Choosing an effective spokesperson is vital for clearly communicating your organisation’s mission, maintaining a positive public image and using clear and consistent messaging throughout a campaign.
This guide outlines key considerations for selecting a spokesperson to represent your organisation.
Knowledge and Expertise
Well Presented and Well Spoken
Media Experience
Reliability and Availability
Current Responsibilities
Alignment with Brand Values
Limited Organisational Knowledge
Controversial Background
Poor Communication Skills
Overcommitment
Briefing process
Understanding media dynamics
If you’re contemplating finding a new spokesperson for your campaign, but don’t know where to start, contact our us on [email protected].
The evolution of social media has been constant over the years – from the early days of creating Facebook pages through to the current state of play where digital-led marketing campaigns are driving results for businesses of all shapes and sizes.
One pivotal milestone in the evolution of digital mediums and their impact has been the opportunities for content and digital creators to build their presence and influence online via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. In simple terms, influencer marketing.
Influencer marketing is a collaboration between prominent individuals and brands to promote the products and services that are expected to resonate with their audience base. In many ways, it is a shortcut to increasing the eyeballs on your business, product or service, with a third-party endorsement from a trusted source.
For many years the idea of influencer marketing was oversimplified, with very little policy or procedure around engagements, however in 2024, the rise of influencer managers/ agencies, analytics and reporting have made these engagements much more strategic.
Below are our tips for making the most of your influencer marketing strategy:
Working with an influencer that has 1 million followers doesn’t necessarily guarantee results. Depending on your product or service, we recommend considering ‘micro influencers,’ who have a smaller audience, but greater influence in that group.
Every influencer should be able to share their key performance metrics with you when you are in the exploration phase. Specifically, you want to see their engagement rates, click-through rates, past post-performance metrics and conversions and sales (where relevant).
Before engaging an influencer, make sure you deep dive into their content and social commentary to ensure they are aligned with your brand values. For example, if you were a vegan brand, you want to engage committed vegans who can authentically talk to their experience with your product.
While influencers are creating more quality content than ever, we highly recommend building in approval processes to contracts, to ensure you are happy with how your brand is being represented.
As part of any engagement agreement, make sure there is a requirement for influencers to report back on the success of their campaign with you. This keeps the person accountable and gives them extra motivation to succeed with you!
If you’re contemplating implementing influencer marketing as part of your marketing strategy in 2024, but don’t know where to start, contact our Communications and Operations Director, Laura Carlin – [email protected].
It’s no revelation that influencers have taken over the advertising game in the last five years.
With the industry largely unregulated due to the fast rise and ever-changing nature of the platforms and influencers who work within them, it can seem like an unruly task to select the talent who will work best for your brand and objectives.
Sabio has managed countless local and national influencer collaborations, both paid and contra-based. These experiences have formed the team’s thorough understanding of working effectively with talent across many brands and industries. So… we wanted to share our learnings with you – particularly on how to find the right influencers for your campaign.
Identify who you are trying to reach through your influencer marketing activity. Pinpoint your primary and secondary audiences and consider how these demographics differ, what motivates them, their likes and dislikes etc. Knowing who you are trying to engage will impact the type of influencer and content strategy you will employ for an effective campaign outcome.
Consider how your potential customers are consuming content. If they are after decoration inspo or party planning ideas, it’s likely they’re looking at Pinterest. If they want short workouts or aesthetic self-development quotes it may be Instagram. If they’re after quick cooking hacks it could be TikTok.
Think about the geographic AND online location. If your product is only available for delivery within a small remit or in-store, ensure you are looking into where the influencer’s followers are based. There is no use reaching people in Brisbane if your service is only physically available in Perth. Knowing who and where your audiences are is pivotal in actually reaching them. And don’t forget – just because you aren’t on these platforms, doesn’t mean you should disregard them.
How are your current and potential customers interacting with content across social media? Are they looking for inspiration? Education? Motivation? Aesthetic? Consider these aspects when working with influencers to develop the creative concepts. With a paid partnership, you have control to steer talent in the desired direction so take advantage of that and be clear with your creative direction. Remember influencers generally know their audience best – the most successful results often occur when the partnership encompasses the influencer’s preferred aesthetic and content-style, in combination with your key messaging.
There are several reasons you may want to work with influencers and it’s important to consider how these goals will translate and be achieved throughout your campaign. If you are looking for an ambassador to promote your brand on an ongoing basis, think about how the partnership could extend beyond social media. Could they also be used in media interviews to promote your campaign with the press? You may want to create aesthetic content that can be repurposed across your own platforms and channels. If this is the case, reach and awareness may come second to a creator’s style and technical photography or design skills. If you’re after sales conversions, consider which mediums and platforms allow you to track these metrics, such as Instagram stories with their trackable swipe up link.
