Daniel Ionescu ✨

🚨 More great news with SME Today🚨 I’m doing a series of Podcast Related Articles for SME today 🎙️ The first one: “Dip Your Toe Into Podcasting - by adding audio to your existing communications is here”💥 Do give it a read and share to anyone who might find it useful 💡 As always much appreciated 🙏 Community & Business Partners CIC you were used as an example! https://lnkd.in/e42ycMPs

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We’re finally able to share this exciting news - huge thank you to everyone who has supported us so far - from big organisations, to founders who gave up time to have a coffee with us over the last few years. Marketing Engine helps marketers prove what they do works. Not just the Google search ads at the last click, but the daily actions which drive success at each touchpoint from PR to brand to media buying. If you’ve ever struggled to tell the story of your marketing results despite having all the data and spending hours on the planning, this platform is for you. We’ve been there, and we’re looking for more people out there who feel like this to help us shape the roadmap for Marketing Engine. If you’re interested in testing the platform and being part of the campaign to put the trust back into marketing, DM me or Kieron Goldsborough 🤓 #martech #startup #marketing #teesvalley Business Tees Valley Tees Valley Combined Authority Innovation SuperNetwork Ignite Accelerator The Thinking Digital Conference Innovate UK Thank you Insider Media for the coverage.

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Thanks for all your lovely comments on my new website. Positive feedback makes the hard slog worthwhile 😊 As I was working on my new site, I recorded what I learned, the problems I uncovered and how I solved them. I've turned these into two blog posts to help other business owners who are about to embark on a new website project. Link in comments ⬇️ I’ve broken my thoughts down into content and technical lessons. This first post covers the web copy and content side of things. The techie one will follow next week. Hope you find them both useful! #Blog #NewWebsite #ContentWritingTips #WebCopy #WebsiteContent

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Privatisation of foster care in England is at a tipping point. Independent agencies now account for almost half of mainstream fostering, according to Ofsted data published today. Almost all agencies are run for profit and many are owned by private equity. These firms extract tens of millions of pounds from children’s services to offshore tax havens every year. This money is taken from children in care to enrich private investors, bankrupting councils in the process. So much focus is on children’s homes, but most looked-after children live in foster care, which is more profitable pound for pound. And slowly but surely, councils are surrendering to business. The extra money that agencies lavish on their foster carers comes directly out of money that councils should be spending on their own carers and the children they look after. Privatisation is entrenching inequality and injustice. https://lnkd.in/ebQ_F6sH

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The latest edition of my newsletter, Data Communication Chronicles, has just landed in the inbox of 295 subscribers - hoping to break the 300 mark with this issue! In this issue: 💩 What the LibDems sewage splash in The Times teaches us about insight  📝Free webinar on Residents' Surveys 🗳️ Why new MPs might be called Chris (HT 56˚ North) 📊 Auditing accessibility of your social posts ⚠️ Data mining to hold Zuck et al to account 🎤 The Orlo Tour Let me know what you think - and do send comms related data stories my way for future inclusion. #datainsights #datainformed #datacommunication

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UK communications regulator Ofcom has released its latest #podcast survey - here are 5 takeaways from the research: 1. Half of the UK adult population listens 🎧to podcasts - including around one quarter of 'core age' 15-54 year olds who LISTEN EVERY WEEK along with a similar share of more affluent AB & C1 people. 2. The average podcast listener consumes FIVE podcasts a week. 3. CONVENIENCE is key with 83% of respondents citing being able to listen when it suits them. 4. LISTENING is most often done while doing housework, in the car, or walking (around one third each). 5. #socialmedia and word of mouth are the main ways people DISCOVER new podcasts. Some quick notes from me on these... Podcasts are mainstream with half of adults listening, so should be considered alongside other media when planning your #contentmarketing. The ability to consume a podcast while doing other (mundane) tasks has always been important and remains so. Action point: - You need to be one of those five podcasts that people are listening to. You need to ensure that you put the #marketing effort in to tell people about your podcast and get those that already listen to be your greatest cheerleaders. What can you do for those who share your podcast with others? Is there a reward or prize you could offer? Do your website, email signature, social media bios, etc all mention your podcast and include links to listen? As always, I can help you improve your podcast and maximise its potential. Drop me a DM and let's chat. #GetYourIdeasIntoEars

