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.
Like many people, Facebook has become the largest non-direct way I access news. I ‘like’ just about every major Australian news organisation and then some. With so may options coming into my stream I rely heavily on headlines for selecting which stories I read.
After many weeks of frustration this morning I gave Fox Sports Australia the punt with a very aggressive click on the ‘Unlike this page’ button. I hope I never see them in my stream again. The reality of their content had simply failed to meet the promise of their headlines on too many occasions. They annoyed me and then they lost me.
More often than not they promised ‘the best’ of something, usually a video, only to deliver a very mediocre something. “The Best Goal You Will See This Year” followed by a video of a very average goal (more often than not a 15 second clip preceded by a 30 sec ad!). “Jarryd Hayne Stuns NFL Commentators”, followed by a couple of commentators saying the Aussie is ‘not doing too bad’.
I’m sure they don’t care but I also have news.com.au on a very short leash and they are likely to get the chop by the end of the week if they don’t change their ways.
Your headline is a promise
As any first year marketing student will know, failing to meet customers’ expectations for your products and services is one of the surest ways to damage your reputation.
In a competitive content space your headline is your promise. If the content doesn’t deliver on the promise, you are damaging your brand.
The temptation in a competitive market is always to over reach, make your content sound like something it’s not, just get the click at any cost.
If ‘get the click at any cost’ is your headline writing strategy you better be prepared to pay the price. You may get away with it for a short period by replacing dis-enfranchised readers with new readers (attracted by great headlines) but eventually you end up annoying everybody. It will quickly become a death spiral for your readership as the pool of new readers shrinks and the pool of ex-readers grows.
Content is a long game, clickbait is short term
Just as great content has the capacity to grow customer engagement, it also has the capacity to grow dis-engagement.
Unlike traditional advertising and marketing mediums, content is not about achieving an instant sale; it should be about delivering a lifetime of sales. Your content should build trust, respect and likability. This doesn’t happen with one story, one video or one infographic, it happens over time across multiple interactions and multiple pieces of content.
Luring customers with the false promise of a headline that can’t be justified by the substance of the content is the surest way to undo all of your hard work.
Simple tips for great headlines
Creating a good headline has the capacity to make or break an article. Here are a few tips to keep you on track.
Create your content and then write the headline
At least 25% of the time spent writing an article should be spent on the headline and first par.
Test your headline with a colleague or a customer
Don’t trick people into reading something boring; draw them into something exciting.
Be descriptive and detailed, while still being punchy
Consider the context – will the piece be read online or offline (magazine etc)? Does it work on the social net? Who is the target audience?
One request from clients that public relations people typically dread is “show me the distribution list” for a media release.
This is because we suspect they are hoping to see a very long list but the truth is that in this area, bigger is not necessarily better.
In fact, if the distribution list for a media release is extended well beyond the small number of publications that are likely to run it, the effect can be similar to “crying wolf” – it desensitises the journalist to your future releases and makes them more likely to be overlooked even when they are relevant.
This is an issue that we see from both sides because we send and follow up media releases for many clients but we also operate as de-facto journalists providing news content to a number of publications.
In this capacity we receive media releases so we get to see who is routinely sending out irrelevant material.
From my observation, the biggest culprit is organisations who are using a media release distribution service instead of a public relations firm.
There are a number of these services in Australia and it is easy to get them to distribute a release to many hundreds of journalists at once, but instead of improving your chance of a run, this just annoys people.
To take one example among many, we have a client who runs a publication for the property industry.
In the past month or so, this client has received releases from the CSIRO with titles such as:
Technology brings iconic ship to classroom shores
Glowing fingerprints to fight crime
Seashells to deliver new drugs and vaccines
Needless to say these are completely irrelevant to the publication and we have never heard from the CSIRO with a follow up call or anything to indicate they know we exist. Someday they will no doubt send us a media release relevant to the property industry but we will likely miss it because we will assume it is more spam. By contrast, imagine if we had never received a release from the CSIRO and one arrived for the first time. We would read it with interest. If it was relevant, that would assure we read a second release down the track and so on.
Sadly, this situation is not unusual for a company relying on a media release distribution service.
If you doubt that this approach is counterproductive, don’t take my word for it. Here is former Fairfax section editor Dan Kaufman in his book: Dealing with grumpy editors.
“You might think you have nothing to lose by sending these releases off to every publication in town but all it does is desensitise us to anything associated with your company or your client,” Kaufman said.
“The gamble will not only probably fail, but it will put the odds even further against you for future releases.”
“Aside from the ethics of taking someone’s money when you know what they’re asking you to do is going to lead to failure, in the long term it’s also bad for business – remember it’s the PRs who only send newsy and relevant releases that editors and journos always pay attention to.”
As PR’s we are all guilty from time-to-time of sending media releases to too many journalists but if you eliminate the element of personal judgement and use a generic list from a distribution service you can virtually guarantee that this will happen every time and your announcements will fall on increasingly deaf ears.
