Malaysia Media Landscape Highlights 2019: Shifting towards Multilingual & Digital Content
To help businesses optimize their Malaysian communications campaigns, PR Newswire’s Malaysian Audience Development (AD) team discusses two important media trends: (1) Multilingual publications becoming more common and (2) an ongoing shift from print to digital and social media. In the second part of this article, we share additional interview insights from two senior Malaysian digital media professionals. Going multilingual to gain readership Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multilingual melting pot of over 31 million people. Traditionally, media in Malaysia was segmented into various languages such as English, Chinese and Malay to cater to these various communities. As stated in PR Newswire’s recently published APAC Media Survey 2019 report, content quality and readership (number of views) are the top two priorities for journalists. We have noticed that Malaysian media are targeting more specific and valuable readership metrics, such as increasing views from an audience of working adults and more engaged readers who spend a longer average time on each article. To achieve this objective, apart from content quality, Malaysia digital media, e.g. Malaysiakini, The Malaysian Insight, are launching content in different languages. As seen in the chart below, around 20% of Malaysian users prefer Malay and/or Chinese over English. Launching a trilingual news website will significantly expand a media’s potential audience reach. Working adults are most likely to read the news. By combining the launch of a multilingual news website with more mobile-friendly content, Malaysian media seek to enhance the specific readership metrics mentioned earlier. For PR professionals, they may tap on the above insights by complementing their English press releases with Malay and Chinese versions. PR Newswire has been actively adding multilingual news media partners to our distribution network such as: Money Compass focusing on business & finance news; Newswav, a news aggregator; Borneo News, a general news media; and Niaga Times, a business news media. Print to digital and social media In terms of news consumption behavior, digital (+3% year-on-year or YoY) and social media (+5% YoY) are gaining popularity[1] as a news source at the expense of print media (-4% YoY). With 54% of respondents using WhatsApp for news, Malaysia leads the 34 countries in this Reuters survey. Readers seek more private and less confrontational spaces to read as well as express their views on news stories within trusted online communities. At the same time, trust remains an important issue, with only 30% of Malaysian respondents have trust in news overall. Although many get their news via social media, there is greater skepticism about the news that is found there (21%). One of the key findings from the APAC Media Survey 2019 report is that high-resolution photographs (29%) are the most preferred multimedia element in news coverage by journalists from most APAC markets, with 25% preferring video, followed by infographics (21%). As news is increasingly shared in Malaysia on private social networks such as WhatsApp, the PR Newswire team recommends businesses craft corporate content with fresh news angles accompanied by multimedia elements. Voices from Malaysian digital media Our team invited two Malaysian digital journalists (Clara Chooi, Managing Editor, Hybrid, an education-focused media and Aaron Kwan, co-founder, PRIMAL, a digital magazine focusing on telling stories that matter to youths and young adults) to discuss their views on how the media and PR practitioners are navigating the dynamic Malaysian media landscape. Commentary on Malaysian media Clara Chooi: Digital media is like everything else in our tech-driven world: fast-paced and always evolving. Like product cycles, the news cycle has sped up. Unlike the days of print where we wrote for tomorrow’s edition, in the digital world, people want to know within minutes or seconds of things happening. And depending on the nature of the development, some even want to watch these developments as they occur, with live and continuous analysis helping them make sense of it all. And that means journalists have to deliver the news immediately. This makes it much tougher for survival for three key reasons: Journalists need to think on their feet. As the world progresses and education levels rise, consumers of media have become smarter, more discerning and naturally more demanding. Vapid, he-said-she-said reporting no longer works–digital journalists need to spot trends, be able to analyze them quickly and present them most engagingly to readers. News articles cannot merely be reporting what just happened–social media takes care of that–they have to provide context, ask the hard questions and offer the best possible answers. Digital media outlets are operating in a highly-saturated space. And shortening attention spans make the competition for eyeballs even more cutthroat. Not only are media outlets competing with social media platforms for reader attention, we’re also fighting with virtually every website there is out there. Data analytics may help us understand reader trends and appetites better than in the days of print but changing algorithms and innovations mean we need to unlearn and relearn new things every day. There’s a perennial tug-of-war between chasing readership metrics and fulfilling the civic mission of good journalism. In such an environment, what constitutes “value” is determined by the number of clicks an article gets, which essentially means a quiz about what type of potato you are (this is a real quiz, by the way) becomes more commercially valuable to a publisher than an investigative article about political corruption that took the journalist three months to put together. Where do you draw the line, then? For publications to survive without taking the clickbait route, they need to diversify and look for different revenue streams, which is easier said than done when the marketplace is as saturated as it’s now become. How do you craft a story that connects with your audience? Aaron Kwan: We put our best foot forward for every content or story. One which we particularly enjoy doing was standing with WWF as they endeavor to bring awareness to animals facing extinction. In conjunction with Earth Hour, a group of talented local artists re-painted the Pillars of Sabah with images of threatened animals to remind the community about their significance as well as the importance of protecting them. To us, both the quality of visuals and content are as important when it comes to crafting a story. We believe that when everything is perfect and works well together, magic will happen. How can brands work with Malaysian media? Clara Chooi: I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for PR campaigns to be specific and targeted in their outreach. Like us, PR practitioners are operating in a fast-paced digital world, where fortune favors the focused. The best analogy I can think of is how Google’s search algorithms work–if you want your content to rank highly on Google, you can’t afford to tease or beat around the bush with your message. You need to be clear and specific, using realistic keywords and providing the right answers to the questions you want readers to ask to arrive at your page(s). Likewise, with PR campaigns, if a campaign can articulate its message most effectively to its target audiences, it increases its chances of getting the right kind of attention from the right people. How can brands pitch to your media? Clara Chooi: My best advice is this (and it’s the same as what our team presented at PR Newswire’s Media Coffee event in Jun 2019): do what we do as journalists–step into the shoes of your audience when you’re putting a pitch together. Before crafting your message or sending your pitch across to us, research our publications to understand what works with our audiences and what will stick. Remember that we operate in niche focus areas. Our content is specific, tailored to reach high-value audiences operating within these niche areas and it works because we apply precision-targeting to optimize our content. This simply means that every piece of content we publish is optimized digitally to reach the right persons holding the right job functions in the right industry/ies and the right geography/ies. Therefore, if you want your brand or message to reach the same audiences that we write for, the stories you pitch to us will need to check all the necessary boxes. Aaron Kwan: Stand for or champion a cause. Working for your own good is fine and all but working for the good of others, that is where fulfillment lies. About Clara Clara Chooi is a Managing Editor at Hybrid, overseeing its education web portfolio and a global team of journalists from its Kuala Lumpur editorial headquarters. She started her journalism career in print media in 2005, writing for Malaysia’s leading English newspaper The Star, before making the jump to digital media in 2009. She worked the politics, economics and current affairs beat for over 7 years at The Malaysian Insider and The Malay Mail, splitting her time between fieldwork and extensive travel with training young journalists, as well as serving as editor at both sites before joining Hybrid in 2016. As a journalist, editor and editorial team leader, she’s always believed that if wielded responsibly and effectively, journalism, like technology, can be a tool for positive change in a world often torn apart by racial misunderstanding and social and economic inequities. About Aaron Aaron Kwan currently leads a content marketing agency known as AK47™ and a digital magazine known as Primal™. As the Director at AK47™, he is responsible for AK47™’s business development and expansion across China, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore and Indonesia as well as Primal™'s recognition as a reputable media outlet in our region. As a doctoral candidate in business, he has great interests in consumer behavior, social media management and customer retention. He has 15 years of in-depth marketing experience and working collaborations with renowned companies such as FELDA Global Venture (FGV), Greenland Malaysia - Fortune 500 Company, CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust, The Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), Sunway Group Malaysia and OCBC Bank. This blog post is contributed by Christine Pereira, Senior Audience Development Executive at PR Newswire. Christine joined PR Newswire four years ago and is the country lead, establishing media partnerships, organizing offline media events and interviews. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Corporate Communications from Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur. [1] Source: Reuters Digital News Report 2018 – Malaysia
Hear from the Experts on IFA 2019 Communication Strategies
The IFA is Europe's biggest consumer electronics show and plays host to hundreds of new product launches. To help businesses finalizing their IFA preparations, our team did extensive research and interviewed European technology media to provide unique perspectives from the IFA organizer, exhibitors and the media. Established in 1924, the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) Berlin or the Berlin Radio Show, has grown into one of the best-known exhibitions in Germany and the biggest consumer electronics show in Europe. In 2018, 244,055 attendees from 129 countries and 1,814 exhibitors from 49 countries were present during the IFA’s six-day run. Over 100,000 of these attendees are trade visitors who come to the show to learn and potentially purchase new product lines. This year’s exhibition will take place from 06-11 September 2019. To help innovative businesses who are finalizing their IFA preparations, our team has researched trade publications and interviewed European journalists to provide perspectives from the exhibition organizer, exhibitors and the media. Why is it important to hear from this group of stakeholders? Messe Berlin organizes three consumer electronics retail exhibitions - IFA, Berlin (06-11 September), CE Week, New York (12-13 June), and CE China, Guangzhou (19-21 September). From these global exhibitions, Messe Berlin collects a great deal of exclusive data, such as trade visitors’ surveys, what topics speakers are most interested in and feedback from their press events. In particular, CE Week’s panel topics are likely to be replicated at IFA. Exhibitors may choose to launch products that are aligned with panel topics to boost their chances of attracting additional trade visitors and journalists. IFA exhibitors need to stand out from the crowd - it is essential to showcase their companies’ unique capabilities to the media to build up trust and reach an audience beyond the exhibition halls. We have shortlisted a few well-crafted IFA media elevator pitches (read in 30 seconds or less) from leading exhibitors such as Bosch as this offers useful reference points for others seeking to differentiate their own IFA positioning and communications strategy. Over 6,000 journalists attended the IFA last year. But most of these journalists are laser-focused on visiting a list of exhibitors to write the stories that win the highest number of reads and influence for their publications. So, it is essential to reach out to the relevant media before this exhibition to share why your story angles fit in well with their readers’ interests. PR Newswire has interviewed European technology media covering the IFA to help exhibitors enhance their press releases and media pitches. Messe Berlin, IFA Organizer What’s Hot – The 2019 IFA panel topics are not available yet. But the panel topics for CE Week offer a useful reference point as it was also organized by Messe Berlin in June this year: 5G Technology – How 5G Will Alter the Retail Landscape 5G Networks – The Keys to Smart City Growth 8K is Coming – What it Means and How to Sell It Designing for Tech – The Power of Partnerships (in a separate IFA Global Press Conference in April, IFA management stressed the focus on “co-innovation” as additional expertise from collaborators enrich ideas to deliver a superior customer experience). [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="249"] Jens Heithecker, Executive Director IFA[/caption] Awards at the IFA – Similar to the CES show, the IFA recognizes design excellence. The UX Design Awards 2019 recognizes the most innovative user-centric services, products and concepts. All nominated solutions will be displayed at a designated exhibition area and honored at a festive awards ceremony during the IFA show. User-centricity is a recurring theme at the IFA. According to Jens Heithecker, Executive Director IFA, “It is typical of the IFA that we not only talk about the latest technologies. Above all, we show what they bring to the consumer and how they are used from the consumer's point of view.” [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="250"] Dirk Koslowski, Director of IFA Berlin[/caption] Apart from technology, what else matters, Dirk Koslowski, Director of IFA Berlin – “In the field of technology, trust means solving problems for consumers and fulfilling their expectations, not just for a short period but from a long-term perspective.” PR Tip: Showcasing innovative technological solutions by itself is insufficient to win trust from new consumers. If exhibitors have local partners to help service these new consumers, highlight these partnerships in your communications materials. IFA Exhibitors Source: IFA Innovation Media Briefing Bosch Harald Friedrich, Managing Director Bosch has devoted particular attention to the topic of quiet household appliances. The results are the quietest washing machine in the world, the quietest dryer in the world, and the quietest dishwasher in the world. They are embedded in the Bosch Silence Edition. Samsung Electronics Dr. Thorsten Böker, Director of Product Management With Smart Things, Samsung is rethinking the Smart Home. The focus is on the user: the entire system is tailored to his needs. We want an open partner network. To this end, we work together with a large number of partners. Almost 5,000 device models from over 80 partner companies can be integrated into our modular concept. Many things can also be controlled via Bixby with voice commands. Jura Horst Nikolaus, Managing Director As a specialist for fully automatic coffee machines, Jura presents the further developed ena 8 with 2.8-inch color touch screen and artificial intelligence. An algorithm recognizes the personal preferences and automatically adjusts the start screen with the hot beverage selection. Also new is J.O.E. - Jura Operating Experience, which brings all the functions of Jura fully automatic machine operation to the smartphone, including voice control. Despite the brevity of these pitches (less than 70 words for each), they are well-crafted and generally adhere to the classic 5W1H (Who, What, When, Where, Why and How) in terms of composition. For example, Jura’s pitch contains: Who – Horst Nikolaus, Managing Director of Jura, who is making this pitch and can be quoted accordingly. What – He is pitching the ena 8 fully automatic coffee machine. When – Since this pitch was sent to journalists as part of IFA Innovation Media Briefing newsletter, it is implied that this coffee machine model will be featured at the IFA. Where – One area where Jura could have done better by stating whether this model is meant for home or commercial use. The smartphone functionality does hint it is probably used at home. Why – AI personalization and a “smarter” experience with machine operation through a smartphone. How – Delivering AI personalization and smartphone experience through a touchscreen and the new J.O.E operating system. The J.O.E acronym is a nice touch, as many coffee-lovers refer to coffee as a “cup of joe”. PR Tip: These media elevator pitches (read in 30 seconds or less) showcases a range of different styles. You may have noticed that the reading journalists may think of a headline easily, e.g. “Bosch launches the quietest household appliances in the world at the IFA” and select various story angles such as how Jura’s coffee machine delivers a more personalized cup of coffee through various features. The 5W1H guide works for other communications materials too! Keep this in mind as you craft communications materials such as press releases, brochures and videos. IFA Technology Media Source: PR Newswire Interviews Basic Tutorials, Languages: German and English Simon Lüthje, Editor-in-chief We are an official IFA Global Media Partner based in Germany. We specialize in news and tutorials from hardware, consumer electronics and games. Our readers seek deeper insights into the current state of the market as well as future technologies. We seek to prepare these insights in an interesting and understandable manner. Home Entertainment & VR, IT Hardware and Smart Home will be our focus at the upcoming IFA. Play3R, Language: English Craig Bartlett, Editor-in-chief We are based in the UK, reporting news and providing in-depth product reviews on PC technology such as peripherals and notebooks. Our news reviews are supplemented by our YouTube channel and live Twitch content. We appreciate relevant press releases as it means our audience won’t miss out on the latest news and product innovations. Virtual Perceptions, Language: English Tom Ffiske, Editor We are a leading UK-based website highlighting the exciting trends and companies in Immersive Reality (VR, AR, MR). We cover related topics, from what headset manufacturers are making, to the software that runs training simulations. Immersive technologies are impacting many industries, from medicine to the military, as well as creating new ways to play games. Readers seek to know about what is happening, and read long-form features on trends. Wareable Media Group, Language: English Paul Lamkin, Director We created Wareable in 2014 and are based in both the UK and the US. We are dedicated to wearable technology, with three consumer-facing websites, including Wareable, The Ambient and the newly-launched Get Sweat Go. Wareable helps people to get more from the things they love doing with wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. We’re excited to see how the smart home revolution evolves and what new wearables will be on show. As you can see, the media tends to position themselves precisely, e.g. immersive technology, wearables. Therefore, exhibitors need to be targeted in their media outreach, while explaining how their products are part of these ongoing trends to establish their credentials as journalists are keen to cover the latest trends and insights on future technology. PR Tip: Before the IFA, we recommend that exhibitors shortlist the relevant media in their target markets and reach out to these media through targeted, related and multi-lingual press releases with clearly-stated news hooks focusing on the “latest news and innovations” that are likely to deliver readership numbers. At the same time, you may tap on a media database such as Cision Communications Cloud to pitch to the relevant local media with the most significant interest in IFA coverage based on their attendance at the official news conference. Industry observers have noted that the IFA is all about making business deals (official estimates indicate over $5 billion in sales contracts are signed at every edition of the IFA), not buzz about prototypes that never ship. Media coverage is critical to building buzz and trust in businesses during this crucial period. Therefore, it is vital to plan a communications strategy that differentiates your brand while reaching out to journalists in a targeted manner. To learn more on how to leverage press releases and Cision Communications Cloud as part of your communications strategy, please get in touch with us at hkcs@prnasia.com!