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⚾️ How to pitch to a journalist ⚾️ I represented The PIE amongst colleagues from The Financial Times, The Economist and Management Today at the MaKiNetwork Media Conferences in London to give some tips to communications execs from the world’s leading business schools… 🖊️ killer stats make good headlines 🖋️ people are interested in people - is there a human element to your story? 🖊️be contrary - dog bites man 🫤 man bites dog 😮 🖊️or validate an accepted truth 🖊️ sustainability stories need to be more specific 🖋️networks matter. Be available and willing to comment. This might not be THE story, just a warm up to the big one 🖊️balanced commentary matters, be prepared to have your pitch countered with another view Oh, and turns out a glass of Pimms on a sunny terrace helps grease the wheels too ☀️ Lovely to meet you all - I await your pitches! #intled #highereducation #studyabroad

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How do you launch a local news site? Try to reinvent local journalism? NUJ London Freelance Meet ✍️ Monday 10 June, 6.30 pm online I'll be chatting to Joshi Herrmann, the founder of Mill Media - which has just reached a six-figure reader milestone. Mill Media "publishes high-quality local journalism in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Sheffield. Best known for its deeply reported long reads and paid newsletter model, the company has been described by the Financial Times’s John Burn-Murdoch as “one of the most interesting and impressive media startups of the last decade." Joshi founded The Mill, a local newsletter covering Greater Manchester, as a one-man band in June 2020, and the company now has staff writers and editors across four cities. It is read by more than 100,000 email subscribers and funded by 7,500 paying members, as well as corporate sponsorship partners. Excited for this! Got a question for Joshi? Let me know and I'll put it to him. #localnewsmatters #newsletters #substack

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RECOMMENDATIONS // 5 podcasts to teach you about sound Oliver Seymour has collated a list of podcasts that teach us something about sound. From Reasonably Sound to Song Exploder, here are five podcasts that will make you listen to the world differently… READ NOW: https://lnkd.in/ehBtAKj8 #podcast #podcasting #podlife #podernfamily #audio #podcastrecommendations

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It's an unbelievably strong set of competitors, and the sheer amount of innovation and experimentation going on is astonishing

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Last week I got a request for a quote to send a press release and get coverage in 2-3 TV stations, 1 print publication and 1 online publication. My response: You need an Ad placement, not help distributing a release. Please read Alex Hunter's post to understand how we work. We don't do media placement, we work on a pitch based on angles we know might land with some media. We make your story appealing to media houses. This takes time, effort, experience and a great understanding of how journalists work. PR is not sponsored posts, you don't need us for sponsored posts. Please get in touch if you are struggling getting noticed by media houses, we can help you with your key messages and your media strategy! #TruthBehindCommunications #PR #MediaRelations

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Hot take: the message of "a positive minset can overcome long odds." is more harmful than helpful, especially when applied to things like the climate crisis. Saw this post and found it dead interesting. I am keen on solving the climate crisis, and I am also keen on positive mindsets. Less so on football but hell, since the quarter finals I've been glued to the set. Anyway, this post has connected the 5% chance Ollie Watkins had of making this shot with the need to stay positive in the face of a difficult climate crisis. But here's the thing: a positive mindset and making a shot that had a 5% chance of success aren't the same thing. Not even close. I should say here that I don't know what this 5% stat definitively means. I did look it up but I think I had to give StatsBomb a ton of money to get that data. Does it mean that Ollie Watkins specifically had a 5% chance of making the shot? Does it mean that anyone had a 5% chance of making the shot? Does it mean that a ball flying from that specific angle at the goal only had a 5% chance of going in? I don't know. But I also don't think it matters for the point I'm trying to make. That's because, when all is said and done, the shot was a combination of a bunch of things. A positive mindset was definitely in there. But so was a lot of training. So was an awful lot of money that paid for the training facilities, the coaches, and Ollie Watkins' time. So was a lot of expertise - not just from Ollie, but also from all those coaches and trainers. And, let's be frank, if there was only a 5% chance of the shot going in, quite a lot of luck was involved. Positive mindset isn't a silver bullet - but we often like to pretend that it is, because a positive mindset is easier to cultivate than enormous amounts of money, expertise, and knowledge. Positivity in the face of long odds is attractive, I think, because it doesn't require much effort - and ultimately, that's more damaging than helpful to a cause. So yes, if you want to beat the climate crisis, a positive mindset is a great start. But if I had to choose between a person with a positive mindset and no money, and a miserable trillionaire happy to help the cause, there's only one way that decision is going. #TheGrumpyCopywriter #messaging #euros2024

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My new weekly blog on my website concerns itself with all things writing, books, publishing and related matters. I'd welcome the thoughts on some fellow writers and creatives about some of the issues raised... #blog #blogger #newblog #blogging #writer #writing