These points should intertwine when considering who, what and where your audience/s are and help narrow down the talent pool when it comes to identifying a potential list of influencers for your campaign.
Once you’ve shortlisted your ideal influencers, one of the first things you should request when reaching out to them is their media kit and/or social media insights. We recommend asking for the following items to give you a deeper understanding of the talent’s followers:
As an unregulated industry, there is no rule of thumb for the price influencers charge for collaborations – the power is in the hands of the talent and their management team. As a result, it’s important to get all the facts and figures to ensure you can evaluate if the return on investment is worth it for your company. Just because an influencer has hundreds of thousands of followers, doesn’t mean they receive hundreds of thousands of likes, comments and strong engagement.
You have the power to negotiate so always scope flexibility in the influencer’s pricing to ensure you are getting bang for your buck. If someone is out of your price range and you can offer access to your service or send product, use these contra items as a bargaining tool.
Don’t forget that talent agencies who represent influencers often include a 5-20% agency fee to cover their costs, as well as GST on top of the quoted amount. Be sure to have contingency within your budget to cater to these requirements.
Once the campaign has wrapped and the transaction with the engaged influencer/s has been exchanged, consider the collaborations that worked for your brand. Are there opportunities to extend your partnership with an influencer who generated a strong alignment with brand? Maintain your relationships with talent and their management – this can be a positive ongoing awareness exercise and create long term connections between your organisation, talent and their followers, leading to strong customer loyalty in some cases.
Finally, there are a few additional considerations to keep in mind when developing and working through an influencer marketing campaign.
If you’re interested in hearing more about our influencer campaign and collaboration options, get in touch with our team or reach out to me directly via [email protected]
A PR event is all about showcasing your brand to the public and reaching as many people as possible with your brand message.
We love working with our clients to bring events to life here at Sabio, so we’ve pulled together some of our tips and tricks to create a memorable event experience for your guests.
A PR event is all about generating buzz, brand awareness and of course publicity, so developing the perfect guest list is key. While it can be tempting to invite the hottest and biggest names, it pays to assess the audience relevance and brand fit of each possible attendee to maximise the payoff of their attendance. We recommend building a guest list with influential identities who are a natural fit with your brand – that could be because they have engaged with your brand before, share similar values or X – and who speak to your target audiences. Doing so will ensure your event is a valuable exercise. Make sure to invite media contacts that you know are brand aligned and could have a vested interest in the brand, they might even be able to offer some coverage off the back of it!
How you style the space sets the tone for the entire event. If you’re launching a new venue, be sure to choose theming that will enhance the space you’ve worked so hard on creating but that doesn’t give the public a false sense of what to expect when visiting for themselves. We know the power of event styling as a key component to ensuring a successful and visually stunning event.
A good run sheet can mean the difference between a well thought-out, expertly timed event and one that falls a bit flat (or goes off the rails). As they say, failing to plan is planning to fail! A run sheet should be highly detailed and cover every element of the event – from supplier arrival times to when guests will arrive, food will be served and speeches or other activities will commence. The run sheet is your bible for the night, so make sure you invest the time into it.
If you plan to serve food at your event, do it in abundance. It doesn’t matter what type of event you’re hosting; guests always remember the food and you never want a guest to remember that they left hungry. Make sure the team is briefed on how many guests will be in attendance to ensure the kitchen can prepare accordingly, and so that there are enough staff on show so guests are served efficiently. Food is also a chance to make a memorable moment. Think highly visual grazing boards, creative or quirky canapes or branded cocktails that can be as formal or casual as the event demands. Ensure a good first impression by offering guests a drink on arrival.
A great way to increase the social media reach is by creating brand moments that demand to be captured. Create engaging and visual moments through aesthetically pleasing, interactive and high-impact décor like photo walls, unique entertainers and immersive experiences. These not only create great visuals that will inspire guests to share on their social channels, but also enhances the overall experience. If budget allows, hire a professional photographer to capture still and video footage during the event. This also means any content can be used on your social media channels, or be sent to media that couldn’t attend but might want to publish something post-event. Your guests will also love looking out for pics to share on their socials post-event!
If you need a hand planning your next big event – talk to our team of experts and connect with our Operations Director, Laura Carlin at [email protected].
Renowned Integrated Communications Agencies Celebrate Growth
by Hitting Refresh
Today, integrated marketing and communications powerhouse, P4 Group and sister agency, Ruby Communications announce an agency rebrand, now officially debuting as ‘Sabio’.
