• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Media-Manoeuvres-Logo_NoTagline_Full-Colour
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
    • Media Spokesperson Training
    • Stakeholder Communications
    • Executive Presentation Skills
    • On Camera Presentation Training
    • Senate Estimates Performance and Preparation Skills
    • Crisis Communications
    • Schools Crisis and Issues Management
    • Royal Commissions and Government Inquiries
  • Online Virtual Training
    • Virtual Media Training
    • Virtual Presentation Skills
  • Team
  • News
  • Contact Us
    • Perth
    • Brisbane
    • Canberra
    • Sydney
    • Melbourne

In communications, complexity breeds confusion

May 1, 2018 by Sam Elam Leave a Comment

How can Facebook and the White House, organisations with unmatched resources, power and influence, make such a meal of their communications?

You are going to be enormously scrutinised when you rule the world. But Mark Zuckerberg, who runs the biggest content platform on the planet, and Donald J Trump, who holds the most powerful office, seem to operate in a permanent state of crisis.

Reputationally, they are sinking lower and lower, which is not good for Facebook’s share price nor the Republicans’ re-election chances.

It goes to show, how important it is to:

  1. get your product right; and
  2. create a compelling and authentic narrative around what you do and how you are going to solve other people’s problems.

What does that mean for us mere mortals?

On the communications front, it reveals everyone can get caught out by disruption, including the ones doing the disrupting. It underlines the importance of acting strategically, with conviction and doing it consistently to keep your world in order.

In communications, complexity breeds confusion.

When our judgement is clouded, we spend money on poor advice, go scattergun in our approach and lose control of how best to distribute information.

The problem is that the old rules of PR no longer apply. Companies have to find a new communications “system”.

Is that content marketing? Brand or strategic marketing? Sharpening up the corporate communications team? None of them in particular but actually all of them – embodied in a DIY Newsroom™.

Why a newsroom approach?

Most medium to large-scale organisations have at least a half dozen comms and marketing people, but often they can barely keep up with social media demands let alone bigger campaigns. By reorganising how people work and introducing new work practices, comms teams can support the organisation’s strategic initiatives as well as handle the insatiable needs of the day.

A newsroom approach makes sense because, firstly, they are at the top of the content food chain. Newsrooms are well-versed at creating and distributing quality content – it is their reason for being.

Secondly, newsrooms have been pressure-tested over generations. They are accustomed to change and shine during times of crisis and chaos.

A DIY Newsroom, though, constitutes more than a snazzy office layout and encouraging a frenzied environment. It is founded on what I describe as a five-step SMART way – of Strategy, Media, Authenticity, Results and Team.

An obvious benefit of going DIY is that it is cost effective, with little need for outsourced activities. Newsrooms are uncompromising in getting measurable results – and in your sector that could mean a quantifiable lift in engagement or sales.

Comms and marketing teams tend to be great in a couple of specific areas, but too many are infatuated by the vanity game of hunting for social media “likes” and “shares”. A DIY Newsroom, at its core, is obsessively strategic.

Local governments, education institutions and umbrella associations are prime candidates.

With the fragmentation of local media, councils are perfectly positioned to reorganise internal resources to become the leading generators and distributors of community information. The ROI is increased community engagement.

In education, schools can swing the focus from stock-standard enrolment marketing to developing reputations as thought leaders. As well, a DIY Newsroom can inoculate schools from ever-looming crises.

Big corporate players are making a direct and authentic connection with their constituencies by rethinking their comms.

AFL Media is a great exponent of controlling its own message and relies less today on Melbourne’s footy media. With its bluenotes operation, ANZ sidesteps the fickleness of the established financial media. And Australia’s largest private health fund, Bupa, is seeing good results from its digital newsroom.

These organisations have considerable firepower. But, as Trump and Facebook show, getting communications right today is as much about quality and strategic decision making and execution as it is about the spend.

Shadowing the best modern newsrooms just may be the new playbook for companies wanting to be heard above the cacophony of communications.

Stuart Howie is executive director of Flame Tree Media. He is a former editorial director of Fairfax Regional Media and author of The DIY Newsroom™ to be published in 2018. [email protected]

Filed Under:

Sam Elam

About Sam Elam

Sam Elam, Director of Media Manoeuvres, has been involved in the media and communications industry for over 20 years.

