Join our Aspectus experts for a free online webinar discussing the challenges that marketing and PR professionals face in an ever-changing business landscape.
For many businesses, especially right now, there is concern about how you market yourselves whilst ensuring you get it ‘right’ — whether that’s investing in the channels that will deliver the best return, or communicating with your audience in a way that will resonate.
And, with 58% of consumers claiming that the way brands behave during COVID19 will affect their decision to give them their business in the future, the need for you to communicate effectively couldn’t be more crucial.
During this webinar, you’ll hear from some of the leading minds at Aspectus and their thoughts on how you can positively position your business, both now and in the future.
In this webinar, you will learn:
The importance of messaging and tone of voice – run by our content and strategy director, Chris Bowman
Cutting through the noise with considered creativity – run by our creative director, Daniel George
Integrated campaigns – run by our head of integration, Lucinda Armitage-Price
Managing sensitive issues and crises – run by our MD of North America, Alexa West
Plus commentary and advice from Aspectus’s Global CEO, Alastair Turner and Chairman, Bill Penn
Watch on-demand
Positive positioning: marketing your business during COVID-19 and beyond
Every year the king of social media sets himself a set of new year’s resolutions, or what he calls personal challenges (because, you know, he has to be different), and in true Facebook style, shares them with the world.
We’ve been witness to: ‘wear a tie to work every day’ in 2009, ‘read a book every week’ in 2015 and ‘learn Mandarin’ in 2010. My favourite so far was ‘get more comfortable with public speaking’ – he really needed that one last year given all his Q&As with the heavies in Congress.
But this year, he’s stepped up his game and given us no fewer than five challenges, which are more like ‘new decade’ resolutions, by the sounds of it.
Generational change
Coming in first is his quest to provide generational change. He says that when he launched his platform, he hoped it would give those without a voice the power to make a difference. He says that while it has given people a voice, it hasn’t made the generational changes in addressing important issues he had hoped for (no surprises there). Anyway, he has committed to focusing more on funding and giving a platform to younger entrepreneurs, scientists, and leaders to enable these changes.
Private social platform
His second challenge is to create a private social platform. Acknowledging that, while Facebook has created a global community, it leaves a lot to be desired in the intimacy and purpose department. With the global decline in mental health being connected to humanity’s dependence on likes and shares, Zuckerberg wants to create smaller, more meaningful communities where people can truly connect and discover their unique roles in society.
Decentralising opportunity
With more than 140 million entrepreneurs reaching customers through Facebook, there is no denying the opportunities Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram provide to small-to-medium enterprises in growing their customer base by using his platforms. His fourth challenge is to use technology to build payment systems so smaller companies have the commercial opportunities that were previously only available to larger businesses. Hello Libra, we see you.
The next computing platform
Elon Musk’s Neuralink doesn’t get as much airtime as his other ventures – maybe because it’s an implantable brain chip which will “merge biological intelligence with machine intelligence,” and probably freaks out the majority of the population. Zuckerberg has a slightly different approach to melding human consciousness with technology. He sees the future of digital communication through rose-tinted augmented glasses. Far less invasive, his glasses will track brain functions so that users can control actions like clicking and scrolling by merely thinking about them. “‘Facebook wants to perform brain surgery,’” Zuckerberg joked. “I don’t want to see the congressional hearings on that one.”
New forms of governance
His last challenge – I see it as more of a wish – is for governments to take a more regulative role in online privacy. He has repeatedly said that he doesn’t think “private companies should be making so many important decisions that touch on fundamental democratic values”. Fair enough. He wants governments to establish clearer laws around elections, content, privacy and data. Another suggestion he has given is community self-regulation. He wants users to be able to report problems to an independent board which will have the final say on whether certain content is allowed.
After an eventful couple of years, this seems like quite the undertaking from the social network. We’ve all heard the accusations of unfathomable atrocities the platform has faced, from privacy violations and involvements in elections to spurring literal genocides. Yes, Zuckerburg faced Congress and paid a $5 billion penalty but still made profits every quarter. Who’s to know if these are purely words on paper – like so many of our own new year’s resolutions turn out to be – or if there will be actual change. One can only hope. Right?
