Compass Communications - Our services

Our services

Compass Communications helps companies and organisations be heard. In a world of endless media communication, how do organisations stand out? How will you be heard? How will you connect with customers, or other audiences you seek to reach?

We believe you start by setting clear objectives, and we help you set your targets, and communication and marketing goals. We help you think about the audiences you are trying to reach so that you can develop good relationships with your audiences.

Once we have a clear understanding of your communication and marketing objectives, we can help you devise the best way to connect with customers, staff, the media and other stakeholders.

Compass Communications integrates communication and marketing strategies in intelligent ways. Our services include:

Media relations

Media relations

Media campaigns and communications

Compass Communications employs people who have solid experience as journalists and editors. We understand how journalists work and how the news is created every day.

The media are hungry for news and information. Journalists and editors are very wary of giving free publicity to people for purely commercial purposes. But if you have a good story to tell, and particularly if you can provide some exciting images to go with your story, you have a reasonable chance of making it into the news. The key to building effective relationships with the media is to get to know journalists. At Compass Communications we carefully research all available media and make contact with journalists whom we believe will be receptive to our ideas. Some of the tools we use include:

An up-to-date database of media and journalists covering news, politics, finance, investment and a host of specialist areas.
We keep in touch with key journalists - but we don't annoy them or waste their time with stories or ideas we know will be of no interest to them.
We provide media with well-written, newsworthy media releases and images, as well as useful background and fact sheets written in concise, newsworthy language.
We ensure that our clients who are trying to gain media exposure are prepared and available to do media interviews.
We measure how we are performing in media campaigns by tracking media coverage and getting clients' feedback.

Crisis and issues management

Issues management and crisis communications

Compass Communications help clients manage issues which might be causing concern to their stakeholders, and which might create negative coverage in the media. These strategies are often called “spin”, and journalists frequently and fashionably lambaste the so-called “spin-doctors” for trying to hide the “bad” news. The real bad news, though, is that if you try to “spin” your way out of a problem, you will probably end up in the news for all the wrong reasons. We help our clients develop strategies to anticipate problems in their businesses and organisations, and so minimise poor outcomes and negative media coverage.

We work with our clients to minimise damaging media coverage and reputation damage. We have well-developed planning tools which help our clients create effective crisis communication plans. Some of the principles we recommend include:

Plan for potential problems. No person or organisation is perfect, and so it makes sense to develop a crisis communication plan as part of your risk-management strategy.
No amount of “spin” will help if you don’t try to anticipate and fix problems before they get out of hand.
Develop good relationships with your customers, clients, staff and other stakeholders so that they raise problems with you before they call journalists. Ensure your organisation’s feedback channels are working, and that executive management have channels so that they know immediately a problem has occurred.
If an emergency or unforseen event occurs, you should already have an identified, stand-by crisis team which can assemble quickly to assess a situation. Make sure you have people identified beforehand who can communicate with your key stakeholders.
Identify a spokesperson, and a back-up in case this person is not available, who is prepared and comfortable talking to the media. When a crisis occurs, journalists are under time pressure to write or produce their reports, and they need someone to talk to. Make sure a spokesperson is available.
Keep talking to your stakeholders. Many organisations and businesses seem to believe that once an issue is no longer of interest to the media, that it’s no longer a priority. Address problems and talk to people who have been concerned or affected by a particular situation. Neglecting these steps will inevitably result in more complaints, more negative media coverage, and eventually damage to your reputation and profitability.

Staff communication

Effective staff communication

The people who work for you are your most valuable resource. Compass Communications helps clients value and appreciate their staff by developing ongoing and effective ways of communicating with them.

What is the best way to communicate with your staff and what do they need?

The answer is simple. Ask them.

Compass Communications can help you devise simple tools to talk to your staff and gauge their opinions through tools such as online surveys, focus groups and other communication mechanisms. If your organisation is small, you may be able to have frequent face-to-face meetings, or sometimes phone or online conferences work well. We help you set up interesting, clear and well-written staff electronic and print newsletters and other material, which invites feedback and staff participation.

A common employee complaint is not feeling sufficiently informed, consulted, or valued. Whether your organisation is small or large, we can help you improve communication and staff involvement.

Change management communication

Change is inevitable but it usually makes people anxious. Compass Communications works with human resources specialists to devise comprehensive change management strategies. This includes the all-important need to consult with staff and keep them informed about the need, timeframe and possible outcomes of change in an organisation. We can devise effective communication management strategies to smooth the way for change.