A Quick Look at International Copyright Laws and How they Apply to your Press Releases
Is it possible that your press release could be criminal? If it ignores copyright laws, it is. Copyright law applies across international borders and we share how it can affect press releases and PR to avoid falling prey to the trap of stealing when all you might want to do is to borrow. Copyright is the protection of intellectual property. If someone or business holds the copyright of any intellectual property, others who use that intellectual property in certain capacities must get permission to do so. Some countries’ copyright laws are rather strict. Others are rather loose. Regardless, it’s important to know which areas all countries focus on. (Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash) Those most pertinent to the PR industry include: The right to translate The right to communicate the performance of a work in public The right to broadcast The right to make reproductions The right to use the work as a basis of an audiovisual work (Photo by Adil Ansari on Unsplash) What this means is that if your press release involves the ignoring of any of the above rights, your press release may be held liable for copyright infringement. So, what can you and your PR team do to avoid any problems? Get authorization. If the information in your release is borrowed from another source, you must receive authorization from the creator. Some key types of information that would require authorization: information from other media used in your release translations of information from another company or source data from another party’s research quotes from named individuals not affiliated with your company any other detail your company did not come by first-hand. Authorization is preemptive protection against copyright complaints, so be sure you have it. Create your audio-visual elements. The easiest way to avoid copyright infringement problems with audio-visual material in your release is to create it yourself. That way, you can guarantee you have the copyright. If, however, you use someone else’s photo, video, chart, screenshot, or any other image that you do not own the copyright to, you must have the authorization to use it in your release, just like other borrowed details. Take this chart for example: (PRNewsfoto/Cision) As it was created by PR Newswire, we would not need anyone else’s authorization to include it in our press release. However, if we wanted to include this chart in a press release: (From KPMG LLP release on prnewswire.com) We would need to get authorization from the original creator (KPMG LLP) to distribute it in our release because it does not belong to PR Newswire. If we distributed it in a press release without authorization from the creator, it could land us in legal trouble. Steer clear of these red flags of possible copyright infringement: quoting someone from another press release or another media including data, facts, or information from another source without properly citing the source using a photo you found on the internet screenshot image from a website or television program using charts from another party’s rankings, surveys, or studies Any of these actions could place you in the category of intellectual theft. (Photo by kat wilcox from Pexels) In short, copyright compliance across borders can be simple if you’re conscious of the laws. To borrow without stealing, you first must get authorization from the creator, then give credit to them in the release. It is a small yet effective way to maintain your company’s reputation. If you forget or purposely ignore copyright protections, you’re stealing, and theft of this type can lead to both legal and financial consequences, not to mention the massive damage to your company’s reputation. Just be aware of what you can and can’t do and be knowledgeable about how and why to give credit to those whose work you may include in your PR so that your release is copyright safe! To practice what we preach, here are our sources of information for this post: https://www.rightsdirect.com/international-copyright-basics/ https://www.wipo.int/portal/en/index.html PS: The photos included in this blog are all from the Fair Use photo sites Pexels and Unsplash Photo 1: https://unsplash.com/photos/GJao3ZTX9gU Photo 2: https://unsplash.com/photos/2vzy1ZvfV8A Photo 3: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cision-2019-state-of-the-media-report-reveals-a-decline-in-distrust-of-the-media-and-growing-concerns-about-staffing-and-resources-300835924.html Photo 4: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kpmg-2019-cco-survey-identifies-ethics-and-compliance-areas-for-enhancement-300836550.html Photo 5: https://www.pexels.com/photo/crime-scene-do-not-cross-signage-923681/
Content PR for Hotels: How to Craft and Distribute Stories that Resonate
Since the middle of this year, Google has been launching several new ad types that occupy more space on screens. This means less space for organic (non-paid) results to appear and makes appearing on the top of search results more vital. Search engine optimization (SEO) helps achieve this by helping marketers format content so that it moves toward the top of the search engine results page (SERP). As competition heats up in terms of paid ads and SERP, we believe that content PR – a mixture of content marketing and PR – will play an increasingly important role. PR complements hotels’ content marketing which traditionally seeks to drive thought leadership, nurture customer trust and distributed on owned media. Content marketing is also about distribution Content marketing is not just about creating content which entertains, inspires and educates, it’s also about distribution. If a hotel has created a signature dining experience that features an ocean view from Bali's longest oceanfront infinity swimming pool, it is a good idea to distribute such content through press releases so that the relevant travel publications write about it (earned media) to reach a wider audience. Ocean-view dining experience. Source: The Mulia, Mulia Resort & Villas - Nusa Dua, Bali Another technique that marketers use to get ahead of the competition is to create content which attracts travel industry media coverage which increases traffic to hotel websites in several ways. For example, it associates content on the hotel website with established publications. For example, if a hotel posts an article on its site about a visiting celebrity chef and a link to the article appears on a popular travel blog, a direct link to the article on the hotel site is likely to move toward the top of the SERP. Finally, hotel content included in articles on popular travel industry sites has a greater potential to be shared on social media. Content shared on social media provides the hotel with additional distribution channels that also serve as social endorsements. How do hotels get started with content PR So, how can hotel marketers produce content which attracts media interest? 1) Assemble the relevant keywords First off, hotel marketers need to know and use travel industry keywords on their hotel website and content to improve SERP ranking and earn more organic traffic. Keywords are the words and phrases which consumers use to research their interests and future purchases via search engines. While keywords are commonly used words, they are often different from the words used by industry professionals. For example, a hotel chain in Malaysia might consider themselves a 'budget hotel', but when searching, people use the term 'cheap hotel' instead. Content optimized for SEO would then use the keyword 'cheap' instead of 'budget' when describing the hotel so that the words in the headline and body copy match the words used by the searcher. This helps searchers find the content they are looking for and can improve the SERP rank of the article's link. To find relevant industry keywords, marketers can start by searching on words related to their brand's positioning in Google and tap on specialized keyword research to build and organize keyword lists. 2) Create a content calendar Next, marketers should make sure that they are following a content calendar (see the PR Newswire version for reference). Marketers may use content calendars to plan the topics they will cover over the next month or two so that the brand website will always have a wide variety of content for site visitors, encouraging them to return. Content calendars also ensure that key, upcoming regional events and holidays are covered in advance, making it more likely that links to the hotel site appear when people search for information about them. Overall, content calendars help marketers create content which is consistently fresh and relevant - two qualities which make it more interesting to journalists. 3) Conduct media research Marketers should also review other industry sites and publications to discover trending topics in the travel industry. These might include information about tourist sites or local food and beverage trends. As part of this process, marketers will also become more familiar with topics favored by journalists who write for travel industry publications. 4) Build and showcase owned media assets After producing content based on previous keyword and media research, it is time to showcase it in an owned media section on the hotel's website. This section should include media assets like an image library, themed slideshows, newspaper clippings, and social media widgets which make it easy for people to find and share your content on Facebook, Instagram and other popular platforms. Additionally, once the hotel has media coverage, marketers can create a 'hotel newsroom' which highlights press coverage and encourages social media sharing. The newsroom should also include press releases which syndicate the latest brand news to reach global and regional audiences. The Newsroom section of Design Hotels’ website is a great example of how a hospitality brand may organize its owned media to make it easier for journalists to write about this brand. There, this boutique hotel specialist has assembled a library of owned and earned media assets, including image libraries and themed slideshows, some of which has been included in articles and shared on social media by leading industry publications like Condé Nast Traveler and Sleeper Magazine. Design Hotels’ Newsroom 5) Engage with industry journalists Developing content for search engines and creating a central repository for owned media is a good start, but it is typically not enough to generate media interest on its own. Marketers should also get to know the journalists who focus on the travel industry and plan how they will get their attention. Tools such as the Cision Communication Cloud helps marketers search for journalists who cover the travel industry, including the print media. “The traveling or hospitality experience is a lot about being exposed to fantastic images, and to be honest, I think for really brilliant images, you can only really see them when they’re in print media,” says Kai Simon, Design Hotels Director of Public Relations. “We also pitch stories that consider larger issues, like why sustainability has become so important in Tanzania and how one of our hotel properties supports that initiative.” This helps to create a 'VIP list' of journalists who write for targeted publications and to understand how each journalist uses brand media in their work. Armed with this information, marketers will then be prepared to tailor personalized pitches and be more successful when seeking to schedule one-on-one meetings with journalists to build rapport. As building relationships with relevant journalists is an integral component of any content PR strategy, you may download the following Media Pitching Manual for additional tips based on insights derived from Cision's 2019 State of the Media Report. About the Writer Jeff Rajeck is a researcher, writer, trainer, and consultant for Econsultancy and Click Academy in Asia-Pacific, based in Singapore. With a background in finance and analytics, Jeff is a regular contributor to the Econsultancy blog and frequently provides consulting services for Asia’s largest brands on marketing trends, best practices, and analytics.
