Strawberry Communications: Writing & PR

What happened to Twitter?

August 17, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Image from Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/epw/4341554771

When I discovered Twitter in 2008 I was a freelance writer and fledgling business owner working from the third bedroom of our home. I was also a new-ish mum looking for different ways to connect with others in the same situation.

I had been blogging for two years already and was an active member of a few online communities for women in business and mums in business. It was one of these online friends who suggested I look at Twitter in 2008, and once I did I saw a whole world open up.

Physically, more than socially, isolated, I set up an account and dived into a few conversations with people I vaguely knew with the aim of building a bigger social network. For the next few years I was a huge fan of everything Twitter because I could have amazing, funny and inspirational conversations with so many people. I followed all my IRL friends, everyone I met at networking events and anyone who wrote or presented anything I was interested in. My #followfriday (or #ff if there were lots of names) list grew week by week until I became overwhelmed by it. The point is, Twitter was the place to be for someone like me.

Storytelling Tools for Your Business

July 27, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Image credit: unsplash.com

Human beings are social creatures. We love connecting with others and one of the simplest ways to facilitate this connection is through storytelling. Business owners can use that instinctive attraction to stories in marketing, by inviting customers to connect through a form of communication we’re all comfortable with.

I’ve written about the power of storytelling through data, creative writing and advertising already, but in this post I want to share some of my favourite storytelling tools with you.

Social media

Social media has enabled businesses to tell stories in more fun, simple and effective ways than ever before, building on those innate connections I mentioned above. Whether you want to live blog an event you’re hosting via Twitter, share your fundraising efforts for a local charity through boosted posts on Facebook or showcase your online store’s unique style through Instagram or Pinterest, social media is the place to do it. Almost everyone has – and uses – their phones to stay connected all day, every day. We all access various social media platforms multiple times throughout the day, meaning you can be connecting with customers via storytelling on their favourite platform at any time.

Tassie’s success with the golden spirit recognised at Whisky Live Hobart

July 25, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Pure air, clean water and a mild climate are just three of the ingredients needed to produce some of the world’s best whisky. Tasmania has an abundance of these, making it the place to be when Whisky Live hits Hobart this weekend.

This is the first Whisky Live event for Hobart, and will be held at the Grand Chancellor Hotel on Saturday, 30 July, wrapping up the inaugural Tasmanian Whisky Week (22-31 July).

Many Tasmanian whisky brands will be sharing their whisky know-how and offering tastings at Whisky Live, including Lark & Overeem Distillery, Sullivans Cove Single Malt Whisky, Hellyers Road Distillery and Redlands Whisky.

Guest post: 5 Ways Cloud Technology Can Help Optimise Your Business

July 24, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/business-client-cloud-communication-17686/

While not exactly a new technology, the speed with which cloud computing is transforming business models and efficiency seems to have accelerated over the past few years. As the world of data and information continues to expand, the cloud grows with it.

Cloud computing has many benefits and holds the potential to dramatically change the businesses that adopt it.

Improved Operations

Cloud computing enables businesses large and small to move some of their operation to third-party servers, which allows for variable data packages, rapid expansion, and mobility without the fear of downtime, crashes, or permanently lost data. This allows a small business to access resources that would have been cost prohibitive for them in the past. These operations can also compete against corporations with far more funding, causing small and medium-size businesses to go from being constrained to certain geographies because of budget limitations to having the ability to scale globally with significantly reduced overhead costs. All of this can happen without building a physical data centre at a new location. Instead of deploying on-site infrastructure to run their operations, companies can access infrastructure as a service, via managed service providers. Cloud technologies enable larger companies to create a modular organisation. Cloud technology permits better participation in small teams, which allows organisations to be more modular and less hierarchical, lessening the risk of the collapse of any department or its unit.

Launceston Dentist Donates to Help Homeless Residents

July 5, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Shekinah House co-founder Louise Cowan accepts a $500 donation from Prospect Family Dental owner Dr Bing Lee.

After opening its doors late last year, Prospect Family Dental is acknowledging the overwhelming support from the Launceston community by making a donation to a local homeless charity.

Over the past two months dental surgery owner Dr Bing Lee has been contributing a percentage of the business’s fees to a donation fund until it reached $500. He then used the power of the Launceston community to help him decide which charity to choose.

“Our Facebook page hit 1,000 likes in April and we wanted to thank our valued patients for their support so we decided to make a donation to our community’s favourite charity,” Dr Lee said.

What do a girls’ weekend away and writing have in common?

June 30, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell 2 Comments

As a writer I thrive on the opportunity to spend extended periods of time with others who love words as much as I do. It’s a real treat to occasionally be able to immerse myself in all things writing and be surrounded by others who feel the same.