Community engagement

Compass Communications staff have extensive experience in the area of community engagement and consultation.

What is community engagement?

Community engagement involves sharing information, providing or sharing services and listening to other people's views. Organisations need to value contrary opinions and act on feedback. Being more inclusive enables businesses, government and non-government organisations improve relationships with their customers and other stakeholders.

Community engagement might rely on advertising or media campaigns to reach audiences, but there are many other ways to engage with communities. Compass Communications can provide advice on, and arrange programs such as:

Community consultation programs to test new policy proposals or plans. This might involve arranging special events, such as public forums to get feedback from communities.
Helping organisations develop principles on how to choose and benefit from sponsorships.
Creating e-newsletters and e-zines, and print publications, designed for specific audiences.
Improving community relations by conducting an audit of an organisation's corporate social responsibility program. This would usually include interviews with the organisation's executives or management, and conducting opinion surveys or interviews to understand stakeholders' views.

Marketing services

Compass Communications integrates marketing and communication strategies to provide clients with cost-effective marketing solutions. We offer a full range of marketing consultancy services and can also provide temporary staff for short-term marketing assignments. Our services include:

Short-term marketing assignments

Many companies and organisations have a short-term need for a marketing or communication staff member to perform a particular task. Compass Communications can provide exceptional staff for a range of temporary assignments including:

Marketing campaign planning and execution
Project management
Developing and planning advertising campaigns and account management
Designing and producing marketing material including brochures, flyers, and mail outs
Web content research and writing
Public relations and communication services
Event management

Market research

Compass Communications works with skilled, experienced market research professionals who specialise in qualitative market research examining issues including:

Customer attitudes and perceptions
Effectiveness of marketing and communication campaigns

Compass Communications provides can develop marketing and communication plans to address the findings of market research.

Marketing strategies

At the start of a new project, we talk to clients about their marketing and communication objectives, and then design marketing plans to cultivate good relationships with customers and other stakeholders.

Compass Communications organises workshops with our clients to develop effective marketing plans. Workshop topics include:

Analysing the external and internal environments which impact on your business or organisation.
Identifying your organisation’s strengths and weaknesses
Building profiles of your customers and other stakeholders to understand their needs and concerns.

We also work with organisations to develop clear creative briefs to ensure cost-effective advertising campaigns. Some of the issues we take into account when developing creative briefs include:

Clearly defining products and services
Defining your target customers
Defining your organisation’s brand essence
Identifying your product or service’s unique selling features
Creating a clear positioning for your company or organisation and developing a unique selling proposition and positioning statement
Designing a branding strategy which includes corporate branding, logos and other marketing material.
Including call to action messages and contact details on relevant advertising.
Advice on effective advertising and media placement.

Marketing material

Before creating marketing material for clients we do careful research. We ensure we understand our clients’ objectives and we respond to their, and their customers’ feedback.

Compass Communications provides advice, and offers a range of marketing communication material, including:

Print and electronic advertising
E-marketing solutions
Communication and community consultation campaigns
Media campaigns
Branding and logos
Signage

We also produce brochures - electronic and print - posters, corporate identity guides and mail outs, including letters, postcards and business cards.

Sponsorships

Sponsorships can be a cost-effective marketing tool, but they can also be a poor investment. Compass Communications draws on our extensive experience in sponsorship management to help clients select the right sponsorships which will enhance their reputation and meet their marketing objectives.

Carefully selected sponsorships can help position your business or organisation effectively with internal and external audiences. Compass Communications can help you develop effective sponsorship relationships.

Publications

Compass Communications staff have excellent writing and publication management skills and can produce a range of print and web material. In addition to advertising, brochures and other promotional material, we provide:

Well-written and interesting newsletters for staff and other stakeholders
E-zines and magazines targeted at specific audiences

Websites

Do you like this website?

Compass Communications works with an innovative Brisbane-based web design company to create effective websites which meet your organisation’s marketing objectives and which are very easy to maintain.

We also work with experienced web analysis and design consultants to research existing websites and we provide advice on how to plan a good website.

We write web content which is clear, concise, fully searchable and which fits with your website’s structure and navigation features.

Evaluation

Compass Communications agrees beforehand with clients on how to measure marketing and communication campaign performance through tracking of customer feedback, sales and other performance indicators. We set realistic budgets and provide value for money services.