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Clients today have come to expect delivery and measurement. Unfortunately, PR has been slower than most industries to adapt. It has often been criticised for its inability to produce quantifiable deliverables and analytics to measure its success. One way of leap-frogging this problem is to embrace digital tools that can provide useful, voluntary feedback from readers and this is proving to be exceptionally useful to companies. It’s all about combining digital analytics to track trends relating to the way in which an audience absorbs information and the alignment is ripe for PR practitioners to grasp. There is no question that new media styles and platforms have whetted an incredible appetite for thought leadership and good content. At the same time, it has become extremely difficult for marketing and PR practitioners to get messages through to their respective target audiences using conventional marketing channels such as advertorials and advertising. People have also become extremely choosy about what they are prepared to listen to or read.

Donald Miller, author of Story Brand, says that in order for brands to become more appealing they should treat their audience as the hero. The brand should focus on playing the part of mentor or guide in helping audiences fulfil their respective quests. It’s all about forming long-term relationships.

This might take the form of a building supplier giving tips on putting up a shelf, or a car brand giving advice on driving in the rain. One way of achieving this is the development of bespoke digital stakeholder magazines that present well-written, useful content for readers. There is no hard sell in these magazines, just content that helps or informs the reader.

Digital magazines also help educate and inform you as a ‘publisher’. They are able to take advantage of insightful analytics to track what people are reading and to what they respond to. The measurements can tell how many read an article, their click-through rates, how long they spent on an article and their personal engagement. The relationship does not end there. Digital content can be repurposed and extended onto other digital platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, amongst other social media platforms.

At the heart of all these interventions lies good content. Content marketing starts with understanding the audience, the brand, and its internal and external strategies. Then one needs to package all this in a creative way to engage the audience.

industry news

continues on next page

Building multi-stakeholder relationships through good content

How good content can build relationships between your customer, brand and employees, while delivering ROI (with a little help from technology)

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Mark Leighton, Aprio’s Digital Content Marketing Consultant knows this well.

“Good planning, great writing and exceptional design are key to customer engagement, building brands and delivering value to the client. As the competition for customer attention becomes fierce, companies need to find ways to build relationships. People want to connect with content. The key is delivering what the customer needs – not what the brand thinks they want.”

Content marketing, despite its sudden rise in popularity, is not new.

The Furrow is a shining example of content marketing success. John Deere’s magazine, first published in 1895, targeted farmers, with the goal of educating about new technology and business ownership, rather than selling John Deere products. This focus was revolutionary, which is why The Furrow is considered the first example of content marketing. Mark, who has worked on digital magazines for brands such as PG Bison, Jeep and Builders Warehouse, has seen phenomenal success with the combination of good content and digital platforms.

“We were able to build one client’s customer data by more than 1000% in two years, while another could clearly see a relationship between content and an impact on retail sales.”

Clients have seen the difference, and all have invested more in content marketing over the years – which is a worldwide trend led by the UK and USA. Mark is now looking at introducing the impact of digital publications to corporate clients and more specifically their stakeholders and employees.

“Employees are consumers too. I believe that employee newsletters in general need a complete rethink. Employees want to engage and feel that they are making a difference to their companies. Developing exceptional content and getting the desired feedback provides HR and Communications with useful information about what their colleagues want and how they want it and how they can contribute to the future and company culture.”

“People are connecting with relevant content. If that comes from a brand or an employer, great! The key is to deliver what audiences want – always. In turn, companies are engaging with customers at a deeper level and getting valuable information that can be used to build brands and increase sales,” says Mark.

industry news

Article written by Simon Crawford at Blueground & Associates, one of

Aprio’s design collaborators.

Building multi-stakeholder relationships through good content

How good content can build relationships between your customer, brand and employees, while delivering ROI (with a little help from technology) continued ...