A 360 View on the Malaysian Property Market - Interview with Christopher Prasad
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="191"] Christopher Prasad[/caption] Christopher Prasad is the Managing Editor of a Property News Portal. He shares, “The trick (for PR professionals) is to not see yourself as a ‘PR agency’, but a ‘news source’.” 1. Tell us about your news website. How & when did you decide to start Property360Online? Poperty360online was established by a team of ex-newspaper journalists who began to see the limitations of the print medium as a platform for sharing property news. While the print medium has sufficient coverage about new launches and recent transactional activity, this only served those who were already well-versed in the property market and alienated many who were in various stages of professional and income growth that required information that was education-centric, whilst also referencing current market conditions. They need information that’s instant and can specifically be searched for. On the flip side, most existing websites at the time were commercially focused on listings with limited news on property tips, laws or socio-economic factors that impact the market. About two years ago, we decided to help bridge this gap with a property news site that focused on issues, tips and financial information so that consumers would be empowered with knowledge, be aware of their rights and make informed decisions. 2. What sparked your interest in the property sector? My personal journey towards property journalism wasn’t a direct one. I began as a travel journalist for various lifestyle magazine before deciding to move into mainstream news with a national newspaper. Given my educational background in commerce, I was reluctantly corralled towards business-related news, joining the PropertyTimes team which was headed by (the now legendary) Andrew Wong. It was in this period of journalistic development that I began to appreciate that property was an interesting mixture of “head” and “heart”. While the decision to buy a property is largely governed by financial consideration, the actual choice of a property is undeniably an emotional one that involves personality, psychology and individual aspiration. 3. You were previously serving at New Straits Times, one of the top newspapers in Malaysia, for 16 years. From your media experiences, what are some of the best journalist practices you have come across? Anything PR professionals should avoid doing? Most of my time was spent at the property desk at NST, where I began as a senior writer and eventually became the associate editor. I also had a three-year spell as news editor for the Cars, Bikes, Trucks section of Sunday Times (which was inevitably very exciting for anyone with male chromosomes). In both cases, I was very fortunate to benefit from the influence of veteran journalists who consistently reminded us, through their actions, that it was the truth that mattered first – no matter how inconvenient it may be to the reader (or indeed the publication). Our job was to inform, despite our personal opinions, and that was how we served the public best (even at the expense of our popularity). I think there was a real sense of public duty with that generation of journalists, which I must say is sadly becoming endangered in this “trending” and “viral” age. The truth is, news that is important to you may not always be news you want to hear… but you nevertheless must. Is there anything PR professionals should avoid doing? I actually think there has been a marked improvement in the relationship between PR agencies and news publishers in recent years. This probably comes from a better understanding of spatial constraints that publishers face, and it is no longer a question of doing each other “favors” or building a “rapport” when it comes to running a piece. The importance of newsworthiness has become a key priority, and PR companies understand this now more than ever because we live in a highly competitive environment of instant news. So long as PR professionals understand that our selection of news items to run will always gravitate towards subjects that matter to the most -- to the most number of people -- at any given time (remember, our game is readership), and if they continue to innovate their angles to serve this purpose, then there is a high likelihood that news outlets will be keen to develop a healthy long-term relationship with them. The trick is to not see yourself as a “PR agency”, but a “news source”. 4. How would you describe a reader of Property360Online? What kind of information can readers expect to obtain from your news website? First and foremost, we cover breaking news of economic, legal and social significance to the property market and consumers. Beyond that, we look at opinions regarding policy and market direction. We are selective about featuring newly launched properties, choosing to highlight those that address an overlooked market, or those that are breaking new barriers in terms of design or ideology, or provide an investment opportunity that people should really be looking at. We try to be people-centric with our reporting, with a focus on “how this impacts you” always in mind, but we also try to keep them abreast with the latest property and lifestyle trends, design innovations and environmentally conscious perspectives that might define the future. We don’t like to think of our readers as people who are keen on property, but rather people who are keen on improving their quality of life through their choice of property. 5. What should PR professionals take note of when pitching to Property360Online? That we prefer to approach the subject with the human element in mind – how does this product/innovation/legislation/point of view contribute and/or impact individuals, lifestyle aspirants or society as a whole? 6. What kind of challenges do you foresee in the digital media environment within the Property sector? To be honest, the main challenge I see is the quality of information that is out there. Some of the property information that is being shared needs to be questioned by virtue of its source. The “property gurus” can be informative, but many have a stake in the properties they are singing praises about, property listings sites have a sales quota to meet, and even property social media forums (while genuinely reflecting the views of buyers) can sometimes be overrun by disgruntled consumers with a “Scorched Earth” policy. It’s important to fall back on third-party objective information, but with so many alternative sources of information out there it is becoming harder for the average online reader to decide which is which. The challenge for a genuine digital media outlet these days is to always stand out as “the adult in the room”. Why is that hard? Because the alternative, while sometimes inaccurate, is almost always more entertaining. 7. What other types of Property-related programs/projects have you participated in? I tend to shy away from public talks, if that’s what you mean. I do not believe it is a journalist’s role to preach property, because then our reporting becomes less objective and more opinionated (plus, I’m ironically media-shy). However, I have conducted inhouse media workshops with property developers to help promote more effective engagement between the two entities, and recently, I have been working on content for two documentaries that focus on the history of the Malaysian building landscape. While it is too early to go into detail about this, I can say that one of these documentaries is produced by a major online news portal in Malaysia and will probably be out by mid next year. I have also consulted on a few property-related books in the last few years. One interesting upcoming book that I helped work on is authored by a former head of the Fire & Rescue Services, Datuk Dr Soh Chai Hok. I’m excited to see this hit the shelves before the end of the year. It will provide a vivid account of the fire department’s history, walking you through some of the worst urban disasters we’ve faced and the heroism of our firemen and firewomen. As you can tell, I’m a big fan of history. 8. What kind of changes can we expect to see in the Property landscape in Asia in the years to come? That’s a million-dollar question. Unfortunately, there are many geopolitical factors in play here that has already taken some of the investment luster away from Asian property markets. However, Asians will likely look inwards to bolster cross-border investments, and property could be a likely beneficiary of big-ticket infrastructure projects. Time will tell. In terms of innovation, however, I foresee seismic progress in the near future. Strangely, the impact of a turbulent regional economy is driving more effective and cost-efficient building concepts. Asia is also witnessing some of the largest urban migrations in the world, and given that it is the most populated continent, we will likely soon be home to the largest megacities on the planet in the next 20 years – which is precisely why innovation will determine the quality of our future. The good news is town and city planners across the region have been anticipating this, and urban farming, vertical forests, subterranean living facilities are all quickly becoming a reality. These next few years will be very interesting in terms of new building concepts and new living philosophies, and that will be thoroughly riveting to write about. As a point of pride, however, Asians are also beginning to lead the way with green building innovations. This consideration is going hand-in-hand with the futuristic urban visions that are coming to the fore. 9. How has the content partnership that you’ve established with PR Newswire benefited your website? It has added a wonderful new dimension to the news that can be accessed via our site, with a broadened perspective on market movement beyond our borders, which ultimately impacts the entire region. We also find that many professionals within the property industry that frequent our site appreciate insights into what other regional players are doing, probably gleaning some very valuable ideas to apply to their own business and products. I’m a big fan myself, because it gives me a comparative view of how our market is doing against others. This blog post is contributed by Christine Pereira, Senior Audience Development Executive at PR Newswire. Christine is in charge of partnerships, expanding our media network, organizing our bi-annual Media Coffee events, conducting media interviews, and other company-wide projects for the Malaysian market. You can contact her at christine.pereira@prnasia.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.
PR Newswire Vietnam Marks First Anniversary – An Inside Look at Vietnam’s Economy, Media Landscape and PR Tips
In conjunction with PR Newswire Vietnam’s first anniversary of its establishment on June 14, 2019, our local team offers an inside look at Vietnam’s dynamic economy, its media landscape, and PR tips. To mark PR Newswire Vietnam’s first anniversary, two of its team members, Mai Anh Le, Country Manager, and Vũ Thái Dũng (Vincent), Media Relations Manager, joins me to share their views on Vietnam’s dynamic economy and its media landscape. For background information, PR Newswire Vietnam was established on June 14, 2018, and grown to a close-knit five-member team based in Ho Chi Minh City focusing on business development and developing our local news release distribution network. Vietnam’s Economy According to a DBS Bank research report published in May 2019, Vietnam occupies an important place in the regional supply chain and enjoys an extensive network of free trade agreements. With strong foreign direct investment (FDI) from China and Hong Kong in the first four months of 2019, it is estimated that Vietnam has the potential to grow by about 6-6.5% in the medium term. Vietnam recorded remarkable GDP growth of 7.1% in 2018. This makes it the second fastest amongst Asian economies. This economic growth is fueled by FDI especially in electronics manufacturing where Vietnam has captured market share from its regional rivals as seen below. With an estimated population of about 97 million in 2019, Vietnam is the 15th most populous country in the world. The 15-to-64 age bracket accounts for 70% of the population and is a key demographic for B2C brands. As many young people are moving to big cities where more jobs are available, Vietnam’s urban population is expected to grow by 2.6% annually from 2015 to 2020, the highest rate among its regional peers. “Vietnam is a vibrant country with a bright economic future. We have witnessed a remarkable improvement in consumer consciousness with greater awareness of innovation and quality. This provides an opening for new innovative products as well as high-quality services”, Mai Anh Le said. Vietnam’s Media Landscape Vincent Vu pointed to the Kantar Worldpanel chart published in 2018 as a start for international brands to understand Vietnamese audiences: As population density and economic development levels vary between regions, the optimal media channels mix will be different. Therefore, companies should always plan their media mix based on their audience segmentation. In urban areas, the time spent on TV is higher than online – the second largest channel. In rural areas, although smartphone penetration is increasing, the coverage of online channels is still less than half that of TV – 95% for TV vs 45% for the Internet in rural areas. In Vietnam’s four biggest cities (Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Danang and Can Tho), Newspaper (33 percent coverage) and Magazine (16 percent coverage) are still effective means of communication for brands to reach their objectives. In terms of PR tips for companies new to Vietnam, the PR Newswire Vietnam team shared a few points: (1) In Vietnam, 95 percent of internet users watch video on mobile. Video content is often consumed and shared socially on both private and public networks. It is vital for companies to communicate vivid multimedia messages that differentiate their brand while attracting attention and shares. (2) For company-related information, local journalists tend to be meticulous fact-checkers to avoid errors that may affect the reputation of their newsroom or companies. Therefore, it is a good strategy to update company websites and share company news through press releases to facilitate such fact-checking and win additional media exposure opportunities. There are over a thousand press outlets covering many industries in Vietnam and this number continues to grow. Business news is the most closely monitored type of news for the local press. The PR Newswire Vietnam team shared a list of some of the leading business media in Vietnam: The PR Newswire Advantage PR Newswire Vietnam has seen a significant increase in demand for news dissemination channels from global customers sending corporate news to the Vietnam market, as well as from Vietnamese companies sending news globally. In the past year, the team has also been very passionate about helping Vietnamese companies learn more about telling a global brand story. These activities include a Media Coffee session (offering attendees a chance to hear from invited journalists), a content planning workshop, training days to share global communications tips and agency sharing sessions. Mai Anh Le shared that, “Our PR Newswire product range is well-suited to the needs of a globalizing company, from multimedia news releases to media monitoring services and media database to help them tell a compelling story in target markets across the world. In Dec 2018, our team was thrilled to facilitate the first Vietnamese companies, comprising leading homegrown jewelry and hospitality brands, unveil their videos on the Times Square screen in New York. In addition, a wide range of local companies, from world-class food manufacturers to Vietnam’s largest telecom company to innovative tech start-ups, have chosen to tap on our product range to speed up their globalization journey.” “In terms of the number of Vietnamese journalists and media, our team has extended our distribution network across various industry verticals and media types. Well-known publications such as The Saigon Times, VN Express and VN Ngay Nay are our partners. In addition, the number of partnering media has increased by almost 100 percent on a year-to-year basis. This means that we can offer international companies better local language coverage to optimize their audience reach”, said Vincent Vu. To learn more about telling your company’s story to a Vietnamese or global audience, please get in touch with our team at asia.marketing@prnasia.com.