You probably have no idea what a ‘gong bath’ is, and recently, neither did I. Then, as part of Aspectus’ winter wellness initiative, a group of us were taken to the GONG studio.
Here, our Gong teacher Selma, explained that a gong bath is an ancient healing practice in which sound waves, produced by a gong, heal the mind and body. Laid back on a matt and equipped with a blanket and eye mask, the gong sounded for 30 minutes, transmitting frequencies to the brain which lulled me to a surprisingly meditative state throughout the session.
According to Selma, the gong sounds are used to restructure the body’s water molecules. As humans are comprised of 70% water, the vibrations flow seamlessly through your body, placing you in a deep state of consciousness and relaxation.
Different sound frequencies stimulate the body and mind into balancing its inner emotions and alleviate existing mental challenges – in other words, into better communicating with itself. Some of the frequencies that we’re unfamiliar with at first can have the greatest effect.
But can we apply these lessons about better communicating with ourselves to improve our communication with others?
The incomprehensible is important
Most interactions between people consist of many unintelligible energies. Despite often going unnoticed they are extremely informative. An indication of any effective human-to-human contact is the ability to read the nuanced, non-verbal messages we convey to each other. For example, through eye contact, body language and tone of voice.
These have the potential to convey our true emotions, not necessarily expressed verbally at surface-level communication. A ‘successful’ interaction ensures that these are listened to by both parties, much like the body listens to the gong.
Sometimes, what seems incomprehensible can be therapeutic. The gong bath process and an effective conversation have various requirements in common.
Receptiveness is required
In order to truly be comfortable during a gong bath, you have to be open-minded and welcome the seemingly obscure process. Your body needs to be loosened and your mind clear of thoughts in order to create an environment conducive to relaxation.
Both parties within a conversation must be open-minded and mutually receptive to the words and emotions transmitted by the other. An interaction must see the emotional aspect accounted for, as opposed to only the verbal one.
Presence is a must A gong bath demands your presence, both physically and mentally. You’ll find yourself navigating between different (often random) seas of thought. The task is to catch yourself doing so and leverage your in-the-moment presence to prevent you from drowning in those thoughts.
We can all be guilty of being somewhere without actually being ‘there’, and we never know how annoying it is until we’re on the wrong end of it. A productive interaction is one in which both parties are fully present throughout.
Listen to the frequencies
Once present, you need to actually be listening. Without listening to the frequencies of the gong, the healing process is ineffective. Similarly, a conversation without listening is futile. ‘Listening’ goes beyond ‘hearing’, but actually interpreting and deciphering the valuable pieces of information.
Acknowledging the information communicated by the gong or your counterpart leads to understanding. This is the overall goal of both a gong bath and an interaction, enabling you to understand other people as well as yourself and your emotions more effectively.
Gong baths might not have been on the job description but, four months into my communications career, I’m recommending that you try one too.
Listen to the gong, listen to people and listen to yourself – they’re all trying to tell you something.
Kanayo is a Spanish with International Relations graduate from the University of Southampton now working as an Account Executive in the Financial Services PR team at Aspectus Group.
You’ve made it this far. You’ve weathered sweaty palms, the doubters and the self-doubt. You think you’re getting to grips with things when you get handed your first task and someone needs to brief you. No need to panic – here’s my intern’s guide.
As with whenever chartering unfamiliar territory, it all starts with Intel.
The Intel
Knowing what questions to ask and the sort of answers you want is your symbolic campfire. It protects you from looming dangers, the workplace kind. Get this right and the future should be bright.
Who is the client? Can you send me any background on them? Where do they operate? What information do they want? Which sources are valid?
What is the task? Content? Media list? Pitching? Research? Can you give me examples? What would be perfection? Is there anything else I should know? Knowing what a good standard to go by is will save you time.
Most of the time, the person briefing you has forgotten what it’s like to be an intern. To start from the beginning. And perhaps, will explain things at their level, using unfamiliar jargon. There’s no shame in asking questions. Ask. It’s much worse to sit silently at your desk wondering what on earth they have asked you to do.