Just as the world has shifted to social media, consumers are now looking to fellow consumers and peers to inform them of what to buy and when.
Essentially changing the balance of power between consumers and brands, peer voices now have a much more important role in purchasing decisions.
Buyers now look to each other and their favourite media personalities who have built enormous followings across social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
Brands no longer have the same control they did in the past, with the voice of the consumer now the most important.
“Identifying the individuals that have influence over potential buyers, and orients marketing activities around these influencers.”
This market influence typically stems from an individual’s expertise, popularity or reputation. Early on big brands would have looked to celebrities or popular bloggers to influence consumer decisions. Now, given the importance of peer recommendations, and largely helped by the ‘megaphone’ of social media, we’re seeing how ‘everyday’ or regular consumers are having just as great of an impact.
The use of influencer marketing is still however relatively new, with many companies not fully realising its power. Here we’ve outlined three key reasons why your business should embrace influencer marketing.
It’s powerful
Word of mouth still proves to be the most effective way to make a sale. McKinsey & Company found that word of mouth is behind a staggering 20 to 50 per cent of all purchasing decisions. They also found that “marketing-induced consumer-to-consumer word of mouth” generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising.
Along with higher retention rates and more authentic brand followers, influencer marketing gives brands an opportunity to leverage the word-of-mouth power with that of social media, creating a huge opportunity to sell more product or service.
It has trust
Despite the ever-expanding array of advertising platforms and strategies, consumers around the globe still place their highest levels of trust in other consumers. According a global Nielsen Internet survey, 78 per cent of respondents said they trusted – either completely or somewhat – the recommendation of other consumers.
Edelmen’s Trust Barometer similarly found that 63 per cent of those surveyed trusted “a person like them”. When it came to the company however, 49 per cent would trust a brand’s employee and just 43 per cent would trust the brand’s CEO.
Looking at these figures it’s obvious who needs to be telling your company’s story – the consumers.
It’s social
Social media has been the single largest factor in the growth of influencer marketing. In the past consumers would make purchasing decisions based on what they heard or saw from the brand. Now, consumers look to company’s social media pages and platforms to see how other consumers interact and rate the products and services.
There is a opportunity here for brands to partner with the powerful bloggers or personalities in their space to influence the legions of fans and followers that listen to their every word. It’s no longer about what the company tells us, consumers want to learn and interact with a brand rather than just listen.
With the proliferation of mass media in our lives, the public relations industry is steadily gaining prominence in the public eye.
From newspaper articles and reality TV shows to online blogs and social media campaigns, PR professionals across the globe are responsible for shaping almost everything we see in the media every day.
Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that there are many misconceptions or myths about this growing industry.
Here is a list of three of the most common PR myths:
Myth 1. PR is not the same as advertising or marketing
I’m sure I can speak on behalf of most other PR professionals in the industry – not many people understand what we do. When you tell people what you do for a living, they will usually say ‘oh, do you mean you’re in marketing/advertising?’
Although PR shares the same general goal as advertising and marketing – to promote a business’ product or services – each go about it quite differently.
PR focuses on promoting the public image of a company or an individual via ‘free’ or ‘earned’ editorial coverage. A PR agency will generate stories with the goal of them appearing in either traditional media platforms like newspapers, TV and radio, or newer media platforms like social media and blogs.
Advertising, on the other hand, focuses on getting paid coverage in the media, via print advertisements, TV commercials, signage and other paid placements on radio, blogs, websites and social media. Advertising agencies help companies come up with a concept or campaign and then arrange for the ads to appear in selected outlets.
Finally, marketing promotes a business by identifying the target audience and creating a marketing strategy that pulls together a mix of services including market research, sales, advertising, PR, graphic design and photography.
Myth 2. All publicity is good publicity
According to the popular adage, all publicity is good publicity.
I believe, however, this is untrue. There are many examples of businesses or individuals who have been hurt by negative publicity and have never recovered.
Bill Cosby was one of the USA’s most beloved comedians and actors until he became the subject of allegations of sexual abuse as early as 2000. As of September 30, 2015, Cosby has been accused by at least 54 women of either rape, drug facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery and or sexual misconduct. Although he has never been charged and he has denied all allegations, his reputation has been severely impacted. He was dropped by his talent agency, many awards or titles he previously received have been revoked, reruns of his old TV show The Cosby Show have been pulled from syndication and numerous organisations have cut any ties with him.
Myth 3. PR is easy
Many business owners think that PR is easy. All they need to do is write a press release and journalists will be knocking at their door.
PR is more complex than that. It’s about building a strong brand by creating good relationships with the media, consistently writing and communicating effectively, understanding what makes a good story and having extensive knowledge of the industry.
![A New Publicity Model[1]](http://rgcommunications.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/A-New-Publicity-Model1.png)