June 2019 PR Calendar Cheat Sheet - Father's Day, World Environment Day, World Ocean Day and International Yoga Day
June is an important milestone in a year where many of us will take stock of our year so far. It is also a good time for PR professionals to review their communications campaigns and make the appropriate adjustments. Without further ado, let us take a look at June’s PR Calendar. To recap, this monthly calendar feature seeks to help businesses plan ahead to launch the right campaigns at the right time when the media is looking out for certain types of stories. June’s Key Festivals and Exhibitions 1：International Children’s Day 5：Hari Raya Aidilfitri, World Environment Day 6：World Ocean Day, Memorial Day (South Korea) 7：Dragon Boat Festival 14：World Blood Donor Day 16：Father’s Day 21：International Yoga Day 23：Olympic Day 26：International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking 30：World Festival of Youth and Students Recommended (ranked in order of relevancy) Father’s Day（16th June）（⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐） Father’s Day is a day to celebrate fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the role of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June. To mark this occasion, there is major spending that goes on. Therefore, it is worth the effort to market and position your brand or product as a unique Father’s Day gift. Our team looked at the insights our Cision Communications Cloud offered about “Father’s Day” global media coverage within the past 90 days (28th Feb - 29th May 2019). It turns out that since the middle of May, there was a sharp spike in media coverage for this keyword, particularly from online consumer and consumer blog sites. Such a seasonal spike was often seen in previous years as well. With strong online interest, there is no surprise that many media outlets offer content that involves lists of gifts to get for dad. But if we step back and think a little bit deeper, brands that take the extra step to promote their product that create a stronger emotional bond between consumers are more likely to be remembered. Here are a few of our favorite Father’s Day campaigns: (1) Organize a contest to curate memorable user-generated content (UGC): Haggar Clothing Company, a U.S-based apparel brand, tapped on a press release in March 2019 to kickstart its “Hall of Fame” dad contest, and promoted it on social media channels for over a month to call on wives and children to nominate the great dads and father figures in their lives by sharing their stories, videos and photos. UGC is a great choice for brands as when consumers see brand fans featured in the content, they’re 28% more likely to engage with that content. In addition, Haggar was able to curate the best UGC (see Facebook post below) and shared it with their brand fans after the contest ended at the end of April. The combination of authentic images and heart-warming stories, e.g. a father who spent 40 straight days in a hospital as his son fought multiple life-threatening lung complications, also won earned media coverage as these were great human-interest features. This is a fantastic example of how earned and social media can work in tandem for optimal effect over the course of a longer campaign. Source: Haggar Clothing Co Facebook (2) Limited-offer giveaways that promote time with dad: Jim Beam Black Bourbon launched The Bonding Over Bourbon Experience campaign through a press release to offer fans of legal drinking age to treat their fathers to a weekend away in the birthplace of bourbon, Kentucky. Though such offers are limited in number, Jim Beam successfully linked its product to bonding with fathers and subtly positioned its product as a gift idea. Source: Jim Beam press release World Environment Day and World Ocean Day（5th & 6th June respectively）（⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐） World Environment Day aims to inspire people to act to prevent the growing strain on planet Earth’s natural ecosystems from reaching a breaking point. World Ocean Day seeks to educate more people about the oceans and realize the importance of ocean conservation. Both occasions are good opportunities for CSR. In our earlier article on Winning Partnerships: Positioning Your Company Behind the Right CSR Causes, we shared that brands that have succeeded in CSR, tend to invest long-term in focus areas based on their own product characteristics and community needs. If you have missed this article earlier, you may wish to read it to learn how companies such as Dilmah, Honeywell and GAC have successfully leveraged on the right CSR causes to burnish their brands. International Yoga Day（21th June）（⭐⭐⭐） The first International Day of Yoga was observed around the world on 21st June 2015, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, after Mr. Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister of India, made this proposal to the U.N during a 2014 speech. As International Yoga Day is relatively young, this occasion is now observed in many Asian countries such as China, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. For many hospitality businesses, it is an opportune time to unveil rejuvenating yoga packages. In South Korea, yoga fans prefer to participate at home with the help of various videos, and the sales of yoga mats have boomed. At PR Newswire, we have also observed that many hospitality destinations’ press releases are promoting yoga classes as part of their list of guest experiences as they seek to appeal to a health-conscious and discerning segment. There are more than 200 festivals and important exhibitions in 2019. If you want to find out additional details, please click on the picture to view our public relations calendar for 2019.
China's Advertising Law isn't a Paper Tiger! How to Stay Creative and in Compliance
Since its introduction in 2015, China’s Advertising Law has been gaining greater “bite” with the most recent revision in 2018 expanding the coverage and potential penalties of the relevant statutes for false and misleading advertisements. Against this backdrop, companies need to pay greater attention to their advertising copy to avoid incurring sky-high penalties and the associated negative brand impact. On November 15, 2018, Beijing Bureau of Industry and Commerce (Haidian branch) penalized “Guazi”, a digital marketplace specializing in second-hand cars, for making a false advertising claim, "One year after establishment, our transaction volume is leading the market" and imposed a fine of 12.5 million yuan. In another update, the General Administration of Market Supervision and Administration issued a public announcement on January 17, 2019. In response to the public response to potential violations of the "CCTV National Brand Plan", this announcement states that it is a violation of Advertising Law for companies to use terms that invoke China’s national image to promote their products. According to the official statistics, the top five violations of Advertising Law involve false advertisements, absolute terms, investment assurances, medical efficacy assurances, and misleading consumers. When enterprises falsely promote their products or services, apart from violation of Advertising Law, they may also be in violation of the Fair Competition Protection Law, the Consumer Rights Protection Law, the Copyright Law, the Anti-monopoly Law and the General Principles of Civil Law. Advertising Law regulates advertisers, publishers, spokespersons, digital information service providers, demand-side platforms, media platforms, and advertising information exchange platforms. With so many stakeholders involved, it is clear that the complexity of staying in compliance with the relevant regulations is an urgent priority and companies need to enhance their procedures if they haven’t done so yet. Avoiding false advertisements Let’s discuss a few of the top violations of Advertising Law. So what’s a “false advertisement”? False advertisements are flagged by relevant authorities when they assess "whether there is an intention to mislead consumers or cause a substantial impact on rational consumers". In an actual example, a company states in its product range documentation that its washing powder products are not suitable for washing silk and down clothing, but in the promotion of a new washing powder product, the label indicates this product "meets all the daily needs of laundry". The relevant authorities indicated that this is a false claim in relation to the product performance and usage which is likely to mislead consumers and levied a fine of 150,000 yuan on this company. Absolute terms are legal minefields Advertising Law stipulates that advertisement copy shall not use terms such as "National level", "Highest level", "Best" when describing a company’s product. To stay in compliance, marketers should seek to avoid using such absolute language. If it is unavoidable, the description of the subject matter should be specific, and marketers must be prepared to defend such claims. For example, when a company says that it is the "largest" company in the industry, the relevant authorities may question whether "the largest" refers to "the largest volume of business" or "the largest number of customers". Questions may also be asked what data is used when making such a claim and whether this data is recognized as being authoritative and objective. If a company cannot defend such claims, it is deemed to have used absolute terms in violation of Advertising Law and will face a fine of over 200,000 yuan. Some companies handle the usage of absolute terms more skilfully by adding "possibly" before the use of "best" terms. When Carlsberg Beer initially launched its slogan "Probably the best beer in the world" and subsequently changed to "Spending 170 years to create better beer". The low-key and precise wording highlights the long heritage of Carlsberg’s brand while underlining its commitment to a superior product. In our opinion, this is a fine example of carefully thought-out and effective advertising copy. Absolute investment assurances are a big no-no Article 25 of the Advertising Law stipulates that advertisements for investment products with non-guaranteed returns must include reasonable warnings about possible risks, and must not contain guarantees on future returns, nor shall they make references or recommendations in relation to academic institutions, trade associations, and investment professionals. For example, the financial institutions that describe their product as providing a "yield of more than 10%", or real estate companies whose brochures indicate "good annualized return rate of more than 6%", have made specific promises on investment returns. This is a violation of Advertising Law and companies should describe their products objectively and carefully when doing such promotion to stay in compliance with the relevant regulations. Medical efficacy assurances invite unnecessary regulatory scrutiny In an actual example, a local medical organization carried the following text on its website: "The success rate of this treatment is 95%, requiring a one-time dosage of our natural and safe prescription. Our patients face no recurrence, no drug resistance, and few side effects". It was ordered to stop publishing such text and fined over 200,000 yuan for violating many provisions of the Advertising Law. Pharmaceutical and health products companies should not exaggerate their promotions. Marketers in these companies should review their own content - If there are any guarantees of efficacy and safety in articles, describing the success rate or efficiency, comparing the efficacy and safety of drugs, or using spokespersons, patients, research institutions, to make product recommendations, then you should be making immediate rectifications! Press releases are a common way for companies to publish and publicize news about themselves. The essence of a press release is "news", sticking to the classic 5W1H (Who, What, When, Where, Why and How) to impart news elements and timeliness. In our opinion, it should not be written like an advertisement, with an obvious promotional intent or worse, incorporating absolute terms. If a press release incorporates absolute terms, it will be subject to the Advertising Law, which may lead to large fines and negatively impact brand reputation, and even implicate a company’s press release service providers. We suggest that companies make data or research-based product claims, review the appropriateness of their content, the accuracy of expression, and whether product claims can withstand the scrutiny of the relevant authorities to avoid unintentionally violating the Advertising Law. To ensure that your press release is in compliance with the Advertising Law, the Editorial Department of PR Newswire has compiled a checklist for easy reference: Does your release invoke the national image to promote your company, such as the national flag, national anthem, and international organizations? Does your release contain absolute terms, such as "national level", "highest level", "best"? Does your release contain too many superlatives to describe your products? Does your release contain content that may be detrimental to the public interest, social stability, and social norms? Does your release contain content that may violate personal property rights or privacy? Does your release contain content that may involve pornography, superstition, terror, and violence? Does your release describe situations that involve discrimination? Does your release describe situations that are harmful to the environment? Does your release describe situations that are prohibited by China’s laws and regulations? Taking a step back, China’s Advertising Law is not unique as other nations such as the U.S also seek to protect consumers from fraud and deception in the marketplace. Compliance with this law provides a legal framework for companies in China to promote themselves and facilitate fair competition. With a combination of creativity, careful verification, and objective wording, companies may tell their stories in a personalized, sincere and appealing manner.
Seeking to Stand Out from the Crowd? Why a Tailored PR Calendar is a must-have for Content Marketing & SEO Success
As a marketer, are you frustrated by your team producing great blog content but not being able to drive views and engagement? You are not alone – a research study tracks a million articles and results show that 50 percent receive 8 social media shares or fewer and 75 percent achieved zero referring domain links. So how do marketers boost their blog traffic without paying for the “sugar rush” of paid traffic that is unsustainable over the longer-run? To boost organic traffic, your content must be more relevant and deliver value to your readers so that these blog posts show up in search engine results when they do a keyword search. This is critical as there are over 5 million blog posts written each day. Our own experience, shared by 52 percent of B2B marketers, is that using a calendar to plan content is an effective way to produce relevant, consistent and valuable material. Content calendars help allocate resources, keep content 'on brand' and generate new ideas while reducing the stress levels of the content marketing team. Content calendars also play a critical role in optimizing press coverage opportunities: A resounding 65 percent of journalists admitted that audience metrics, such as views and engagement, had changed the way they evaluate potential stories. This means that journalists are more likely to republish your carefully crafted content or use it as a source for their stories if it relates to an ongoing festival or big exhibition that attracts views and shares. This boosts your company’s SEO as media and publishing websites have the highest average domain authority, with a study showing that technology companies with more than five media placements per month earn a 29 percent higher share of traffic from search engines. Ranking higher on SERP According to Advanced Web Ranking, the top positions on Google's search engine result pages (SERP) account for more than 50 percent of clicks. So, in addition to following a calendar, marketers also need to deliver content which will appear higher on Google's SERP or they risk wasting their valuable time and effort writing material which few will read. However, ranking high on Google, which services over 90 percent of searches globally, isn't easy. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become quite complicated over the years and recent updates by Google mean that many techniques which used to work are no longer effective. To find the most up-to-date SEO techniques which work, marketers should always consult Google itself. The company's Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide provides many tips for improving rank, but there is one which stands out for content marketers. In the Best Practices section, Google tells marketers to avoid 'rehashing' existing content and instead 'create fresh, unique content' to earn a higher rank on Google's SERP. What is a PR calendar? For those who are new to this concept, a public relations (PR) calendar is a collection of important dates for a particular market such as public holidays, memorial days and even industry conferences. Marketers can build their own PR calendar by thoroughly researching a target market, or they can adapt an existing one. One example for marketers in the Asia region is PR Newswire's PR calendar. This calendar contains the dates for a wide range of holidays and events which have been curated for an Asian audience - and it can form the basis for a new, tailored 'PR-powered' content calendar to produce ‘fresh, unique content’ that is in line with Google’s SEO guidelines. Creating a tailored PR calendar Even a quick glance of a PR calendar reveals that there are events happening somewhere in Asia almost every day of the month. Marketers, therefore, shouldn't aim to link their content with every event on a PR calendar. Instead, they should 'tailor' the PR calendar and only use the events which are relevant to their brand and, more importantly, their audience. To start, marketers should first become familiar with the types of events recorded on PR calendars. These include: Public holidays International days, promoted by organizations to draw attention to their causes Memorial days Festivals - both commercial and public Conferences Then, marketers should gauge the potential impact of each event on their customers' searches. When evaluating company-specific content for these events, key reference points may include the volume of searches of targeted keywords and tracking competitor activity for targeted keywords. Public holidays are probably the most likely to be searched, but they will also have the most competition and be difficult to rank for. Festivals, conferences and international days may have lower search volumes but could be popular with a market segment. Finally, marketers should assess which events tie in well with their brand and focus their efforts on them. Many B2C brands are likely to do well with widely known, public holidays especially when people are searching for a seasonal gift. B2B brands, on the other hand, may wish to focus on conferences, festivals and, events which are relevant to their industry. In particular, B2B brands may monitor and shortlist trending topics after a flagship event in their industry. These topics may then be featured in content for upcoming events in these brands’ PR calendar. And international days could be used by any brand as the basis of content to link the brand with a cause its company supports. Combining PR and content at Microsoft Asia In 2014, Microsoft Asia launched the Microsoft Asia News Center and transformed its PR into a newsroom model, integrating its PR outreach, including earned media coverage, with content in its owned media. The regional headquarters now delivers content through several different micro-sites: Microsoft Asia News Center Microsoft Asia Blog Topic-specific sites such as Education Asia Through these sites, Microsoft leverages a PR calendar and infuses its own content in a variety of tailored events: Type of event Description & Relevance Screenshots and Images Conferences Shares how developers may leverage technologies showcased at Microsoft Build 2019, its annual developer conference, to create intelligent solutions. International days Highlight on Global Accessibility Awareness Day how Microsoft’s Seeing AI project is assisting people who are blind. Regional holidays In the spirit of Ramadan, an important local festival, Microsoft Malaysia recently distributed Buka Puasa and Hari Raya goodies to the Kuala Lumpur Traffic Police. Microsoft Asia adopted a PR/content model where its content production model combines PR with content marketing while amplifying reach with press releases for signature events such as Microsoft Build. This combination has allowed Microsoft to progressively reach and engage a much larger audience. In 2017, three years after launching the newsroom model, WARC reports that Microsoft Asia sites had doubled its 2016 results, with its sites receiving more than 580,000 page views and 440,000 unique visitors. Delivering value to readers A tailored PR calendar will ensure no surprises so that you won’t be scrabbling around at last minute to get content together for a certain festival. You will also be better prepared for big industry events. And you will have the lead-time to optimize your content and its engagement, making your PR and SEO efforts much more effective. Always ensure, though, that the PR calendar-infused content that you create is delivering value for your readers. There is little point in aiming to improve your SEO with fresh content, only to be penalized by Google for delivering poorly-written content. Do get in touch with us at hkcs@prnasia.com if you have any questions or comments about how integrating a PR calendar into your content plan improves SEO and drives more traffic to your site! About the Writer Jeff Rajeck is a researcher, writer, trainer, and consultant for Econsultancy and Click Academy in Asia-Pacific, based in Singapore. With a background in finance and analytics, Jeff is a regular contributor to the Econsultancy blog and frequently provides consulting services for Asia’s largest brands on marketing trends, best practices, and analytics.
