media Publicity Strategy
Content (What) Your content is your story and is the starting point for any publicity strategy. Without an engaging story, your contacts and cadence are irrelevant. Developing a strong narrative (or narrative series) is where you need to invest the greatest amount of time and resources. Unfortunately it is more art than science, which is why developing a good narrative is largely intuitive and takes many years of experience to do effectively. In a newsroom it’s called ‘news sense’, in the content marketing space it is called ‘story telling’, we call them opportunities. The key to developing great opportunities for publicity is to take yourself out of the story and concentrate on the needs of your audience. Simply stacking up your marketing messages into a pile is not creating a story, that is advertising. Ask yourself some simple questions:
- Why is this story interesting?
- What value is there for the audience?
- Is it ‘news’ or ‘marketing’?
- Who does this impact?
Contacts (Who) Your contacts are your target audience. In media publicity, it is the journalists, influencers and gatekeepers who control what appears in the media. It can be contacts in the traditional sense of people you know and have established relationships with or it can be people you haven’t dealt with previously. It is important to have a clear understanding of who your target audience is and then work backwards to find they media they consume, and the gatekeepers who decide what they consume. The first priority should be to establish and build relationships with people who may be covering your company or organisation on a regular basis. The easiest way to build relationships is to provide contacts with a steady stream of good stories. The easiest way to break their trust is to pitch them crap (highlighting the importance of content). It is important to establish and maintain wide databases of RELEVANT media. Cadence (When) Cadence is the regularity by which you target the media. You can execute opportunities too often, or not often enough; getting the balance right is difficult. The regularity of opportunity execution should always depend on the quality of your content, not the schedule in your planner. Setting up a schedule to release something on the third Thursday of every month often leads to missing great opportunities which happen at other times while using content that is not suitable, just because it is in a schedule. The best news (content) should be released when it happens. The longer you wait the less newsworthy it becomes. be prepared to be flexible and responsive to opportunities as they emerge and don’t let yourself be restricted by an arbitrary schedule. There are many different names for each of these aspects of a media publicity strategy. Regardless of what you call them, understanding them and finding solutions is the only strategy you will ever ned for getting yourself in the paper.
How To Write Better Content: 3 Tips Content Marketers Can Learn From Journalists
Producing consistently good, readable content can often be overwhelming, especially if you don’t have any writing experience.
One way to ensure your writing is up scratch is to look to the experts: journalists. Every day, journalists must write interesting, enticing and engaging content. It’s their job to produce stories that will help sell their publication.
There is a lot that content marketers can learn from journalists in order to improve their writing skills. Here are three tips to take on board:
The inverted pyramid style
Early in their careers, journalists are taught that readers will only read the first three paragraphs of a news article before they get bored or distracted. As such, journalists learn to position the most important elements of a story at the beginning of the article, with the least important elements at the end. This is called the inverted pyramid style of writing and it’s a good habit for content marketers to pick up.
Snappy headlines
Newspapers and magazines regularly publish attention-grabbing headlines to attract more readers. Apart from the front cover image, the front cover headline is the only guaranteed way to stop a reader in their tracks.
Content marketing is no different. When faced with a sea of search results, a reader will always click on the article with a catch headline first.
Here are a few tips for writing a good headline.
- Use verbs – an ‘active’ headline is far more interesting and compelling;
- Use interesting adjectives;
- Use numbers (i.e. Five Tips for Writing a Great Headline);
- Use trigger words like ‘How’ or ‘Why’ (i.e. How To Write a Great Headline In Five Easy Steps)
Tell the truth
One of the key tenets of journalism is to write the truth and present the facts in a clear and unbiased fashion. It’s a great lesson for content marketers to take heed of. Unlike advertising, content marketing is about developing a relationship with your readers. Much of that relationship will be built on trust and honesty. So be up front with your readers and they will reward you with their loyalty and dollars.
simPRO Appoints NZ Executive To Drive Growth
Global software group simPRO Software has launched a major growth drive in New Zealand as it looks to cement its position as the country’s most popular job management software for the trade services industry.
The company has appointed experienced electrical industry executive Richard Pratley as New Zealand General Manager with responsibility for overseeing a major expansion of the company’s presence in the local market.
Prior to joining simPRO, Mr Pratley was General Manager of Trade Business at Gerard Lighting in Auckland. Before joining Gerard he spent nearly 12 years in different positions at Schneider Electric, including as General Manager of the company’s Buildings Business division.