My recent trip to Melbourne for the National Writers’ Conference was a chance to do just that – and spend some time with two fellow members of my writers’ group, Penny and Leonie. This was a typical girls’ weekend where we talked about the raft of topics women share when together (partners, families, friends, travel, food, pets etc), but we also dissected the sessions we’d attended and shared how they had inspired us to write more, or differently, or explore new genres.

Between us, Penny, Leonie and I have attended many writers’ festivals and enjoyed them, but felt they were lacking in the stuff we really needed to know – insights to the craft of writing itself. Instead of being for avid readers (which we are too), this wasn’t about authors discussing what inspired them to write their latest work and then share their favourite passage. The National Writer’s Conference didn’t skirt around the how-tos and whys of writing, the program asked authors to jump straight in to the nitty gritty and lay their writing process bare.

Storytelling Through Data

June 1, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

A departure from my usual articles about writing and marketing, I thought I’d share some data analysis with you this month. I wrote about using data to tell a story two years ago and had a great response so thought it was worth revisiting.

For those readers who have been following this newsletter for a number of years you will know I’m now in the third year of my PhD. This is the year when everything I’ve been doing over the past two years is starting to come together and I can see how my project will actually look (it’s about time!).

Where does data fit into journalism?

One thing the uni has been very keen for me to do is interact with my peers. This has a twofold effect in that it helps me build a network around my research interest, but also gets me to step outside my little study bubble and share what it is I’m working on with others. I now research in an office with four other PhD candidates, and last week I was asked to share my research methods with the digital technology special interest group I’m a member of. The data I’m sharing here is what I put together for the presentation.

Before I go too much further, I should refresh your memory on my research topic. I am looking at how journalists use social media texts to report on crisis events. To do this I am investigating three key crisis events from the UK – the London Bombings, UK Riots and Lee Rigby’s murder. These events span an eight-year period between 2005 and 2013, which gives me a chance to track longitudinal developments in journalist’s use of user-generated social media texts as a news source.

First Whisky Live in Hobart a Boon for Tassie’s Whisky Lovers

May 24, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Mark Twain believed, “too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough,” and Whisky Live organisers are banking on Hobart whisky lovers thinking the same.

Whisky aficionados and those who are yet to discover the finer differences between whisky and whiskey can discover all they need to know at Whisky Live in Hobart on July 30.

Whisky Live will be held at the Grand Chancellor Hotel, 1 Davey Street, Hobart on Saturday, July 30. Two sessions are available: 1pm – 4.30pm and 6pm – 9.30pm.

6 Things Every Media-Savvy Small Business Owner Should Do

May 3, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Photo: unsplash.com

This post is not about the skills you should have to run a business; it’s about what you need to do if you want media attention.

Unless your business revolves around something we absolutely must have, like water or you’re an expert in a medical specialism, you will need some level of publicity to survive. Often that publicity comes in the form of media interest – both from traditional outlets like a newspaper, or newer platforms, like social media.

If you want to get media attention then you need to be media savvy. Here are some tools and tricks to help you along the way:

Be photogenic

Whether a journalist has called asking for your opinion on a big story or you’ve been invited to speak at an event, you will need a good quality, high-resolution photo available. Get it done now, and then when they ask for it you’ll have one ready to send immediately. For more on photos for business PR, read my post A Pictures Tells a Thousand Words.

5 Reasons Podcasting Boosts Business

April 7, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

Image: Unsplash.com

Podcasts are the self-help books of the tens: great information about business, hobbies, interests or just life packaged into bit-sized chunks to be consumed at a time convenient to the listener.

I was very slow to come to the podcast party, but now I’ve walked through that door I can’t get enough! I frequently listen to Valerie Khoo and Allison Tait’s podcast So You Want To Be A Writer while baking for the week ahead on Sunday mornings or walking my dog (if my walking buddy Suse isn’t joining us). While I’m driving to Hobart for PhD appointments at UTAS I tap into some Straight and Curly with Kelly Exeter and Carly Jacobs, Chat 10 Looks 3 with Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabb, This American Life’s Serial or Media and Politics from the Shorenstein Center. I’ve also recently discovered Monocle’s Meet the Writers and The Stack podcasts and have been devouring those to catch up while cooking at night.

This list includes a mix of writing, journalism, reading, some life skills and a bit of fun, which I think is a great mix for my brain. I love that I can combine building my knowledge on a topic and listening to something I enjoy while also doing something else like cooking, driving or walking. The portability of podcasts means I can be hands-free while listening so I can tune in anywhere and any time.

Tassie’s success with the golden spirit recognised at Whisky Live Hobart

Launceston Dentist Donates to Help Homeless Residents

What do a girls’ weekend away and writing have in common?

First Whisky Live in Hobart a Boon for Tassie’s Whisky Lovers

5 Reasons Podcasting Boosts Business

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