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This marks a big step forward for our titles. The launch of news apps for the St Helens Star and the Wirral Globe, with full access for our digital subscribers. I firmly believe it is one of the most positive strides we’ve taken towards shaping our digital future. The Star and Globe were born as large-scale ‘free’ distribution newspapers half a century ago. They remain at the heart of their communities and provide a vital service, providing trusted news and information for our readers - connecting them with their communities. Both titles have had to evolve over the past decade and we’ve seen this through the enormous audience growth of the websites and the ongoing development of the print titles (which has driven newspaper sales). As we look to expand our growing number of digital subscribers and loyal audience, these apps are the next significant step, offering an improved user experience for subscribers that includes access to all online news and content - and digital e-editions of the weekly newspaper editions. We have some introductory offers on at the moment (£5 for 5 months), so give our apps a try and let us know your feedback. https://lnkd.in/e9EWA2Uy #news #digitalsubscriptions #journalism

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Trust. Earned media, or PR as you or I may call it, is predicated on trust. A lot of people might think it's about spin, and then 'pulling in favours' from friendly journalists, but it isn't. As Parry Headrick often says, we're not the Mafia. To start with, the journalist has to trust the source that email or phone call is coming from - the email address, or number of the PR agency or agent. Gmail addresses often won't cut it. The more trusted content that then comes from that source, the greater the likelihood emails will be opened, read, digested, and coverage will land. For example, they might recognise the sender's name and know that person has sent them the right type of story before - data transparently presented, images readily available for download in the right format etc. This goes some way to explaining why coverage doesn't happen overnight. And why professional PRs are often better at landing coverage than founders. Of course it also has to fit into the journalist's (and of course editor's) schedule of content. So it has to be timely, topical, the correct sort of material for the publication, etc. It all starts with trust though.

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After a couple of years of research and consultation, the new CAP guidelines on podcast advertising are here... https://lnkd.in/eak3XU_a Set to fully take effect from 16th August, all advertising communications within a podcast must now feature clear signposting to make them obviously identifiable as such. The ASA suggests the use of terms such as 'This is an advertisement for...' or 'our sponsor today is...', although it's not an exhaustive list and they will take into account the full context of an ad when considering if it has breached the code. Sound effects and clearly marked breaks from the main content are also suggested as ways to clearly distinguish commercial content from editorial. Interestingly, for video podcasters, it highlights the need to ensure that host reads included within the video version of a podcast should adhere to the relevant CAP guidelines for that medium. How have you been handling commercial signposting until now? Does this actually change anything?

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How do you make the news when you're not actually that important? Ask Ed Davey. The Lib Dems could have easily been lost in this election campaign. No poll suggests that the party has a real shot of being anywhere near Government, Brexit has receded as an issue, and there are plenty of "small party fireworks" going on with Reform and the Greens. But they haven't been lost at all - and have actually gained some vote share. Here's how the strategy has worked. 🥉 Situational awareness. Lib Dem strategists know this is not an election like 2010 where they could decide the Government. They know that the media could easily squeeze them out of stories as a consequence. Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer will always get some airtime simply by being the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition - the leader of the fourth largest party simply doesn't have that same right to coverage. 🏄‍♂️ Be good TV. The best way to counter getting squeezed out is to create media moments so intrinsically visually interesting that any editor won't be able to resist including them in a story - whether as a photo or as a clip. See Ed Davey bungee jumping today, or kayaking, or doing an interview on a fairground ride. Most politics imagery is fairly boring - men in suits talking - so the media are always on the lookout for something fresh, and Davey has delivered it. 🧡 Don't lose your heart. There is a risk to overdoing step two - becoming a clown, someone who will nakedly do anything for attention. Some may argue Davey has crossed that line, but I think he's stayed just shy of it. Part of that has been integrating messaging within the stunts: Today he asked voters to 'try something they haven't tried before' and vote Lib Dem before bungee jumping. More important has been a less flashy video the party released of Davey caring for his disabled son and talking about how this drives him. The big stunts hook viewers in; the personal narrative gives them something real to connect with. It might not win you an election, but it will certainly keep you from irrelevance.

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Eisiau clywed y diweddaraf o'r byd cyfathrebu? Want the latest comms news for the public and 3rd sectors in Wales? My next newsletter will be out in the new year, so: 1) Subscribe - you'll get an issue per quarter (for now - I may do them more often in future) - link in image and in comment below 2) Send me your job ads, events and articles etc - as I'm always looking for things to include Send your contributions via email or DM or simply post a comment. I'm planning to send the newsletter on Weds 15 January 2025, so bear that in mind when sharing anything time-sensitive like job ads or events. Diolch!

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