Today, integrated marketing and communications powerhouse, P4 Group and sister agency, Ruby Communications announce an agency rebrand, now officially debuting as ‘Sabio’.
Under the new brand, the group will design business solutions that funnel close to three decades of experience into cleverly crafted campaigns and creative solutions for their expansive client list. With a fleet of creatives and way of thinking that doesn’t sit on the side of the majority, Sabio brings a re-energised approach to marketing, stakeholder and communications and a promise to elevate the everyday, into the unexpected.
In August of 2020, Brisbane powerhouse agency, P4 Group, joined forces with Ruby Communications uniting their extensive media relations capabilities with P4’s existing communications, stakeholder management, digital marketing and creative services for clients across government, tourism, non-for-profit, hospitality, lifestyle and corporate sectors.
Managing Director, Naomi Spies states that it’s an exciting time to be in the industry, particularly with such a huge focus on collaboration and creativity―a space that Sabio knows all too well.
“Sabio will always be a fluid agency that is ever-changing and ever-evolving to adapt to the fast-moving industries we work within, bringing a clever, highly integrated lens to our client’s needs across communications, creative, digital, marketing and engagement,” says Spies.
“The last three decades has allowed us to work with so many brands, corporations and Government projects and it’s been an amazing ride, but I can genuinely tell you, the best is yet to come.”
Echoing Spies’ remarks is Sabio Founder and CEO, Adrian Basile, who says the rebrand was a necessary change to highlight the talent of the team and its ability to bring the absolute best to the table.
“From what started as a traditional communications agency almost three decades ago with a sole focus on media relations, we are now a campaign-driven agency that delivers exceptional integrated work across a multitude of sectors—we really needed a brand that spoke to this innovative shift,” says Basile.
“We want people to know that we’ll be carrying all of our experience and incredible team into Sabio – our team are the lifeblood of our company so it’s important to us that we bring our highly skilled mix of individuals and our vibrant culture into this next chapter.
“Through Sabio, we’ll deliver work that meshes our ability as powerful storytellers with campaigns that are inherently and cleverly, you. What we’ll bring to the table are ideas that not only bring out the best in our partnering brands and companies, but the unexpected and the surprising.”
Sabio is defined as clever, learned and Spanish for ‘wise,’ and encapsulates the agency’s history as an experienced, trusted advisor while also enabling it to continue its trajectory as an exciting company designing work for clients that is ‘cleverly, you.’
Sabio holds offices across Brisbane, Sydney and the Gold Coast, and specialises in an extensive mix of services spanning marketing, PR and communications, digital, marketing, engagement and creative.
Recent agency work includes campaigns and projects with Brisbane City Council, Brisbane Economic Development Agency, Gallagher Bassett, Tourism and Events Queensland, Major Events Gold Coast, Bicycle Queensland, Multicultural Australia, Ghanem Group, Hallmark Group, Home of the Arts (HOTA), Lung Foundation Australia, Outback Queensland, Youly and Nobby’s Beach Village.
For more information, contact Sabio Communications Director Laura Carlin via laura@sabio.com.au
External communication is now considered a non-negotiable when it comes to amplifying your business and wining a share of voice in the market.
As a result, publicity, advertising, and marketing activities are crucial to reach your customer, grow your business, and ultimately define your bottom line.
The art of external communication is all about telling a story – particularly one that is authentic to your brand and that resonates with your audience. In a two-part blog series, we’ve developed our key tips and tricks to help anyone become a communications expert and professional storyteller, so you can implement a strategy that will work best for your business. This blog identifies the first step in developing any communications plan – knowing exactly who your audience are and where they are located.
It’s more than likely that you aren’t your target audience – and neither are men and women aged 18+. It’s easy to think your product and service is relevant to everyone, but in most instances, this isn’t the case. Identifying your target audience/s is pivotal on your path to successful communications. Consider the below when identifying your audience/s through a similar who, what, when, where, why and how framework:
From here, you can begin identifying the personas of your target market. You’ll likely have one key target market and one to three secondary markets. Notice how these markets vary and how their wants, needs and desires may change. Feel free to give them a name – we often give our client’s target personas a name. E.g. We’re targeting Abbie who is in her 20’s, lives in the inner-city, is single and likes to go out to a new restaurant at least once a week.
Go micro with your personas to understand exactly how to build relationships with them.
You’ve identified your audience, now you need to figure out how they can be reached through communications channels. There are three key channels below – Earned, Owned and Paid – with subcategories. Consider the communications channels you’re currently active in. Is this where your audience is consuming media? Use the below as a checklist and see where you could expand your reach.
