Stuart Howie | Canberra's most insightful communications consultant
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9 essentials from Media Central, New York City, for communication teams to knock it out of the park

1/6/2017

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The stodgy stuff of reinventing business models and how best to use data is consuming the world’s top media executives in 2017.

The new shiny toys of immersive reality and 360-video are receiving plenty of attention and funding, but for the most part big media is focused on getting its house in order.

That is about returning to purpose and applying a traditional sales funnel approach to convert window shoppers into fully-fledged subscribers and then maximising revenue per user.  Joining the dots between data and customer conversion is critical.

Funnels? Data? Boring, huh? But for media today these are the smarts, along with amazing tech, helping companies emerge from a fog of uncertainty.

I got up close and personal with the latest global thinking by spending two weeks in New York, the self-appointed epicentre of media today.

I took a study tour of iconic media organisations, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Google, along with lesser-known but impactful start-ups PlayBuzz, Navito and Lotame.

The tour was a prelude to the International News Media Association world congress held at the New York Times Centre, attended by media executives from 40 countries, and book-ended by a workshop that built a playbook for print.


The message from New York: start spreading the news, media is fighting back. And I will address that in more detail in another blog.


For those of us in the business of communications, I identified nine themes to absorb and which will help you better understand the landscape as is stands.
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5 things that could happen now regulator has rejected Fairfax New Zealand, NZME media merger

3/5/2017

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Fairfax NZ's Auckland headquarters: regulator's rejection of merger is a watershed moment.

​Traditional media keeps getting a pounding - and entering the fray at a sensitive time in New Zealand is the Flat Earth Society disguised as the country’s regulator, the Commerce Commission.

ComCom has rejected the proposed merger of Fairfax New Zealand and NZME, citing the likelihood of greatly reduced competition in the market. The argument: less outlets, less views, poorer society.

It beggars belief, of course.

Almost all new digital revenue goes to Facebook and Google - ComCom among the advertisers with the former.

Under a merger, the businesses would have been rationalised. Old jobs would have been axed but new jobs would have been created in what represented a chance for big but struggling media there to respawn.

What now? ​

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Journalist job losses highlight value of DIY Newsroom

6/4/2017

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​With another round of editorial job losses imminent at Fairfax Media in Australia, the continuing contraction in the industry supports the argument that if you want to get your message out you might need to go DIY.

An increasing number of corporate and community organisations are setting up newsrooms to fill the void left by retreating traditional media - or to compete with what is left.

Fairfax has announced $30 million in cost cutting for FY18. Most of that is likely to come from axing staff in the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. This is my journo maths, but at the upper limit that represents about 200 staff, although expect it to be between 100 and 150 after some argy-bargy.

Some media competitors report this almost gleefully. However, staff across News Corporation in Australia can expect to see new rounds of redundancies too, according to my mail.

Meantime, given the fragmentation of the media and audiences, companies are investing large chunks of their marketing and communications budgets to better leverage digital and social media channels.
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Newsrooms, strategy and the Goldilocks principle

2/4/2017

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​One of the reasons newsrooms are such a great model for maximising communications performance is that they are the perfect example of what I call the Goldilocks principle – not too much process, not too little, just the right amount.
 
I have seen project management offices and consultants foist all manner of systems, processes and checks onto newsroom operations. And to be candid, I have probably been guilty of that too.

​Such things are an anathema to editors and journalists who have a finely tuned “B.S” radar and want to get on with their busy jobs, not be weighed down by spreadsheets, meetings and ticketing systems.​

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19 data points for a kicking communications health check

2/4/2017

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​I have an amazing doctor. He is terrific at his job, knows my history, communicates simply and, to top it off, is a good bloke.

Most important is I have confidence in the way he practises medicine. Which is kind of what you want when it comes to your health. Everything else runs second. 
 
Similarly, when feeling the pulse of your business you want a no-nonsense, fact-based method that gives you an honest appraisal. Nothing beats a clinical, intricate look-see. 
 
After decades of overseeing newsrooms and seeking to optimise their performance, I have found there are about 20 essential aspects for any health check of your communications to prove meaningful.

​The object is to forensically understand your current state, from which you can then review and step-out a you-beaut communications/content strategy.

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How local government can become the #1 destination for local news and information

8/3/2017

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​The declining fortunes of local media represents an unprecedented opportunity for local governments to step into the breach, set up a DIY Newsroom approach and go direct to residents with their message.

Today I learned of another “restructure” at one of Australia’s largest media chains, which is code for more staff redundancies and the lay-off of more journalists.

This spells another grim chapter for an already distressed traditional media.

In the regions, newspapers have greatly reduced the number of editorial staff, their circulation has plummeted and that has meant they have had to try to do more with less. The regional TV landscape is not pretty either.

When I was editor of a large regional daily newspaper several years ago, I had a staff of 80 full-time editorial employees. Today, there are less than 30 editorial staff.

Council insiders tell me that shrinking local media is making it harder for council messages to be heard.

Or, is it actually councils’ best-ever opportunity to engage with residents and ratepayers in new and profound ways by setting up a true DIY Newsroom?

That is right: if they were SMART, councils would see themselves as the primary destination and distributor of compelling, useful and relevant content for their local government constituents.

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How the humble content calendar can launch you to business fame in 2017

12/1/2017

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Ultimate guide: a content calendar should be utterly aligned to your business objectives.

Any business serious about showing its best face to the world in 2017 needs to develop a monthly content calendar - one that converts to results.

As creator of the DIY Newsroom approach to content, my mission is to empower businesses to do it themselves.

Indeed, if you are a medium-sized or larger business, or any business with communication nous and resource, you should be controlling your own message rather than leaving it to external agencies.

Get it right and you could zoom through cyberspace from zero to hero.

But let us be clear. Crystal.

As the ultimate reference guide, the content calendar will make or break your level of reach and engagement with your target markets.

The content calendar requires considerable thought and should be utterly aligned to your business objectives. Content should embody who you are and what you stand for. It needs to be compelling, relevant and hit the target.

Critically, get the outline of a distributed content strategy right - and then start scheduling and sharing.

Yes, those likes, followers and connections beckon. Yes, you want to use that new fandangled tool to automate the delivery of your enriching blogs, inspirational quotes and insightful posts. But stop.

Pause and think about whether you have factored in these five essential steps that will underpin the success of your distributed content.

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Listen up! 5 reasons for talking less in 2017

4/1/2017

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​One of the key lessons for me when it came to designing best-practice communication strategies in 2016 was to listen more and talk less.

Amid the cacophony of communications today, that’s not easy to do.

To stand-out from the crowd, we can make the mistake of trying to be louder or more loquacious than whoever is near us.

However, in seeking to better serve clients, markets or audiences our focus must be pointed laser-like at what concerns them - what really concerns them.

That means zipping it and turning on the satellite dishes on either side of our head. If you do that, our experience is that results will follow.
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Here’s five reasons why:

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    Author

    Stuart Howie is a Canberra-based communications consultant. He has worked with organisations, private and public, in Australia and New Zealand, helping them to discover, shape and tell their stories. He is the author of The DIY Newsroom, which won Social Media Book of the Year at the Australian Business Book Awards. Stuart has worked in media, publishing and communications for more than 30 years as an executive, editor and strategist.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

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  • HOME
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    • Smart Communicator™ >
      • 7 Titanic communications mistakes
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