May 2019 PR Calendar Cheat Sheet - Mother's Day, Start of Ramadan and Computex
To optimize businesses’ earned media coverage from press releases, it is essential to plan ahead to launch the right campaigns at the right time when the media is looking out for certain types of stories. Let us take stock of May’s PR Calendar and share why May goes beyond Labour Day and Mother’s Day. When we think about the festivals for the month of May, Labour Day and Mother’s Day tend to crop up first in our mind. Let us take stock of May’s PR Calendar and share why May offers far more than these two festivals. To recap, this monthly calendar feature seeks to help businesses plan ahead to launch the right campaigns at the right time when the media is looking out for certain types of stories. May’s Key Festivals and Exhibitions 1：Labour Day 3：World Press Freedom Day 6：Start of Ramadan 7：World Asthma Day 8：World Red Cross Day 12：Mother’s Day, Buddha’s Birthday (Hong Kong) 15: International Day of Families 20：Vesak Day (Singapore and Malaysia) 28：Computex Taipei 2019 31：Non-Smoking Day, 2019 Asia Pacific Stevie Awards Recommended (ranked in order of relevancy) Mother’s Day（12th May）（⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐） The second Sunday of May marks Mother’s Day in many countries around the world. Mother's Day is a time of commemoration and celebration for mothers, a time of breakfast in bed, family gatherings, and scribbled notes written by appreciative children and spouses. Our team took a peek at what insights Google Trends offered about “Mother’s Day” for global searches made within the past 30 days. It turns out that since the middle of April, there was a sharp spike in searches for this keyword. Such a seasonal spike was often seen in previous years as well. With strong online interest, many brands, especially flowers, cosmetics, chocolate, and jewelry brands, often offer special products and promotions during this period. But there’s quite a difference between telling a story that resonates versus a product promotion. Here’s a couple of our favorites from industries that may surprise you: Industry Vertical Activities and Topics Case Studies Mobile Applications Special features to encourage users to put their own spin on Mother’s Day and share on social media. Meitu, the photo enhancement app, has rolled out new AR effects, frames and magic pen features for Mother's Day. Property Development Organize fun activities for families while giving them a chance to interact with diverse groups of people. Over 100 Sino Club and Hong Kong Single Parents Association members gathered for a fun day of children opera performances, green workshops and eco-activities. Healthcare Host a unique charity event to raise awareness of breast cancer. The Kinnet, a wellness center dedicated to active aging, hosted an event for participants to pledge money to walk, jog or run for up to 3.5 km. All proceeds will benefit the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation. Source: Meitu Start of Ramadan（6th May）（⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐） Ramadan takes place between May 06 and June 05, 2019. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which is spent by Muslims fasting from dawn to sunset, and marked with additional prayers. Although energy during the day may be low, Ramadan is a festive time in Asia with night bazaars, family gatherings, games, and special treats. At the end of Ramadan, there is a celebration. This celebration is known as Hari Raya Idulfitri or “Day of Celebration” in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. In Indonesia, the month of Ramadan is the most popular time to shop online, with an increase in click-rate by 26 percent when compared to the previous month and increase of transaction value by as much as 16 percent. Therefore, it is an opportune time to launch Ramadan-related e-commerce and digital content campaigns if your company is targeting Asian countries with Muslim populations. Start of Computex Taipei 2019（28th May） Computex Taipei 2019 is a leading ICT trade show that takes place from May 28 – Jun 01, 2019. Main themes comprise AI & IoT, 5G, Blockchain, Innovations & Startups, and Gaming & XR. This show involves 1,685 exhibitors with 5,508 booths and has welcomed over 42,000 visitors in 2018. At trade shows, it is common to see exhibitors launch new products and position themselves as innovative brands. But how can exhibitors successfully position themselves as innovative brands? Let’s take a look at three communication strategies employed by Asian brands at exhibitions: Promotion of First-Mover Advantage, e.g. ASPEED launching the world’s first 360-degree spherical image processor. Promotion of New Technology Use Cases, e.g. how Datavan intelligent kiosk terminals enhance the customer experience in various businesses ranging from hospitality, retail, and healthcare. Announcement of Strategic Cooperation, e.g. TYAN showcasing products that feature Intel Xeon processor There are more than 200 festivals and important exhibitions in 2019. If you want to find out additional details, please click on the picture to view our public relations calendar for 2019.
An interview with TODAY, a media platform experimenting with content formats to better focus on millennials
Media 101 with Yasmine Yahya, Supervising Editor from TODAY What are the specific stories that you usually look out for? Stories about ground-up initiatives that are seeking to make an impact on society, young people doing interesting things, stories that seek to explain issues that are relevant and important to our readers, whether that’s climate change, health, education, consumer trends, etc. What should PR professionals take note of when pitching to TODAY? We seek to write stories that are unique to us. Ideally, a pitch should present us with a story idea or opportunity that is relevant to our readers, resonant with the TODAY brand and not something that people would be able to find on any other news platform. What trends & developments are you currently keeping tabs on in the business industry? We’re largely concerned with business trends that ultimately have an impact on the consumer, such as manpower issues in the service industry, innovative uses of technology and interesting business ideas that also seek to benefit society in some way. Obviously, this is far from being an exhaustive list. What’s unique about TODAY and how does it differ from other media? We’re quite targeted in our scope of coverage. We want to make sure that we deliver news and features that are relevant and interesting to our main reader base, who are young Singaporeans, so we are very selective about the news we carry. We also put a lot of thought into the treatment of each story. Not every news article or feature is going to be told in the traditional news format of paragraphs of text. Depending on the topic and the content to be presented, we might deliver the story in the form of a listicle, an explainer, a Q&A, a graphic or, yes, a traditional news story. We’re still experimenting and trying out new ways of delivering the news in ways that are engaging and accessible to our time-starved readers who want to know the most important news of the day without having to wade through walls of text. As TODAY has been experimenting with this shift, could you please share a few tips for brands to create content that is insightful, meaningful while delivered in a more visual style? As in any other newsroom, we’ve found that close collaboration between our editorial and visual content producers is key to creating meaningful multimedia stories. We’re not a big team so to begin with we are very selective about which stories deserve that special visual treatment, such as a video or a graphic. And when we do decide to take that step, the reporter and the visual journalist/graphic artist work closely together to conceptualize the visuals, and they check in on each other throughout the process. In the age of social media and peak content, we’ve also learned not to confine ourselves to formulas and templates. Some stories need simple graphics, some may need a video, some others might best be accompanied by an animated graphic on Instagram. We’re also stretching ourselves to come up with creative ways to present our visuals. For example, nobody wants to watch talking heads for three minutes straight, so our videos try to break the mold with innovative camerawork and editing. Are there any exciting upcoming projects or campaigns from TODAY? We’re relaunching the site in May. We will be focused on executing the strategies I outlined above, but we hope to make clear with our relaunch that we are targeting the millennial audience – readers aged between 25 and 34. That doesn’t mean dumbing down content. In fact, quite the opposite. Our readers can expect us not to simply seize on the latest trending hashtags and fads. We will continue to deliver content that’s insightful, meaningful and gives them the context they need to make sense of the world they live in.
Video Interview with Kumparan Founder: How the Indonesian media landscape is quickly evolving
Kumparan is a news platform founded in 2017, aimed at disrupting the online media industry by incorporating technology-based journalism and enabling interaction between users on one platform. Since their establishment, they have expanded to a team of 400 employees and 5,000 content creators, and generated an average of 2,500 content pieces per day, with 30 million monthly active readers. We sat down with Hugo Diba, the founder of Kumparan, to learn about how Kumparan came about, what contributed to its success and some of his tips for media pitches. Prior to setting up Kumparan, Hugo served as Country Sales Director at CtrlShift and Business Director at Detikcom & CNN Indonesia. [embed]http://cdn4.prnasia.com/002071/mediacoffee/20190204/20190204kumparan.mp4[/embed]
Five Steps to Foster New International Media Relationships and Generate Coverage
When companies craft a communications strategy, they are aware that as audiences consume articles, blog posts, and videos, not all sources are created equal. “Imagine the power of having your brand value proposition effectively and consistently described from a variety of sources. But conversely, imagine the lost opportunity or damage it causes if your messages are random or even conflicting,” says Cheryl Conner, author of Beyond PR: Communicate Like a Champ in the Digital Age. In terms of the "variety of sources" that Conner refers to, audiences tend to trust people who are not in the employ of a brand. It is not surprising that 81 percent of senior marketers believe earned media has more of a positive impact than paid media. For many Asian companies seeking a global audience, they face a few issues in relation to fostering international media relationships and facilitating earned media coverage. From our observation, many Asian companies may not spend too much time to monitor what their potential media channels are writing about or to nurture media relationships over time. They tend to reach out to international media when they launch new products and attend international exhibitions. As such, there may not be a match in terms of the international media channels’ content preferences and editorial calendar. So how can Asian companies adopt a more targeted media outreach approach to stay a step ahead of their competition? After answering this question, you must also convince journalists that your company has a unique story or viewpoint to share – which may be equally challenging. It is vital to remember that media channels anywhere in the world are keen to curate the most valuable content for their readers and an effective outreach strategy must be aligned to their core mission. Let’s review the following five tried-and-tested steps when reaching out to the international media: Step 1: Establish Digital Credentials Just like a potential client, journalists will research online to determine whether companies are a legitimate expert in the field. Therefore, before approaching the international media, it is important for companies to create an English language web page that includes an “about” page that highlights background, areas of expertise, and previous media coverage. It is also a great idea to create a media kit that contains relevant information regarding services and products in one location. This way, busy journalists may access such information more quickly. Step 2: Access a Comprehensive Media Intelligence Tool Journalists receive lots of irrelevant emails so reaching out with relevant pitches is vital to avoid irritating them and generate coverage – as Jane Wells, Special Correspondent at CNBC, puts it, “Apparently some in the PR industry must get paid by the number of emails they send, because that’s the only explanation for the couple hundred irrelevant and ridiculous messages I receive every day.” To avoid inadvertently annoying journalists, and spend time nurturing media relationships instead, my team suggests setting up keywords of their vertical and competitors on a media intelligence tool such as Cision Communication Cloud, companies may analyze related trending topics on indicators of media and social media mentions. This will offer a data-based approach to identify the sweet spot between companies’ unique expertise and journalists’ interest. You may also tap on Cision Communication Cloud to zoom into specific profiles of journalists and bloggers to look at their recent articles as well as Twitter postings to maximize the chances of a win-win fit with your company's products. After shortlisting the most relevant journalists and bloggers, you may then refer to their contact details to speed up your media outreach process. A search for media contacts and bloggers using keywords. Source: Cision Communication Cloud Step 3: Craft a Winning Pitch “If you have a good story to pitch in two minutes or less, great. One minute is even better,” says Frank Washkuch, News Director at PRWeek. Therefore, a strong email pitch should be clear, concise, and customized. Why email? Over 90% of journalists reported that email is their preferred method of pitching. Our team recommends checking off a few boxes when making an email pitch: Share your proposed headline, describe why the topic will be unique and interesting to the media channel’s readers. Briefly introduce your company’s expertise and explain how you are best placed to tell this unique story. Provide supporting links to back up your pitch, including relevant articles published by this media channel. Use bullet points as appropriate to make your pitch easy to read. Double-check to avoid spelling and grammar mistakes. At the risk of stating the obvious, a pitch should also be written without spelling and grammar mistakes. To appear professional and minimize the chances of such an “own goal”, you may wish to tap on a more advanced language-checking tool such as Grammarly. Step 4: Winning the News Cycle The news cycle rewards companies that connect the dots between earned, owned and paid media to optimize exposure to your target audiences. It is a good idea to ask journalists when they are planning to publish your company’s content and to plan either social media or paid amplification of earned media content. In terms of social media amplification, it is good manners (and PR) to thank a media channel and journalist for featuring yourself and your company. This way, your company’s existing social network will learn about the latest media coverage. An example of social media amplification of earned media Paid amplification on social media may also be considered as these platforms typically allow companies to target precisely, e.g. location, job title, to get content to your target audiences’ eye level. News cycle planning also refers to planning a regular flow of news about your company to build mindshare with journalists over time. Obviously, if a journalist is familiar with your company prior to a big, important event, e.g. an international exhibition, you are more likely to succeed with your pitch. Therefore, you should plan ahead and think beyond getting reported by media - Companies may also tap on press releases to share curated content such as new products, infographics, white papers, and any valuable and therefore newsworthy information. By launching a regular stream of high-quality stories, your media contacts are more likely to approach you for fresh content especially when your company needs it most. Step 5: Be Persistent (but Polite) If you’ve done everything else right, you could stand to be a bit more persistent. Journalists get dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of emails daily, and sometimes they are going to lose track of their emails. If you don’t hear back within a week, follow up with a second email or reach out via social media private messages. If you don’t hear back then, you may then assume that there’s no interest and move on. Getting journalists’ and bloggers’ attention will always be challenging. In one way or another, we’re all storytellers and willing consumers of stories, so journalists will always appreciate creative, authentic content from companies that helps them craft more unique stories. Supporting the media’s mission of creating valuable content for their readers and demonstrating your professionalism with these five steps is going to be immensely helpful to companies seeking to foster new international media relationships.