– Brand endorsements and mentions voluntarily given by others.
– the channels that you own and are in control of. It can be easy to forget about these outlets, however they are incredibly important as they directly represent your businesses. Be sure to nurture your owned media channels.
– third party channels with social or brand equity. Formats of advertising where you are able to control key messaging and imagery.
Through experience as an integrated agency, we know creating multiple touchpoints that complement each other raise awareness, help key messaging/ brand repetition, and have a stronger impact on your current or potential new customer. For optimal results, ensure you have a voice in a number of Earned, Owned and Paid media channels.
Once you’ve defined exactly who your target audience is and considered where you can reach them, you’re a few steps closer to developing a strategy that will garner results within the right markets and places.
Happy pitching! And, if you need a hand building an integrated approach to reach your audience – connect with our team of experts today, get in touch with our Communications Director, Laura Carlin via laura@sabio.com.au
In our previous blog, you learned how to identify our audience and determine where they are consuming your content.
Now you know who and where to find them, its time to capture the editor/ journalist/ producer’s attention.
Earned media coverage involves brand endorsements and mentions voluntarily given by others and can be a powerful method of amplifying your external communications strategy and reaching your target audience.
‘Traditional media’ aka TV, print/online and radio can often seem impenetrable, however there are ways to maximise your success. To position your business in a positive light, you need to build credibility to bolster a strong story. These are the non-negotiables media MUST have when you share your story to get cut through.
A representative from your business who can talk to media from an internal perspective (confidence and a strong knowledge of the business is a MUST).
A third party who can talk authentically about their experience with your product or service. It’s important to make sure this person feels comfortable on live interviews/ in front of the camera and is briefed correctly.
What is the problem in the community you’re engaging with, why is it relevant to the outlet’s audience and how are you solving this issue?
Identify why you are different to your competitors and why the media should be talking about you.
Back up your story with facts. Share specific data, research and statistics that prove the problem, why your solution works and how you are different. If your organisation owns the research – even better!
Take a look next time you read the newspaper or watch the news and see which of the above are included in the segments and articles. Once you’re confident you have all these elements covered, it’s time to consider how to sell your story. There are a number of ways you can sell your story, however the placement and avenue you take to get there can be detrimental to the success of publicity. Here are the key methods:
– creating the ‘angle’ or story. This option is often less timely and requires a compelling concept to create media interest.
– responding to an industry story or coverage about your organisation for additional commentary.
– identifying opportunities within or outside of your industry to provide commentary. This response requires an agile approach, and the best results can come from targeted, tailored outreach in response to an article that has already run on a timely topic.
– offer a unique opportunity, such as a launch, to a publication exclusively. This means the publication has a first-to-market run, which can then be followed by outreach to additional publications. An exclusive format works well in today’s current media landscape where outlets are competing to be the first on the scene or to have the inside scoop.
No matter the approach, your outreach should always include messaging and information that is authentic, credible and impactful. Now you’re prepared and at the starting line ready to hit go, there are a few other external hurdles that can get in the way of taking home the win:
– will override all news given the timeliness and usually urgent nature (particularly in the current climate)
– can push your story out of the schedule
– can mean higher priority items are published over your story
– media need to diversify their stories to keep their audience engaged
– no room for new discussion topics
– your story doesn’t suit the outlet’s format/ topics/ audience
– you cannot share the assets required in line with the outlet’s deadlines
– publications don’t have the physical capacity to craft or produce your story
– outlets (particularly magazines) are focusing on majority paid advertorial, reducing the opportunity to receive editorial
– your story isn’t relevant to the conversation anymore
Don’t feel depleted if you find yourself in any of the above situations – it’s common and not everyone can pick up your story. Look at what else the business is doing, how else you could contribute to your industry as an expert, and the activity you have on the horizon. Pick yourself up and try again with a fresh approach.
Happy pitching! And, if you need a hand building an integrated approach to reach your audience – connect with our team of experts today, get in touch with our Communications Director, Laura Carlin via laura@sabio.com.au
I am in my final semester of a Master of Digital Communications degree at QUT and over the past six weeks I have completed an internship with Sabio.
I wanted to do an internship to cement the things I’ve learned over the course of my degree and to gain some practical knowledge and experience. No class or assignment at Uni can compare to the experience of being amongst communication professionals in the office and being assigned tasks from real-life clients to work on!
The main thing I’ve learned through my experience at Sabio is how a professional communications agency operates and what a typical day at work looks and feels like. The team at Sabio were super supportive in tailoring my internship to my personal interests and goals, and I got to work on lots of exciting digital communications projects. I learned what it’s like to create social media content for a variety of different clients and it was so rewarding to see my work posted to high-profile pages with thousands of followers.