Comms people, in general, are already operating at full capacity. Maintaining their attention long enough for you to extract the necessary information is a key element of survival. However, being skilled in negotiating deadlines and timeframes, is another trait all survivalists formerly known as interns will have to master.
The Negotiation
Strap on your cargo boots. Imagine yourself with your very own Rambo headband and get stuck in.
Like wandering bears, hungry for what all you’ve managed to forage; the person briefing will be hungry for your ‘yes’ – use it wisely.
Manage expectations
After you feel your questions have been answered sufficiently and you have gathered the necessary Intel to do the task, ensure the deadline is feasible. Interns are typically briefed on different jobs by multiple people and this person may not have a good picture of what else you have on.
Likely they will need to review it. Have patience with yourself, breathe and accept that you will probably need more time than stated to do the task. And if you’re not sure what to prioritise – ask. No one will expect you to make that call.
Once you agree to a time you are bound to it. It can either be your route to success, or path to failure.
The Correspondence
Maintaining a consistent line of communication between yourself and the person who briefed you is your symbolic ‘shelter’ in this office wilderness. Send a short follow up email summarising the main points of the task.
Deliver a daily email outlining your priorities.
Comms, especially agency work, has been likened to the art of spinning plates. It most certainly is. To poorly quote Uncle Ben from Spiderman, ‘with more responsibility comes more plates’. Making comms professionals a slightly jittery bunch. Help calm their nerves. Proactively keep the team updated with the task’s progress and you will make their lives much easier.
Overall
With this survival kit you may grow to love and master this PR wilderness. Whatever is the outcome of the internship, these pointers can help even the shortest-staying intern survive. Exhale.
Thud. Banging your head on the table. It’s dubbed thought leadership. But why aren’t your thoughts leading? It can’t be as long-winded as a novel yet not as objective as a news article. Scrunch! That’s the third idea in the bin.
You’re not alone!
Forever nudging the copywriters to have a look at my ‘revised’ version and dodging their subsequent stares, I committed myself to master this medium.
Barricaded in my very own Batcave, dimly-lit lamps and two or three empty coffee mugs, I began to crack the Da Vinci Code.
The world’s largest rush hour
Generally, people are very busy, so we want to catch them when they have a few minutes to spare. Whether it is on the train, at lunchtime etc.
If you imagine London’s congestion multiplied by 100,000, it would still fall short of the amount of traffic on the internet. Thus, the internet is the noisiest market known to man. All bloggers are fishermen. And all fishermen need bait.
As the profession suggests, you should be a master of the (inter-)‘net’ and ‘hooks’. And titling is the bloggers’ best weapon.
Frame your titles in ways which let the reader know the value the blog provides, as simply as possible. Jargon? Implied concepts? Don’t! Your audience needs to be ‘spoon-fed’ why your blog is the ‘right’ distraction. Your headtitle needs to lay out exactly what they will get in a clever catchy way. Think about why you bothered to read this blog.
Once you have them ‘hooked’, you need to keep them. Include quirky yet relevant subtitles to segment different sections. Make them bold (it sticks out better when scrolling). It’s a subtle reminder of the value your blog provides. A combination of carefully worded and chosen titles can make all the difference.
Respect the Scroll
Whether it be a click, drag, slide or roll, the ability of web surfers to scroll up and down changes the reading experience fundamentally.
Under gleaming screen light, scrolling transforms human beings into goldfish. Well, just their memory. Their retention span becomes thin and their patience thinner.
People read books but skim blogs. The scroll bar gets through content more quickly than turning pages. And, sadly, online content is consumed in an almost narcotic fashion. We want our fix. Anything that seems too dense loses our interest and won’t survive the scroll bar.
Keep to the point. Use condensed paragraphs and sentences: five lines per paragraph should be the maximum. If you can’t make the point in that way then you need to think again – maybe this isn’t suited to a blog post after all.
Add your own flavour
When someone reads your blog, they devoted some precious seconds in order to read it, so be brave enough to add in your own opinion and flair. The reader chose you for a reason. The reader is hoping you’ll succeed, to prove they didn’t waste their time.
It’s tempting to stay on the fence, in fear of saying something stupid because you’re the newbie. But you still have experiences and opinions. Share them. And someone will doubtless review it before it goes public!