April 2019 PR Calendar Cheat Sheet – A Guide to the Right Stories at the Right Time
The fourth month of the year, April is a sign that spring has definitively arrived. It starts on a light note, with April Fool’s Day and includes occasions for celebration and reflection such as Easter Sunday and Earth Day respectively. To optimize brands’ earned media coverage from press releases, it is essential to plan ahead to launch the right campaigns at the right time when the media is looking out for certain types of stories. To help you get into the swing of April, PR Newswire takes stock of this month’s PR Calendar. April’s Key Festivals and Exhibitions 1：April Fool’s Day 2：World Autism Day 5：Chingming Festival 7：World Health Day 15：125th Canton Fair 19: Good Friday 21：Easter Sunday 22：Earth Day 25：Anzac Day, World Malaria Day 26: World Intellectual Property Day 28：World Day for Safety and Health at Work May 1：Labor Day Recommended (ranked in order of relevancy) Earth Day（22nd April） Earth Day seeks to educate and raise awareness to protect the world's environment. At the same time, this is also an occasion to mobilize and participate in environmental protection campaigns to improve the overall environment of our planet through a green and low-carbon lifestyle. With people being directly impacted by their environmental conditions, this is no longer a topic that can be ignored. Environmental protection is now seen as the common responsibility of society - individuals and businesses alike. As individuals adopt actions such as active recycling and saving more water, it is not surprising that they expect enterprises to share similar values. Through Earth Day, businesses can further demonstrate their commitment to corporate social responsibility communication (CSR). For more information on CSR dissemination, click on our article here. For impactful CSR campaigns, we have observed that businesses tend to choose topics which are in line with their corporate values and product characteristics and follow through over the long-run. We have listed a selection of Earth Day press releases issued for your easy reference： Intel’s Earth Day press release in 2018 caught our attention by sharing that “every day is Earth Day”. This is backed by an impressive info-graphic showcasing various data from their various initiatives, covering water saving, reducing waste emissions, investing in energy-saving projects, and purchasing green energy. Easter Sunday（21st April） Similar to Christmas, Easter is celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike. When you think of the Easter, Easter egg hunts, filling baskets with candy and small gifts, and the Easter bunny comes to mind. Travel and Hospitality businesses may consider marking this occasion with Easter celebrations for children. World Intellectual Protection Day（26th April） World Intellectual Property Day is a great opportunity to showcase your brand’s innovation and commitment to intellectual property (IP). As a business, you may wish to use the #worldipday hashtag (recommended by the World Intellectual Property Organization or WIPO) in your social media posts. For example, Alibaba announced the establishment of a research institute on this day in 2018 to set rules in IP protection. In addition, Huawei has chosen to mark this occasion by highlighting its number of patents while pledging to respect IP rights in 2018: International Jazz Day（30th April） Any attempt to arrive at a precise definition of jazz is futile because of its improvisational nature and constant evolution. It isn’t limited to the U.S as well with St Petersburg, Russia, earning plaudits through its annual All-Star Global Concert involving performers from across the world. With thousands of jazz performances taking place worldwide during this period, hospitality businesses may wish to inject vibrancy at their premises by partnering jazz talents to stage a performance. There are more than 200 festivals and important exhibitions in 2019. If you want to find out additional details, please click on the picture to view our public relations calendar for 2019.
Winning Partnerships: Positioning Your Company Behind the Right CSR Causes
Can a business cancel out its greenhouse gas emissions? Dilmah, a Sri Lankan tea company, with a global presence, announced its carbon neutral status for its products, early this year. Here’s why it matters to the rest of the world: Currently, businesses account for more than half of the world’s electricity consumption. The longer it takes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the climate impact becomes more dramatic: from rising sea levels threatening Pacific islands to extreme weather patterns sparking fierce forest fires. Source: Dilmah Tea Dilmah’s tea production involves a complex process which traditionally requires firewood and electricity to dry the tea leaves. With two new mini-hydropower stations at Dilmah's tea estate, this brand has achieved carbon neutral status for its products in early 2019 after embarking on this journey since 2011. This is Dilmah’s contribution to corporate social responsibility (CSR), and part of the core brand values that it seeks to convey to discerning tea consumers across the world. The temptation is for business executives to view CSR as just another passing fad. But as customers, employees, and suppliers—and, indeed, society—place increasing importance on CSR, this is an opportunity for Asian businesses to look at it as an opportunity to globalize their brand while contributing to society at the same time. Therefore, how can a business optimize communication of their CSR initiatives to their target audiences? Differentiate your communication strategy with precise positioning and targeting Businesses are placing an increased importance on CSR - Among the largest 250 companies in the world, 92% produced a CSR report in 2015, informing shareholders and the public about the firm’s activities. When my team asks ourselves, “Which brand’s CSR campaign can I remember?”, we struggle to recall any brand as undifferentiated CSR campaigns do not leave an impression on target audiences. When we look at the brands that have enjoyed CSR success, these brands tend to invest long-term in focus areas based on their own product characteristics and community needs. As an example, Honeywell seeks to address community needs into its CSR activities while stressing its industrial products enable a safer, more comfortable and more productive world. This company has been promoting a series of activities related to children's fire safety education in China and Malaysia while using compelling statistics to explain why this is an area of focus, “265,000 childhood deaths worldwide occur as a result of fire-related burns each year, with a majority of them occurring in low- and middle-income countries. More than half the deaths take place within the Southeast Asia region, including Malaysia, where it is reported that one child dies every two weeks due to fires or other burns.” Program in Malaysia to educate children about fire and burn safety. Source: Honeywell It is clear from the above example that good CSR campaigns can involve relatively less-known causes. But how can brands find the right fit for their CSR initiatives and when is the optimal timing to launch a PR campaign related to specific causes? By setting up keywords of their vertical and competitors on Cision Communication Cloud, brands may analyze trending CSR-related topics based on indicators of media and social media mentions. For your reference, our team has listed a couple of commonly seen topics and the associated timings when campaigns were launched: Multimedia press release about support for the World Wildlife Fund to conduct a biodiversity survey. Source: GAC Reaching out to the right media channels In our opinion, an untargeted CSR campaign is an unoptimized campaign. Our suggestion is for brands to ask themselves, “Which media is following my CSR stories?”, “Which CSR topics are attracting the most views?.” Reaching out to the right media channels is critical to amplify the relevant brand messages and increases brand credibility. Cision Communication Cloud also helps companies precisely targeting media contacts and social media influencers by filtering industries, locations, trending topics, extracting qualified media contact lists based on their preferences and previous publications. For instance, we have generated a list of global media who mentioned the Earth Day (April 22nd) in early March. Brands can now quickly reach out to specific journalists to seed and pitch stories. As Asian brands play an increasingly important role in the global economy, CSR is emerging as an important tool to globalize their brand. Through a more data-driven approach, Asian brands may tap a holistic communication platform such as Cision Communication Cloud to convey their core corporate values, address possibly lesser-known but worthy community needs, shortlist the right media channels and when to approach these channels in their CSR activities. If your brand is seeking to test drive our media monitoring services, you are welcome to email our team at cmm@prnasia.com.
