Business News

Wed Jan 20

Why PR should be your number one business resolution in 2016

Written by Monica Rosenfeld, Managing Director of WordStorm PR

The New Year is a time for self-reflection and often people vow to improve their health and accomplish new goals. This introspection is also important for businesses. The New Year presents a fresh opportunity to assess outcomes and reach new targets.

One business resolution that is often overlooked is a public relations strategy. What public relations entails is often misunderstood by business owners. However, public relations provides an excellent opportunity for businesses to receive exposure for little or no cost.

Public relations can be the most cost effective marketing tool for a business of any size. Good public relations can be the cornerstone to a business’s success. It increases the credibility of your business in the eye of the consumer, elicits trust, generates word-of-mouth marketing and can often increase sales.

Monica Rosenfeld, Founder and Managing Director of WordStorm Public Relations, shares her advice on what PR practices SMEs can introduce or improve in 2016:

1. Know what angles are most likely to capture attention:
To be newsworthy a story should add value to a media outlets audience. Consider if your proposed angle is timely, relevant and interesting.

2. Engage with your audience on social media:
Know how to meaningfully engage with your target audience on the most appropriate platform for your business and have a clear understanding of the image and voice of your brand. Always ask ‘is this on brand?’ before posting.

3. Invest in quality images and video content:
A good picture speaks a thousand words. Include a high-resolution image with pitches to help journalists visualise the story and have additional images available to send to journalists if requested.

4. Consider media training:
Even the most confident people can have trouble addressing media in a clear and succinct manner. Media training will help you identify the key messages to communicate to the public.

5. Approach journalists respectfully:
It is important to understand just how time poor journalists are. Make sure your release is targeted to individual journalists and relevant to their field of expertise.

For more information, visit www.wordstormpr.com.au

Mon Dec 21

Building a workplace relations system for the future

Written by Senator Cash

The Australian Government today delivered on an election commitment to have the independent Productivity Commission conduct an expert review of the workplace relations system to ensure the Fair Work laws worked for all Australians.

The Productivity Commission’s 12 month review involved extensive public consultation and received over 350 submissions from individual employees, employers, unions and social groups.

The Productivity Commission’s final report into the workplace relations system was tabled in Parliament today.

This is a report to the Government, not a report by the Government.
I am announcing a series of roundtable discussions with employees, employers, unions, social welfare groups and women’s groups to consult on the Productivity Commission’s final report.

The roundtable discussions will be held in early 2016 and will focus on the Government’s key priorities of:

·         promoting jobs and productivity

·         providing incentives to prevent long term unemployment, particularly for youth

·         ensuring a future-focussed workplace relations system, and

·         increasing women’s workforce participation.

The Productivity Commission found there were problems with the current system but has called for its repair rather than its replacement.

“I look forward to a mature and constructive discussion in the coming months over what the expert Productivity Commission has recommended and what we as a nation need to do to promote the best interests of all Australians for the future.”

“I am confident that the Australian people will see through the entirely predictable and misleading scare campaign by Labor and the unions – a campaign which has already begun in earnest.”

“As Minister for Employment and Minister for Women I am keen to engage with stakeholders on what can be done to sustainably reduce youth unemployment and to increase women’s workforce participation.”

“As the Government has said all along, we will carefully consider the final report and its recommendations, and if there is a good case for sensible and fair changes to the workplace relations framework, these will be clearly outlined and taken to the next election to seek a mandate from the Australian people”.

“I thank the Productivity Commission and its staff for their efforts and professionalism in producing this expert report to guide our national conversation on these important reforms.”

Further information on the Productivity Commission’s report can be found on its website: http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/workplace-relations#report.