Summary
Blogs bank on the unfortunate ‘goldfish’ in us, surfing the net looking for something relevant and entertaining. It’s called the ‘net’ for a reason. Become the best fisherman by tailoring your repertoire with the medium and audience in mind. With these tips, you may be ready to set up shop in the world’s largest rush hour. Just remember to respect the scroll.
Influencer marketing – predicted to be a US$5-10 billion sector by 2020 – has become a favourable strategy amongst marketers. As the average influencer gets paid US$1,000 per 100,000 followers, it’s certainly a significant investment, but are marketers really getting the bang for their buck?
Contrary to what you might think, influencers aren’t new. A professional footballer can earn over US$100 million in a year when ‘all they do is kick a ball about’. Let’s not forget, for a star like Cristiano Ronaldo, around 40% of this income is made from brand endorsements. Yet, I have never heard criticism for the supposed US$1 million earnings Kylie Jenner makes for simply posting a picture on Instagram.
Word of mouth and word of influencer
Turn the clocks back 15 years, and we see examples of pre-digital age influencers in the form of celebrity endorsements – your favourite magazine would be filled with celeb interviews talking about their ‘favourite’ products, grasping your desire for the newest trends. Separately, word of mouth may have urged you to avoid the local chip shop because your hairdresser’s cousin got food poisoning from there once.
Nowadays, we see a similar approach which leverages the power of social media on a global scale. Many will turn to social influencers for inspiration, opinions and recommendations despite them being complete strangers.
As global connectivity soars, people don’t need to look far for information. With the average person spending 142 minutes on social media per day, we are quick to use these channels to preach or hail our brand experiences.
Influencers possess a lot of power when initiating these conversations. They are well-positioned across social media, seamlessly slipping their content into our feeds; amongst the personal posts of our friends and family. Making themselves seem familiar, amicable and trustworthy. Their opinions are respected and their picture-perfect lifestyles desired.
Will it have the right influence?
After the Fyre Festival scandal, it’s understandable to have doubts about influencer marketing. Of course, since then we have seen a push for responsible influencer marketing practice, with the advertising standards agency (ASA) making it a requirement to be honest about endorsements and paid ads. And it appears that this transparency from influencers makes them more trustworthy and respected with their followers.
With so many in the game, it can be easy to question the authenticity and trust surrounding this method of raising brand awareness. Actually, social influencers – not celebrity influencers – tend to stick to their core values, ensuring the brands that they work with continue to generate content that is of interest to their audience.
If you doubt the power of influence a stranger can have, take notes from the world record egg from which more than 50 million people were convinced to like an image of an egg. Or, the reputed $1.3 billion USD Kylie Jenner cost Snapchat with a single tweet. Showing the sheer scale in which people can genuinely engage with influencers and their opinions.
Is it successful?
Influencer marketing has certainly proven its worth amongst marketers, with 89% agreeing that ROI from influencer marketing is comparable, if not better, than other channels. Over 70% say that the quality of customers and traffic from influencer marketing is better than other marketing sources.
Undeniably, influencers can be a great way of tapping into niche markets and raising brand awareness. With the rise of digital channels, traditional media are less effective and with online advertising being susceptible to ad blockers, influencers have become one of the most direct ways of targeting your audience – whether you work in Finance, Energy or Tech. And, if done strategically, you will certainly get the bang for your buck.
In today’s globalised economy, very few communications professionals only serve domestic clients. Probably, every day you make international calls with clients whose first language isn’t English. You quickly realise that, although your client relations skills are spot-on, there are some nuances that prevent the communications from being as slick as you’d like.
Speaking your client’s language is super beneficial in avoiding misunderstandings. It opens up unprecedented opportunities to learn specific cultural codes which are otherwise often lost in translation. Some basic things, such as ways of addressing people, vary enormously between different languages and often even the closest translation doesn’t do justice to the speaker’s original meaning. An example of a complex system can be found in the Japanese language which is far more formal than English when it comes to hierarchy or what is considered to be good manners.
At Aspectus, we aim to create a multicultural, integrated agency because an international workforce helps expand our horizons. Though English is often the lingua franca for B2B PR and marketing, multilingual teams make our communications easier and help expand the geographies we work in.