Media Q&A with "Branding in Asia": The latest thoughtful creative work beats celebrity content anytime
Content marketing is an emerging form of marketing in South Korea as it is incredibly hard to get and hold the consumers’ attention in this tech-savvy country. To succeed, content needs to be creative, offer value while being infused with your brand’s core value propositions. This interview features Bobby McGill, founder of ‘Branding in Asia’, an online publication that features creative work and insights on branding, advertising as well as marketing, across the Asia-Pacific. Could you please tell us a bit more about yourself? I’ve been writing professionally since 1997. After spending most of my 20’s writing and performing hip hop music, I got a lucky break during university that landed me a short-term staff writing position with the San Francisco Examiner covering the Dot.com boom. With that sitting atop my nearly-blank writing resume, I was able to talk my way into gigs writing for all manner of publications until 2002 when I decided it was time for a change and headed to South Korea - where I’ve been ever since along with stints in Bangkok and China. Over the course of my time here I’ve founded two magazines, the most recent being Branding in Asia Magazine, earned a Masters in English Literature and then a Ph.D. in International Studies, and am currently lecturing on branding and marketing at a university. It’s been a busy and fun ride, but selling everything I had and moving to Asia with two suitcases and a guitar was one of the best decisions I ever made. Sorry, I’ve never been good at “brief.” What specific stories is Branding in Asia usually on the lookout for? Branding in Asia is one of several advertising trade publishers in Asia, covering the work of advertising agencies and brand marketers, featuring news, creative work, profiles, and insights. We are a trusted source of information formarketers seeking to understand what’s happening in the advertising, marketing, and branding industries across the region. Our readership includes professionals from around the world looking for the latest campaign coverage, interviews, new hires, and other industry trends. We’ve also launched several popular original features that are solely penned by contributors such as “Two Ads I Like and One I Don’t,” and “One Under 30: Young Creative Spotlight.” From your media experiences, what are some of the best journalist practices you have come across? Anything PRs should avoid doing? There is a lot of good work being done out there in the media, so I’d be hard-pressed to narrow it down to one or a few. The coverage I’m most interested in is creative work, especially with insights from the people that are actually creating it. In terms of what PRs should avoid? Having done my share of marketing communications writing over the years on the side, I have a full appreciation for people in that industry - it’s not easy to create a buzz or stir excitement in a reporter with something that, at times, might not be that exciting. So, my advice is don’t oversell it. It’s a branding basic - be true, be proud, tell it like it is, and see if it resonates. What should PR professionals take note of when pitching to Branding in Asia? To continue the point I made in the previous question: Go easy on the hyped-up language. Most reporters cut the salesy, self-promotional prose anyway, so just shoot straight. “Here’s what our brand has done or is doing, this is why it matters, this is how we did it, and where we look for it to go.” Done. What trends & developments are you currently keeping tabs on in the Branding/Marketing scene? I think probably the most interesting for me is the evolution of creative ad and marketing work in the developing, as well as developed markets in Asia. You look at a lot of markets where the ad work has traditionally been celebrity-driven, with brands putting their products or services in the hands of a trending star and telling them to smile and say the brand name as many times as possible while hamming it up for the camera. That’s starting to dissipate. More and more you’re seeing thoughtful, resonant creative work that strikes a deeper, more enduring chord with consumers when it’s done right. I love that - especially stuff coming out of up-and-coming shops. What’s unique about Branding in Asia and how does it differ from other media? As we hit four years since we started, we’re the rising new kid on the block in a field of well-staffed, well-financed competitors. We’re really proud of the niche we’ve carved out and will continue to expand upon that with the hope that we can make a worthwhile contribution to covering an exciting, ever-evolving region. This article is contributed by Hwajin Choi, the Audience Development Executive in Korea at PR Newswire. If you would like to be featured, please get in touch with her at hwajin.choi@prnasia.com
A Vibrant Vietnam: Takeaways from the Vietnam Economic Conference
Conference Highlights A vibrant Vietnam is rapidly integrating into the global economy. As introduced by Professor Dao Nguyen Cat, Editor-in-chief of the Vietnam Economic Times, “Vietnam’s economy grew more than 7 percent in 2018, when it also attracted a record $19 billion worth of FDI, and it concluded talks on a free trade agreement with the EU and joined the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership). It is now fully on the “radar” of international investors.” I attended the Vietnam Economic Conference held in Ho Chi Minh City on March 12, 2019. The theme of this conference is “Breakthrough from growth drivers”, with speakers from both public and private sectors such as Dr. Tran Du Lich, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Group, Dr. Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Mr. Nguyen The Hao, Deputy Editor-in-chief of VNEconomy and Ms. Le Thi Nam Phuong, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnamese Young Entrepreneurs Council. Mr. Nguyen The Hao – Deputy Editor-in-chief of VNEconomy To help readers better understand the dynamic Vietnamese economy, I have summarized a few key numbers and takeaways from this conference: 10% is the rate of contribution by the private sector (excluding households and individuals) to Vietnam's GDP. It remains low while this sector creates many jobs. New jobs in the non-State sector accounted for only 26.1 percent of the total in 2000 but now account for 60 percent. FDI is currently an important additional capital, accounting for about 25 percent of the country's total investment, contributing about 20 percent of GDP. In 2017, FDI contributed nearly 8 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 14.4 percent of total budget revenue. Fulbright University Vietnam’s economic expert Mr. Huynh The Du pointed to two reasons behind the poor contribution by the private sector. Firstly, for a long period, the private sector was not considered a growth engine, but preferential treatments were given to state-owned enterprises and FDI sectors. Secondly, he felt that Vietnam’s economic policies remain flawed, forcing businesses to prioritize short-term business considerations over the longer-term. Mr. Huynh The Du During a panel discussion, it was shared that it would be hard for many sectors that grew quickly in 2018, such as agriculture-forestry-fishery production, tourism, and real estate, to sustain a similar pace this year. Unfortunately, some unresolved institutional bottlenecks relating to public investment and the project financing framework of build-transfer (BT) and build-operate-transfer (BOT) may affect the growth rate in 2019. In order for the private sector to thrive and drive economic growth, these panelists advocated that the government continues to enhance Vietnam’s business environment, to simplify the existing complicated policies. In addition, all enterprises, regardless of their size and whether they are from the public or private sector, should compete fairly with one other. 14% is the country’s credit growth target for 2019 (the same as 2018, but lower than previous years). As all banks have to apply the Basel II capital adequacy ratio (CAR) in 2020, they will not be able to provide additional credit when their CAR reaches this limit. However, raising their capital base is a challenge for big lenders. According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh from Fulbright University Vietnam, the key concern of the banking system is capital expansion, not bad debt. When a bank has sufficient funds and meets Basel II standards, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) should appropriately loosen the credit quota. Otherwise, its credit growth will be squeezed. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh (left) and Mr. Pham Thanh Ha (next to Mr. Nguyen) on the panel Mr. Pham Thanh Ha - Director General of the Monetary Policy Department, SBV affirmed credit this year would still be focused on the Government’s five priority sectors of agriculture businesses, export-oriented businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises, enterprises operating in auxiliary industries, and hi-tech enterprises, to support economic growth while managing risk. Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Hieu said Vietnam has become a member of most global multilateral financial organizations, signed more than 60 agreements for the encouragement and protection of investment, and over 90 free trade agreements. He emphasized that, “Overall, free trade agreements, especially new generations of free trade agreements, would help Vietnam integrate deeper into the global economy and create conditions to boost its economic development and restructuring, promote trade, attract foreign investment, create more jobs, develop the manufacturing sector, improve labor productivity and the competitiveness of the economy.” Telling a compelling brand story in Vietnam Knowing the business environment in Vietnam is just the first step, but foreign companies also need to understand the culture and habits of media consumption to bring their products and services closer to the hearts of the local people. At this conference, I met several foreign enterprises who were very keen to pick up PR pointers on how to promote their brand in Vietnam. Our PR Newswire team in Vietnam comprises of former TV hosts and reporters with years of multimedia communications experience. Here are some of our team’s suggestions: Mix-and-match media channels based on audience segmentation As population density and economic development levels vary between regions, the optimal media channels mix will be different. Therefore, companies should always plan their media mix based on their audience segmentation. According to Kantar Worldpanel report, in urban areas, the time for TV (Coverage x Frequency) is 17 percent higher than online - the second largest channel. In rural areas, although smartphone penetration is increasing, the coverage of online channels is still less than half that of TV - 95% for TV vs 45% for the Internet in rural. This is probably the most discussed topic among brands today as advertisers here are always pondering about the optimal advertising mix between TV and online channels. In Vietnam’s four biggest cities (Ho Chi Minh, Ha Noi, Da Nang and Can Tho), Newspaper (33 percent coverage) and Magazine (16 percent coverage) are still effective means of communication for brands to reach their objectives. In the rural areas, especially the Northern regions, public speakers can reach 76 percent of people to reach a purchase decision mainly thanks to the activities of the Commune Cultural Centers - using loudspeakers to broadcast information, including product advertising. Build and maintain good relationships with the press In Vietnam, there is a saying that businesses should "Go to the press first before the press finds you". According to the Ministry of Information and Communications of Vietnam, there are more than 1,000 press outlets covering many industries in Vietnam and this number continues to grow. Business news is the most closely monitored type of news for the local press. Without a link to the local press, it will be difficult for the information from your business to reach the market effectively or counter fake news related to your brand. There are many ways to build relationships with the local press. You may connect at events such as our media coffee sessions or directly introduce yourself to the relevant editorial teams. Connect via Facebook Vietnam has the 7th largest number of Facebook users in the world. Unlike other parts of the world, Facebook is a platform for business connections in Vietnam. Here, it is common for the Vietnamese people to search for potential business partners' information on Facebook, send messages, and then progress to arranging for email discussions or face-to-face meetings. Campaigns that straddle social media platforms such as Facebook - YouTube - Instagram are also popular in Vietnam thanks to rich, creative and easy-to-view content. Many verticals such as banking, FMCG, hospitality services, governmental organizations, and NGOs, are actively promoting themselves on Facebook to connect and engage target customers. For example, Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ), Vietnam's largest consumer jewelry brand, launched a "True Love" campaign celebrating love across all ages, genders or body types, in Dec 2018. As part of its multimedia approach, this brand sent a press release to optimize its channel reach across Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and traditional media such as newspapers. This heartfelt, emotional campaign generated a lot of buzz, even outside Vietnam, with its energetic videos and authentic messaging. Source: PNJ Many events such as seminars, forums, and industry fairs are posted by their organizers on Facebook Events to promote and receive registrations. This is a good opportunity for businesses to access information and meet potential partners as well as members of the press. We propose that businesses join the relevant Facebook community groups. Members typically share helpful tips, learning materials, and exchange contacts. We also recommend these community groups to reach out to members of the press or keep up with Vietnamese PR updates: Brands Vietnam Hội những người thích quảng cáo (Ad Lovers) Launch Currently, LinkedIn and Twitter are not popular social media platforms in our country. This blog post is contributed by Trong Tran (Leo), Audience Development Executive at PR Newswire. Leo is in charge of partnerships, expanding our media network, co-organizing our annual Media Coffee event, sharing helpful information in Vietnam market with the media through his articles and interviews. You can contact him at trong.tran@prnasia.com or connect with him on Facebook.
PR Newswire’s Lynn Liu: Only Quality Content can Break Through Chinese Media’s Information Silos
Lynn Liu is the Director of Audience Development and Distribution Services in PR Newswire, responsible for developing media relations and online distribution network in Mainland China, including social and mobile channels. Lynn holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Public Relations, both from the Communication University of China. He was in Singapore on March 15, 2019, and accepted an interview request to share his insights on an evolving Chinese media landscape and its impact on PR professionals. In your opinion, what were the key changes to the Chinese media landscape in the past two years and how do these changes impact PR professionals? The past 20 years saw the fastest ever evolution in Chinese media, as we moved from traditional media to internet media to mobile-first media. For example, it is impossible to buy a physical hardcopy magazine when walking along Beijing’s streets now. All Chinese media channels, including B2B trade media, are almost entirely digital. I will start with Baidu changes as this is the largest search engine in China, with a market share of more than 70 percent, with Google being severely limited in China. In the past two or three years, the biggest change is Baidu’s constant adjustment of their search algorithm. Baidu seeks to enhance its users’ search experience by raising quality content to their eye level. Baidu continues to mark down low-quality content based on its lack of timeliness and news value. Let's move on to WeChat. I was actually a pioneer WeChat user, one of the first 5,000 users who signed up on the first day of its launch. Wechat is now the biggest social media platform in China and overtook Weibo – China’s answer to Twitter. WeChat isn't just an instant messaging tool in China, it has led to a rich content ecosystem. Brands, even overseas brands, may choose to operate a WeChat official account to share content. According to the latest Tencent data, WeChat has over a billion monthly active users, with around 20 million WeChat official accounts, run by brands and individuals, that regularly publish content. Let me briefly share my observations on other Chinese Social Media and New Media. Now, Weibo has become a platform that focuses on entertainment. Even though news articles are spread via Weibo, their focus is on news with a high entertainment value such as celebrity gossip. Toutiao is the best-known new media that has emerged in the past two years. This AI-powered news app is installed on over 240 million unique devices, tapping on users’ digital behavior to promote relevant news articles. For brands, it is important to be aware that with the rise of WeChat and New Media, it is no longer just about users looking for news articles. News articles are also seeking specific users as well due to recommender algorithms that are pushing relevant content! If we factor in Baidu search algorithm changes as well, this means that a PR approach involving average content is unlikely to gain traction. What other things do B2B brands need to watch out for in the Chinese media landscape? When it comes to B2B marketing in China, building trust in your brand is critical. To gain this trust and confidence, your potential clients need to find positive mentions of your brand in the media as well as social media. To achieve this, B2B brands should have a long-term content publishing strategy, to maintain a voice within their target vertical. Another difference relative to B2C is that a B2B field is typically more niche, with a specific target audience requiring more professional content. The next steps are to figure out the channels where our audience gets their information and what’s the right content to influence them. There is a misconception that B2B content is boring. However, I believe brands can always make their content more interesting to close the distance between themselves and their readers. I often use a GE China example to make this point as it is a very typical B2B conglomerate with a focus on aircraft engines and medical equipment among others. For example, to launch a new type of aircraft engine, GE’s approach is to come up with a press release declaring the world's fastest luxury yacht uses this aircraft engine to compose an eye-catching