The thing that surprised me most was how professionally the internship was run and the way I was always busy and being given different tasks to complete. Each day I had my own structured workload assigned to me which meant I was always focused on one task, allowing me to really become immersed in what I was doing.
The best part of being an intern at Sabio was being able to network and gain advice from professionals in the industry. The feedback and guidance I received was so helpful and I’m sure I will take it with me throughout my professional career. I was also able to narrow down my perception of what I’d like to do when I graduate, and I now have a clearer idea of what kind of positions I’d like to apply for next year.
The hardest part of being an intern for me was being confident enough to believe my work was up to standard for a professional communications agency.
Submitting an assignment at Uni is one thing, but it can be even more daunting when there are real clients at stake. The team at Sabio were really encouraging and supportive, and I was able to improve my quality of work and general skills through the feedback I was given.
I would highly recommend an internship at Sabio for any student who wants to gain some practical experience and build their confidence. I feel more excited and ready to finish my degree and enter the workforce because of my internship at Sabio Group.
Written by Katie Fotheringham
As communications professionals, deciding whether to hang on the inhouse or agency side of the fence is one of the most common decisions we face.
For those of us who are a fence sitter or perhaps just like to try everything once, transitioning between the two can be a challenge. More often than not, we hear the stories of people beginning in agency and then transitioning into inhouse – but less so do we hear from those who go the other way.
Though it feels like much longer, a few short months ago I made the jump from a career within inhouse communications and marketing roles over to the flipside – agency. If I were to do it all again, here are the tips I would share with my former self on how to flourish through this complex change.
My mum always used to tell me to ‘soak it up’ and at one point or another in my career, it finally made sense. Though it was never more prevalent than in this transition. Like so many new experiences, whether coming in as the intern or an Account Director at an agency, it’s important to swallow your ego and show true commitment to learning the ropes. You’ll need to remind yourself that there’s no such thing as a dumb question over and over and over.
In my first few weeks at P4 Group, I was likely considered the ‘quiet girl’. I sat back and listened to as many conversations as I could, read anything and everything I could get my hands on, and simply learnt all that I could from those around me. My colleagues would be quick to tell you now that this quietness has well and truly warded off now – but at the time, it was vital for my learning. Being thrown into a totally new way of working means you can be quick to second guess your natural working style. The more I learned from others, the quicker I started to feel confident in finding my own way of working.
There are so many experiences you’ll need to learn in an agency environment. Things that are second nature to those around you can seem like daunting, confusing feats for a newbie to agency-style. From logging time on client tasks through to presenting proposals, all the newness can often leave you sitting in that ‘what on earth am I doing here?’ feeling.
In these moments, it’s critical that you remember what you know. Looking around the room, just as there are many experiences those with agency experience will have that you do not, there are so many – potentially even more – learnings that you can bring from your inhouse experiences.
Remember that diversity in an agency is like tonic to gin – it’s a key ingredient! Diverse opinions, experiences and skillsets are how true market-leading agencies thrive, so leverage your differences not as shortcomings, but as opportunities for all the new things you can bring to the table.
With an in-house role comes exposure that can’t be matched in agency. You are exposed to – and often working closely with – decision makers and executives well beyond the marketing or comms team. You will likely know the line of approvals and hierarchy of decisions like the back of your hand, and you are well and truly exposed to the entire organisation. When switching sides to agency, one of the biggest challenges faced can be getting a grasp on your clients without this innate understanding of their organisation.
While you will only ever be privy to the information your client is willing to share, putting in the hard yards in those early days to build strong relationships with your clients will make a big difference to how quickly you hit the ground running on accounts. I have found that it all comes down to treating each and every one of your clients as though you are their inhouse team. Despite it being a buzz phrase, working as an extension of your client’s team is well and truly the greatest way to quickly build trust and in turn, quickly see great outcomes.
Whilst the age-old debate of whether those inhouse are cut out for the pace of agency or not will likely continue on, there’s no questioning you will need to focus more of your energy into organisation.
Remember that you are essentially going from working on the equivalent of one supersized client to two, three, four, five and beyond, so organising your time and knowledge across a broader range of topics with naturally be a hurdle. Whether it’s lists, calendar blocks, a note pad or a full suite of software, make a decision, find a system and stick with it as quick as you can. The more you can leverage the tools around you to help break down each complex client into achievable goals and needs, the quicker you’ll arrive at the day where you just get the hang of it!
If you’re interested in hearing more about a career in PR, connect with our team of experts today, get in touch with our Communications Director, Laura Carlin via laura@sabio.com.au
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