As part of his role with Schneider, Mr Pratley was responsible for implementing the simPRO Software platform across the NZ service business with more than 20 users.
simPRO Software provides leading-edge job management software for the trade services industry. The cloud-based system helps users to refine processes, improve profitability, and increase productivity.
The software is of most use to operators in the electrical, plumbing, HVAC and security industries and is currently used by a number of established brands in New Zealand, including Laser Group and Aquaheat.
Clients range from small contracting operations through to corporate enterprise with thousands of staff. The simPRO business management platform has more than 2,500 clients and 80,000 users around the world.
The company was founded in Brisbane, Australia, and now also has offices in Boulder, Colorado (United States); Auckland, New Zealand; and St Ive’s, England.
As part of the company’s aggressive growth campaign in New Zealand it plans to rapidly grow its local support and sales teams with staff expected to double over the next six months.
Mr Pratley said the decision to join simPRO was partly based on his experience of the product while working at Schneider.
“It is a great platform and the benefits we were able to generate at Schneider were far more than we expected,” he said.
“With a good understanding of the product and the needs of the market I am confident we can help more customers transform their businesses with simPRO and increase our market penetration.”
“With the investment of time and resources we expect to be able to grow the customer base fairly quickly with the goal of having 400 subscribers within the next 12 months.”
simPRO Software CEO Brad Couper said the appointment of Mr Pratley and the planned expansion of staff provided the company with the capacity to continue growing its subscriber base in New Zealand.
“We will be looking to significantly expand our foothold in New Zealand and the US over the next couple of years and our investment in new offices and new people is testament to the confidence we have in the the local market,” he said.
simPRO Software develops business management cloud solutions for the trade services industry. It’s products are designed to optimise business workflow to refine process, improve productivity and increase profitability.
simPRO also offers a mobility solution for the trade and service industries based around the Connect mobile app which gives field staff complete control over the administration of individual jobs including the ability to process payments on-site using a customer’s credit card. The simPRO mobility suite also includes eForms, which digitises a company’s existing paper based forms.
Established in 2002, simPRO Software is a Brisbane based software company which is the global leader in job management software for the services and contracting sector. The company’s clients range from small contracting businesses to mid-sized businesses through to large enterprises with thousands of staff.
For more information visit http://www.simprogroup.com
simPRO Software Helps Ease Cash Crunch For Small Business
As small businesses continue to struggle with their cashflow, Australian technology company simPRO Software has introduced a major enhancement to its cloud-based job management software that will make it easier than ever for trade services business to get paid for their work in a timely manner.
The new capability, which is offered in partnership with payment solutions firm IntegraPay, provides clients with three easy payment options that will make collecting payments quicker and more efficient.
In a major technological breakthrough, clients payments can now be processed in the field (using the simPRO Connect mobile app) as soon as a job is completed.
Alternatively customers can now also pay online directly from their invoice with just a click or the supplier can take payment details over the phone and enter them directly in the simPRO system.
The feature is available across simPRO’s suite of products and is designed to make it easier for users to get payment by streamlining and integrating the invoicing and collections processes.
simPRO CEO Brad Couper said the payment processing enhancements came at a time when many businesses were under severe financial pressure because of unpaid invoices.
“Managing cashflow is one of our clients’ biggest challenges. Small businesses don’t have the option to defer their key payments like bank debt and wages but there is often a long delay before customers get around to paying their bills,” Mr Couper said.
“simPRO Payments can help to solve that problem by making it easier for clients to pay invoices on the spot so the business gets the money fast.”
simPRO Payments will be available to all simPRO users in Australia, New Zealand, United States and the United Kingdom.
According to a recent survey by accounting software provider Intuit, Australian small businesses are owed $26 billion at any one time because of unpaid invoices while the average SME was owed $13,200 and had to spend 12 days per year chasing unpaid invoices.
Even worse, 27 per cent of small businesses that didn’t insist on upfront payments had been forced to take loans or use credit to pay suppliers and wages.
Users of simPRO’s enterprise & service job management software will get immediate access to quick payments and in future the system will be further enhanced to support direct debits, Bpay and recurring payments such as repeat bills, memberships, Software-as-a-Service, and subscriptions.
Using the system, clients can also implement schemes like loyalty rewards for early payment.
The system’s online dashboard makes managing direct debit payment easy. Businesses can access their personal details, their payment information, add new customers or amend payments 24×7.
All information displayed is live and all changes are applied instantly.
Established in 2002 simPRO Software is a Brisbane based software company which is the global leader in job management software for the services and contracting sector. The company’s clients range from small contracting businesses to mid-sized businesses through to large enterprises with thousands of staff.
For more information visit http://www.simprogroup.com