5 trends every public-sector PR professional needs to know and act on
*Nervously risking the disdain of our readers for pointing out the obvious*… technology has changed the way that government departments can reach and communicate with citizens and stakeholders. The role of the public relations professi...
Five requirements for effective leadership, according to Paul Maddison
Paul Maddison, currently the Canadian High Commissioner to Australia, has undertaken many new challenges throughout a 40-year career. After diligently working his way up the ranks of the Canadian Navy, he was appointed Commander of the R...
Mission possible: the perfect annual report process
Annual report season is nearly over and, no doubt, there were moments when you wondered whether it was all going to end in tears. Somehow or other, though, either through a Herculean effort or just plain old unexplained magic, that docum...
Content with communications: why content communications is the future
The role of content in communications has seen astonishing growth in recent years. Separating itself from the basic production of articles, it now includes creating pieces that are visually pleasing, easy to understand and promote engage...
Authenticity, government and social media
Those of us who’ve worked in government communications for any length of time have probably had a conversation with someone from Business Area X that started something like “I want to do 12 Facebook posts to tell people about this th...
Communication challenges governments, globally
My career started with both communication and government. At the age of 25, I had a completely different idea about my job, and I had utterly no idea about how challenging communicating on behalf of government would be. I began at the Cz...
The psychology of colour
Communication relies heavily on how your content resonates with your audience- how do they feel after engaging with you? Do you want them to feel educated? Engaged? Angered? Inspired? Break through the noise is by designing your content ...
Case study: Government and Influencers
By now we should all know that influencers are a successful marketing tool, we know what they are and the general idea behind them (if you need a refresh, visit our previous blog on the topic here). Let’s get practical and have a look ...
Two ears, one mouth: How taking an Asian perspective will improve your communication
It felt like a lifetime, but when I checked the progress of our journey to Bali on my screen, we still hadn’t crossed the Australian border near Darwin. “Australia is such a big country”, I thought to myself. But then in a flash, i...
Why your audience want stories, not lectures
We’ve all been there. “Look at all these facts! These stats! These illuminating nuggets of academic wisdom!” and have been so impressed by the intellectual stock of our own argument that we’ve ended up writing something that read...
Social media on the campaign trail: how Obama and Trump got the upper hand
The US presidential race has always been an enigma; how do candidates gain popularity and boost your voter numbers? Historically, this has been about getting your face out there; billboards, TV interviews, aim for a front page shaking hand...
Case study: Video for the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA)
Videos of your events are a great way to increase audience reach. They allow people who can’t attend in person to catch up later, and for others to skip to the parts of most relevance to them. Once you have a few videos in the bag you ...
Against the tide: the struggle of governments to win public confidence in an age of mass communication
In the Australian National University’s 2016 Australian Election Study, only 26 per cent of respondents stated that they could trust people in government. That finding represents the lowest level of public trust since surveying commenc...
contentgroup: Canberra ⇒ Australia ⇒ Singapore ⇒ World!
Ever since 2013, contentgroup has had the express vision of becoming the world’s leading content communication agency for government and the public sector by 2020. We don’t shy away from this vision. In fact, we talk about it first t...
A few insights for Public Sector Innovation Month
It's a fitting time to explore the notion of innovation within government departments. During my days as a public servant, almost everyone I came across revered the word ‘innovation’. Being able to ‘innovate’ or ‘be innovative’ was the...
Speechwriting for government: predicaments and principles
Arguably, there has never been a more important time for speeches - particularly from those with an authoritative, trusted and educated voice who can help inform the public and media discourse, correct its inherent misconceptions, and...
Top tips for government video communications
contentgroup recently attended the Role of Video in Digital Government seminar in Canberra where presenters from various government departments explored current issues in online engagement and presented case studies of video production...