Undeniably, these 10 people are obviously influential to our world but the reason they were chosen for mention this issue is the way they inspire people.

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By: Matthew Smith
Featured in Bangkok Post on August, 2007 

One of the better long terms strategies for developing a business or organization is to work towards positioning yourself as an industry expert. As a leader of an organization, you’re generally privy to a high level of in-depth information about your particular industry. While much of this will be proprietary and comprise part of your organization’s competitive advantage, there is a large amount of valuable insight that can be shared safely in a way that is valuable for others.

Today of course the internet has been added into the mix of possible avenues for communication. This means that a platform for sharing industry information can be set up through a company blog, an email newsletter, or an audio or video podcast – in addition to more traditional forms such as public speaking engagements, television or radio appearances or contributing to print publications. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Matthew Smith
Featured in Bangkok Post on December 2006

In an age when information about almost anything is just a few mouse clicks away, the amount of biased, inaccurate or untruthful information is high. As access to information continues to grow rapidly, there is an ever increasing need to find accurate and reliable sources of information. People’s access to information has changed radically in the last decade or so, but the need for reliable, trusted sources of information has not.

One of the author’s first conversations with a journalist after getting into the public relations profession, the journalist gave his advice: “you’re a source.” What the author understood was that to fill a role as an agent, he had to be out there and be trusted by the media. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Jason Roberts

If you are a successful manager you may also consider yourself to be a good leader.  You may well be, but the two skills so far as they relate to the workplace, whilst complementary, are different.

A manager will motivate and guide his employees to achieve pre-determined goals, to conform to prescribed behaviour, to perform their duties in accordance with company rules, agreed business strategy, policy and, in the broad sense, in line with company vision and stated objectives.

As a manager you may play a part in devising policies and strategies as a member of the management team but the leadership, and the decisions, initiatives, and direction that go with it will come from the person at the top. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Matthew Smith
Feature in Bangkok Post on January, 2007

It could be argued that a corporation’s most important audience is its customers. We’re talking about revenue when we talk about customers, so that’s an easy one. But the reality of any organization is that the people within the organization are the primary audience for the company’s leaders.

Employees are often listed towards the bottom of a list of target audiences presented in PR strategy meetings, usually right next to catch-all terms like “general public.” This is unfortunate, seeing that regardless of intent, they are the often first learn about developments and first to pass on that information. They are your default audience. But they should not be treated as such. The best companies know this and manage internal communications well. There is an entire industry of consultancies and professionals who work solely on helping companies communicate to themselves. Communicating effectively to employees is the single best way to boost morale, productivity and navigate through times of crisis or change. Read the rest of this entry »

SEALNet, a non-profit organization founded by students at Stanford University in 2004 to improve the well-being of people in Southeast Asia, has successfully completed a comprehensive programme of water sanitation and conservation at the Ban Nong Thong Lim School in Buriram.

The project’s objective was to solve the immediate water hygiene problems and to provide a framework for long-term maintenance and sustainability. The team started working on site on 31 August 2008, and their work was completed on recently 12 September 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Matthew Smith

Featured in Bangkok Post on November, 2006

Good corporate citizenship is one of the marketing objectives to surface in the last half a century. It, like celebrity endorsement or a groomed spokesperson, is a humanizer for the invisible entities of the global economy. If a spokesperson is a company’s face, good corporate citizenship is its good deeds. And like an individual, a corporate citizen that behaves well is respected by society. Being good is noticed and rewarded.

But corporate citizenship is often a misguided task. However, a properly developed corporate citizenship activity has impact well beyond the capabilities of standard marketing activities. It’s worthwhile to note that GCC as we’re discussing it here is separate from corporate social responsibility. CSR extends beyond positive activities and covers areas where a business has the potential to have a negative impact on a community by, for example, polluting or putting competing companies out of business. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Matthew Smith

Featured in Bangkok Post on March, 2008

Public relations is often attacked for skewing the truth in favor of its clients. As the goal of public relations is to build and maintain reputation, PR practitioners are always walking a fine line between presenting a client accurately and positively. That does not mean the two are necessarily contradictory – the vast majority of clients have little or nothing to hide – but as a professional, the PR practitioner is always trying to paint a positive picture while staying accurate enough to maintain credibility.

This, in a sense, is ethical issue number one in the industry. Most agree that lying to the media is professional suicide. And most would likely agree that an accurate picture has much more traction than a flowery, over-hyped one. Ethical issue number two is much deeper and more complex, although this complexity is somewhat offset by its rarity. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Kelvin Rugg

“Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, members of the media, I am proud and feel especially privileged to be standing before you today on the historic occasion of the launch of the very latest addition to the CoolTaste family of melt-in-the mouth ice creams.

The result of many months of dedicated research by our team of highly qualified food scientists, the new chilli flavoured choc-ice has already created something of a sensation in the industry. And I can tell you, we at CoolTaste are tremendously excited with its potential to become a true market leader and a pioneer in a whole new range of tanatalising ice cream flavours and taste sensations.” Read the rest of this entry »