Sam established Media Manoeuvres in 1997 as a specialist media consultancy in media training and reputation management. She now combines her media and corporate communications skills assisting clients in media skills training as well as media strategy, issues and crisis management.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • The Power of an Apology
  • What Lies Ahead For Communication Professionals Post-COVID-19?
  • What lawyers think about communicators in a crisis shows the great divide still exists
  • Stakeholder Communication In A Crisis – Why Is It Important?
  • How does media training fit into the digital age?

Archives

Media-Manoeuvres-Logo_NoTagline_Full-Colour
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
  • Team
  • News
  • Contact
Melbourne:
575 Bourke St, Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Sydney:
391 Glebe Point Rd Glebe,
NSW 2037
Perth:
38 Webster St
Nedlands 6009

[email protected]

PERTH
1800 183 343

BRISBANE
1800 183 343

CANBERRA
02 6282 8660

SYDNEY
02 9905 8266

MELBOURNE
03 9510 6000

ON-CAMERA SKILLS TRAINING

The advent of the digital age has given rise to the importance of online video content. A video with a good presenter/s can engage and influence stakeholders. How others immediately perceive you or your business comes down to the first few seconds of you on camera!

Read more: Camera Presentation Training

VIRTUAL PRESENTATION SKILLS

Your impression when presenting online has been important for many years, but it is now crucial with almost all business being conducted via videoconference. Stand out from the crowd with impressive skills, taught by our international keynote speakers and webinar hosts.

Read more: Virtual Presentation Skills

LIVE ONLINE MEDIA TRAINING

Spokespeople from all organisations need to adapt to new ways to deliver their messages, and journalists are looking for great interviewees wherever they may be. Get ahead of the pack with our live, online media training which is customised and flexible, just like our face-to-face training sessions.

Read more: Live Online Media Training

ELEARNING MEDIA AND PRESENTATION SKILLS

Cost efficiency, time flexibility and the opportunity to train many more people are the significant benefits of online learning. Mobile-enabled eLearning programmes and modules, webinars, live and static digital platforms and forums can be blended (if required) with face-to-face formats.

Read more: E-Learning Training

MAYOR AND COUNCILLOR SKILLS TRAINING

Customised Media Spokesperson Skills training for newly elected Mayors and Councillors is highly recommended to ensure they are in control of their key messages and are able to hold their nerve in the face of a tough community meeting, as well as getting the media coverage they deserve.

Read more: Local Government Training

SCHOOL ISSUES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Media Manoeuvres has a well-established reputation as school crisis management experts. We provide strategic issues and crises planning and organisational media skills coaching to many national and international educational institutions and schools. Before the media calls, schools call us.

Read more: School Crisis Training

EXECUTIVE PRESENTATION SKILLS TRAINING

Whether you are presenting in person or on-screen, you only get one chance to make a first impression and that takes just a few seconds. Getting it right the first time is essential because repairing a poor impression is not easy.

Read more: Presentation Skills Training

SME ISSUES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Every organisation is vulnerable to a crisis – it’s knowing the right way to deal with a situation that changes the way companies are perceived by their stakeholders and the media.

Read more: Crisis Communications Management

MEDIA SKILLS TRAINING

Having good media spokespeople can make all the difference between a superior reputation and a bad one. That’s why training in this area will reap huge rewards for your business.

The Media Manoeuvres approach to media training across Australia is simple: Companies must have effective and efficient media spokespeople. Not only that, but training in this area should be ongoing for senior management, executives and team members.

Read more: Media Skills Training

ROYAL COMMISSIONS & SENATE ESTIMATES

“Democracy in action” is how some describe this exhaustive process whereby Commissioners, Counsel Assisting or Senators can ask endless questions of witnesses appearing. News stories don’t always begin in a Royal Commission or Estimates, but it is often the place where details come out, and reputational damage for you and your organisation can result.

Read more: Royal Commission Training

Read more: Senate Estimates Training

STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS KEY MESSAGING

A strategic approach to stakeholder and media communications, which addresses the importance of stakeholder needs, will guarantee connection and influence.
Designing thoughtful, meaningful and relevant stakeholder and media messages that align with company objectives is vital.

Read more: Stakeholder Communications Training

How some describe this exhaustive process whereby Commissioners, Counsel Assisting or Senators can ask endless questions of witnesses appearing. News stories don’t always begin in a Royal Commission or Estimates, but it is often the place where details come out, and reputational damage for you and your organisation can result.

    Request for "[article-title]" article