We are very proud that roughly 20 per cent of our workforce hail from beyond the UK and US. We have a bunch of Europeans (French, Finnish and Polish), Australians, a South African, an Israeli and a Zimbabwean in our offices. As a Pole I’m one of the international people who recently joined Aspectus. We recognise what our global workforce offers and work hard to support them with visas. And we want to become even more international as we keep growing.
Focus on European markets is another priority for Aspectus as it should be for any B2B communications agency. Regardless of the final outcome of Brexit, we will make sure to keep the closest links with Europe and recruit the best talent, wherever they are from. Why? Because having native speakers really helps to elevate business to foreign media outlets. A good example of successful pitching in a national language was our work for the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) in French-speaking Swiss media. We secured coverage in Le Temps and L’Agefi. Having direct contact with journalists can not only save on translation costs but also helps our agency to understand a wider picture of communications in Europe.
So, what are the advantages of the international people working for a PR and marketing agency? Communications is one of the most dynamic professions, which increasingly needs a global touch. Although the command of foreign language isn’t a necessary requirement for jobs in the sector, there needs to be a wider recognition that recruiting international people can really help boost business and bring the invaluable cultural knowledge to your company.
Are you looking for international PR and marketing support? Check out our services here.
London, 14th June 2018 – Aspectus, the specialist communications agency for the financial services, energy, technology and engineering sectors, has been appointed by OpenGamma, the analytics company dedicated to improving returns for derivatives users through capital efficiency, to deliver its UK communications programme.
Focusing on messaging, media relations, media training and content, Aspectus have been chosen to raise awareness of OpenGamma’s analytics offering and the market challenges it addresses around the cost and complexity created by new regulations. Aspectus was selected because of its experience in the market infrastructure and proven track record of communicating convoluted market issues in succinct and digestible way through the financial media.
Peter Rippon, CEO at OpenGamma said: “For us, an understanding of the industry was essential. The complexity of our business meant we needed an agency with the market experience to match. This coupled with a proactive approach to media relations has helped us to secure the coverage we need to support our business goals. Aspectus hit the ground running as soon as we partnered with them.”
Tim Focas, Capital Markets Lead at Aspectus added: “The regulatory landscape has shifted dramatically over the last few of years, altering the way derivatives trading is done across Europe. This means now is an ideal time to work with firms such as OpenGamma who tackle specific issues that compliance change has brought to the market. It’s fantastic to work with such a dynamic firm, and we’ve already seen some great results.”
Written by Tim Focas, Capital Markets Lead at Aspectus
“Oh…my God…” #DavidSchwimmer is the new London Stock Exchange (LSE) CEO! Cue a truck full of Friends related gifs memes and gags this morning.
That’s the weird and wonderful of Twitter for you, but did anyone tell the LSE or Schwimmer’s (no not that one) former employer Goldman Sachs? You could forgive corporate communication departments for going “on a break” this morning. But when it comes to something as surreal as a senior finance chief sharing a name with a famous actor trending what, if anything, should financial institutions do from a comms perspective?
It is always difficult to gauge how people will react, and with something as inoffensive as this, it is hard to imagine shareholders getting too hot under the collar. That said, Twitter has been around long enough now for businesses to know about the sort of bizarre things people latch onto. It is a simple fact of modern day communications life that you have to prepare for all situations. Some comms bod may well be saying “I told you so” as we speak. If so, good on them. The point is not so much that there is a pressing need for the LSE or Goldman to react, more that it should have been on the agenda as part of the official Schwimmer media announcement. Twitter needs to be treated in the same way as a traditional news outlet. Any media strategy includes info on the angles that Financial Times or Financial News reporters are likely to take on any given story. Today, views from @John33 also need to be tracked in order to have full control of your brand.
Twitter serves up a constant stream of updates as unpredictable trends progress. The good news is that the overtly vocal nature of micro blogging means other people, often working in comms, tend to immediately correct these errors. While this is not the case with #DavidSchwimmer, it could well be for future announcements. These days, regardless of their size, financial institutions need to be as obsessed with what’s being said about their brand on social media as Ross was with dinosaurs!