title. I also remember there was an earthquake in Nepal, and GE would talk about sending disaster relief equipment to this country. All these efforts create interesting news angles for journalists. Planes powered by GE engines delivering disaster relief equipment in Nepal. Source: GE PR professionals always seek to make data-driven decisions. What is the value of monitoring trending conversations in China and reaching out to relevant journalists? I think that media monitoring cannot exist in isolation after brands have pushed out their content. For illustration, let’s just talk about media monitoring for the purpose of producing more targeted content that will appeal to target audiences. As part of communications planning, we typically need to answer a few questions: Who is our target audience? Through what channels can we reach our target audience? What type of content can most influence our target audience towards conversion? When should I release my content? PR Newswire’s China Media Monitoring Tool helps brands understand what are the hot topics that the Chinese media are focusing on, the trending keywords during various festivals or exhibitions, and what sort of articles have generated the greatest number of social media engagements. By analyzing this data, brands can effectively plan their content production and outreach strategy. This tool can also help to quantify the reach and resonance (Chinese social media engagements) of your various content pieces. If my brand is manning a trade show booth in China, could you please share a few PR tips to optimize trade show ROI? Let’s assume that your brand is actively monitoring Chinese media and has answers to the “who”, “what” and “when” questions as expressed earlier. Therefore, you may reach out to the target Chinese media verticals prior to an exhibition with press releases. In terms of common themes for exhibition press releases, brands often tap on new product releases, new partnerships, and prize-winning announcements while inviting the press to visit their booths. For example in Nov 2018, Honeywell leveraged the inaugural China International Import Expo to demonstrate their contributions to China’s digital economy. Lydia Lu, Honeywell Asia HGR Communications VP, shared at our media coffee session that by matching their communications plan to the specific interests of Chinese media, they earned over 100 in-depth media reports with 17 contracts and Letters of Intent signed during this event. Honeywell staff engaging media and visitors at the China International Import Expo 2018. Source: Honeywell Chinese tourists are a very important market for international destinations and hospitality businesses such as hotels. Could you please share some examples of a good press release targeted at this segment? Chinese tourists are indeed a valuable segment for international hospitality businesses. According to a 2017 Nielsen survey, Chinese tourists spend more per capita than many other international tourists — $762 per person, as compared to the global average of $486. Chinese language campaigns are a must since search engines and New Media recommender algorithms rank such content more highly. Beyond this, I will like to highlight the importance of communicating a unique experience since experiential travel is a growing trend. In terms of eye-catching press releases, I can think of the Sydney Festival, a cultural spectacle involving theatre and other performing arts. The organizers chose a multimedia Chinese press release for distribution to target industry verticals. It featured videos and pictures of various programmes to make it easier for journalists to report about this event. In my opinion, a Chinese language press release, where PR Newswire handles the translation with cultural context, provides news distribution and a media distribution report is a great first step for international hospitality businesses to consider. Multimedia press release, Source: Sydney Festival It is interesting that you mentioned a multimedia example earlier. Why is multimedia content so important within China? Could you please share an example of such content that is planned and executed by your team? One interesting phenomenon with the various social media and new media channels is that these channels are all information silos. For example, Toutiao content is not searchable on WeChat and Baidu. Let’s assume a brand has owned media channels on WeChat and Weibo. The audiences that a brand can reach, even with paid promotion, is extremely limited. No media platform can cover all the audiences, but a common characteristic is that audiences are receptive to multimedia content, especially short videos. For marketers, the challenge is to break through these silos with quality content as GE China had done. A big component of quality content is short and newsworthy videos that will win media coverage (earned media) and shared on social media by your target audience. In my opinion, a press release that incorporates multimedia elements is a platform-neutral way of disseminating information to Chinese media as they typically have a presence in channels such as WeChat and Toutiao. It is a critical step to build a sustainable PR cycle involving paid, owned and earned media. For reference, you may see a press release featuring a video interview with Dr. Jens Puttfarcken, Porsche China CEO, that was produced by our team. Dr. Puttfarcken shared highlights of this brand’s strategy and how their product was being customized to match the characteristics and tastes of Chinese customers. [embed]https://cdn4.prnasia.com/002071/mnr/201903/porsche/video.mp4[/embed] Source: Porsche China
MWC–Three Positioning Strategies for Innovative Brands
Mobile World Congress 2019 (MWC19), the mobile industry’s premier event has concluded in Barcelona with the launch of 5G-enabled smartphones, unveiling of new products and services, and demonstration of exciting new applications enabled by 5G technology. As Asian brands are relatively new to the international stage, many international consumers continue to associate these brands with perceptions of lower price and quality. To address these negative perceptions and enhance brand awareness in the target verticals, many Asian brands have been actively positioning themselves as innovative brands. But an "innovative brand” is an abstract concept. Therefore, it is important to carefully consider how to communicate the core value proposition of an innovative brand. Let's review a couple of innovative Asian brands at MWC19 and learn from their communications strategies: Promotion of First-Mover Advantage Promotion of New Technology Use Cases Announcement of Strategic Cooperation Promotion of First-Mover Advantage：Nubia Source：Nubia The Alpha, Nubia’s wearable smartwatch with a flexible display, was unveiled in Barcelona. The Alpha claims to be the world's first commercially available wearable smartwatch/phone with a flexible display and comes equipped with a 4.0-inch screen and 5-megapixel camera. A similar product was also introduced by Nubia at the Berlin IFA in September 2018. As a first-mover in this vertical, Nubia assumes greater risk because there are no relevant use cases to refer to. First-movers often invest in products over an extended period to get user feedback and continuously optimize. This long-term commitment serves to underline this brand's innovative image and makes it easier to attract media attention. Nubia has tapped on multimedia content extensively to communicate the unique value of the Alpha watch. Nubia’s press release emphasized Alpha's pioneering position and provided product information such as photo galleries to facilitate media coverage from Mashable, and Gizmodo for example. In addition, journalists were invited to try out Alpha at Nubia’s MWC booth while taking photos and making short videos of their own. Such third-party content seems more objective and authoritative, with short videos from Engadget and The Verge are particularly eye-catching, each gathering over 100,000 YouTube hits within a week. Promotion of New Technology Use Cases： ZTESource：ZTE At MWC19, ZTE demonstrated use cases of its 5G network services based on an end-to-end sub-6GHz commercial system, in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Xu Ziyang, CEO of ZTE, said: "The collaboration between ZTE and Qualcomm Technologies at MWC 2019, on the demonstration of 5G services based on ZTE's 5G mobile devices and systems, is a testament to our efforts for 5G commercialization." Such use case demonstration is especially suitable for 5G as potential customers are not familiar with new technology or may have some doubts. ZTE has invested resources to sync up the various technologies for demonstration to highlight the unique value brought by 5G while building up their innovative brand image. ZTE chose to issue a press release on the first day of MWC19, emphasizing the technological highlights of their 5G solution and Qualcomm collaboration, attracting journalists to visit their exhibition booth and experience the new 5G-enabled services firsthand. Through a combination of digital and offline exchanges, ZTE has won greater coverage from trade media. Announcement of Strategic Cooperation: Gosuncn Source：Gosuncn Gosuncn is a supplier of products and services related to the Internet of Things (IoT) applications and networked vehicles. Together with Geely Holdings Group, Qualcomm Technologies, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, Gosuncn signed a cooperation agreement at MWC19. It plans to launch Geely's first domestically mass-produced vehicles supporting 5G and C-V2X technologies in 2021. Liu Shuangguang, chairman of Gosuncn, stated that "5G is an inevitable trend of the development of the communications industry. 5G and C-V2X, as a special non-line-of-sight sensor, will become one of the core technologies of autonomous driving." Qualcomm and Geely are excellent brands to partner and reflects well upon this company's commitment to upgrade their core technology base and expand to new markets. Gosuncn's investment in advanced technology built on the basis of long-term cooperation is beneficial to its innovative brand image. Gosuncn issued additional press releases during MWC19, announcing cooperation agreements with a North American connected car platform provider and their European IoT partners. Gosuncn first released a press release on their cooperation with Geely and Qualcomm and released a 5G-related news release on connected cars. This way, while this brand is within the news cycle, the next story will gain more traction and more likely to get noticed by journalists for publication. Stories that Attract International Journalists In addition to focusing on activities on the MWC19 exhibition floor, these innovative companies have also planned a series of communications activities during their time in Barcelona. This is no surprise as 90% of B2B companies have indicated that earned media activities help to achieve their business goals. PR Newswire’s own research on international communications indicates that international journalists are more likely to be interested in content related to product innovations and applications that can potentially enhance our lifestyles. This blog post is written by Jx Tan is PR Newswire’s Head of Content – APAC. He is a MSc (Marketing & Consumer Insight) graduate from the Institute on Asian Consumer Insight at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Brand Leadership – The Role of Public Relations
No brand is built overnight. A brand leader tends to pop up in the minds of consumers when they meet a certain situation or think about a specific product. There are multiple facets to brand leadership, so I am featuring a couple of relatively young but innovative brands to illustrate the role of branding and public relations (PR) when positioning an outstanding product or service for market leadership. Positioning and Branding Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be. These often involve asking difficult questions within your company, but these answers will help to sharpen your branding and become more memorable to potential partners as well as customers. Take the example of Go-Jek, Indonesia’s leading ride-hailing app, which has recently closed a funding round in Feb 2019 valuing the company between US$8 - 10 billion. The initial inspiration for Go-Jek arose from the traffic-clogged streets of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital. In Jakarta, rush hour commutes lasting two to three hours are common. Often, the best bet to avoid the gridlock is to hail an ojek (motorcycle taxi). Go-Jek began in 2010 to enable customers to order an ojek by phone. In 2014, inspired by the success of Uber and other ride-sharing platforms, Go-Jek upgraded its brand positioning by launching a smartphone app. The very next year, to keep drivers busy all day outside rush hours, Go-Jek launched Go-Send (a courier service) and Go-Food (food delivery). According to Bahari Chandra, Creative Director at Go-Jek, their team tapped on creative branding campaigns when launching its product. For example, by putting up a wordy billboard at the road with the most traffic in Jakarta, it allowed motorists to read the whole copy while they are stuck in traffic! This advertisement ran for a month, reaching an estimated 45 million Indonesians while communicating Go-Jek’s brand proposition towards the end of the message. From our summary above, you may have noticed that Go-Jek chose a name that is intimately associated with its service, and its branding strategy is clear about how, what, where, when and to whom to deliver a brand message. All these are key building blocks in Go-Jek’s branding strategy and your brand should strive to adopt similar branding best practices. Content Creation The importance of relevance in content cannot be understated. Brands must be connected to something that your target audience is interested in or looking for. One strategy is to keep up with current trends and seek authentic, relevant ways to connect your brand with those trends. Take the example of Realme, an innovative smartphone brand from China, that is making headway in Indonesia. Its Indonesian Instagram following has rapidly grown to around 90,000 within a couple of months. As you can see from this screenshot, Realme has associated itself using bold visuals with PUBG (one of the hottest video games worldwide) and flash sales promotions with e-commerce platforms (Shopee, LazMall). Source: Realme Indonesia Instagram Account At the same time, Realme tapped on a series of press releases to publicize its brand through news such as selfie contests, featuring social media hashtags such as #SelfieContest & #25MPSelfiePro, across South East Asia’s consumer electronics media. Through the delivery of content through both earned and social media channels, Realme emphasizes its brand positioning. “The Realme U1 is for those who bravely express themselves. With them, we hope to deliver breakthroughs in technology, enjoy the beauty of style, stay true to ourselves and be proud to be young," says Josef Wang, Marketing Director Realme Southeast Asia. Channels After your brand has created fantastic content, the next question is how to get this in front of your target audience? Channels are important to amplify the impact of content through shares on social media or press coverage of your brand. Right from the start, it is advisable for your brand to plan a sustainable channel strategy where paid, owned and earned media feed upon one another. Just leveraging on your owned media channels (Facebook, Twitter, blog etc) may not raise your brand to the eye level of your target audience. Credible, third-party articles (earned media) is consistently viewed as one of the most influential types of media, ranking first in the U.K., America, and China. “Many people just consider industry luminaries when thinking about influencers, but many of our clients have received additional sales and leads after sharing media articles about their brand on social media”, Royce Shih, Vice President APAC Sales & Marketing at PR Newswire Asia, told me. “Think of media channels as super-influencers that brands must cultivate as social media advertising gets more expensive with increased bidding competition. A regular flow of news about your brand can help to build mindshare with journalists over time. Brands may tap on press releases to share curated content such as new products, infographics, white papers, and any valuable and therefore newsworthy information.” Source: Cision Monitoring, Measurement, and Evaluation Most PR professionals prefer to steer clear of vanity metrics without a clear link to revenue. This is fairly easy to do in owned and paid media, where you can define actionable metrics, such as the clickthrough rate on your paid social posts (instead of the number of views) to help your brand make better decisions about future strategy. But what about earned media metrics? Many brands find it a challenge to monitor and measure such campaigns and rely on vanity metrics, such as the number of “likes” or LinkedIn “shares” generated by content pieces. The good news is depending on what press release provider you choose, you can now map content to actual revenue impact. You can now tell what type of reader is viewing a piece of earned media if they click on an article, goes to your website, where they go on your site and whether they buy a product or request more information. “Measurement can frequently be an afterthought in earned media though it is critical to PR success,” says Richard Moylan, Regional Sales Director, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia & Australia at PR Newswire Asia, “so knowing the reach and revenue impact of your brand’s earned media is absolutely critical to enhance future campaigns.” Winning the News Cycle Brands should never settle for a piecemeal PR approach. Instead, your brand should plan for a succession of stories to launch. As an initial story is gaining traction and attention, begin to seed the next story to media channels (through press releases or a targeted media outreach) and fans. This way, while your brand is within the news cycle, the next story will gain more traction and more likely to get noticed for publication. By launching a regular stream of high-quality stories, your media contacts are more likely to approach you for fresh content. In addition, brands should also leverage earned media articles by sharing on their social media channels to amplify to their target audience. “When it comes to determining what type of content to promote, it is not an either/or proposition,” says Royce Shih. “But by beginning with a solid foundation of content published on trusted, third-party media channels, all other content will have a greater impact.” To learn more about how Earned Media Management works, visit the link below on the Cision website. This blog post is written by Jx Tan is PR Newswire’s Head of Content – APAC. He is a MSc (Marketing & Consumer Insight) graduate from the Institute on Asian Consumer Insight at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