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July 2018

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Aprio launches the Barberton Mines community communications project for Pan African Resources

interesting projects

Earlier this year, Barberton Mines, a subsidiary of JSE and AIM-listed Pan African Resources PLC, experienced disruptive protests in the communities around its operations. These illegal activities were due mainly to competing political agendas within community structures as well as misinformation about the mine’s recruitment processes brought about by internal union rivalry. The protests caused disruptions to operations with community members blocking access roads to the mine and the destruction of infrastructure. Mine employees faced threats and intimidation.

Aprio has a long-established relationship with Pan African Resources, and primarily conducts investor relations and media activities for the client. However, it became apparent that a community engagement strategy was necessary to create awareness within the local communities, community leadership structures, and local governance structures about the contribution the mine makes to local economic development, and to highlight the negative effects of continued disruptions. Aprio kicked off the campaign by visiting the operations, engaging with management on site and approaching the local print media and community radio stations. With Barberton Mines’ community investment manager, Aprio also participated in engagements with the local Community Forum leadership of the municipality.

Once we had gained a deeper understanding on the key issues for Barberton Mines management and the communities surrounding the mine, Aprio devised an initial six-month community engagement campaign to highlight shared value that exists between Barberton Mines and the community. This includes highlighting the many initiatives contained in Barberton Mines’ Social and Labour Plan (SLP) and its CSI activities beyond its SLP commitments. The campaign also features employment opportunities, new infrastructure projects, mine builds such

as schools, clinics, and recreational facilities, as well as the skills development programmes for local suppliers and the learnerships, bursaries and mentorships offered to the youth.

Among other initiatives, a series of infographics and editorials were scheduled to appear every two weeks in the Barberton Times, supported by flyers handed out to the community. In addition, there is a weekly drive-time slot on Barberton Community Radio featuring interviews to raise awareness about the mine’s significant contributions to the community. The focus is on two-way engagement so that any issues that arise can be effectively addressed.

BARBERTON MINING INDABA

INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES AND CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

New buildings and facilities were completed at:

• Emjindini Senior Secondary School;

• Thembelihle Cerebral Palsy Centre;

• Verulam School at Sinqobile;

• Sheba Siding Multipurpose centre.

While projects in progress include:

• Renee Clinic – to be completed in September 2018;

• and Cathyville Clinic - plans finalised for approval by Department of Health.

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING PROJECTS

This includes funding of SMME incubation programmes at:

• Sinqobile Life Skills Development Centre;

• Sinqobile Vegetable Project;

• SMME Mentorship Programme - technical and business skills for local businesses.

CSI – BEYOND COMPLIANCE

• Assistance with water supply from Fairview Mine to Sinqobile Township;

• Donation of kitchen to local Traditional Council and meals and shelters to local home-based care, orphanages and drop-in centres; and

• Youth coaches at local primary and high schools, career exhibitions and sports development sponsorships.

NEW PROJECTS ASSESSMENT: COMMUNITY INVESTMENT PROGRAMME

Barberton Mines has recently completed a needs survey with key stakeholders from its host communities. These needs have been prioritised and work will be commencing on these projects to improve living conditions in our communities. These range from infrastructure improvements to school and health care and social facilities, sports ground refurbishments, waste management/recycling as well as stormwater drain construction. Regular updates on progress will be provided on Barberton Community Radio 104.1FM and our Facebook page.

BURSARIES & LEARNERSHIPS

These are offered to youth from our local communities who are completing Batchelors degrees in Engineering, Geology, Mine Surveying and Actuarial Science.

• Eight bursary recipients completed their studies in 2017;

• Twenty eight students currently enrolled.

Over 160 candidates completed experiential learning programmes by 2016. More employees are currently in learnerships for career progression planning to further develop technical mining skills.

Barberton Mines survival is critical for the continued benefit of our communities It is in the best interest for all our stakeholders that we continue with safe, sustainable operations and put a stop to criminal and disruptive activities.

Recent events around our operations by criminal elements are seeking to undermine our employees safety, leading to loss of income for employees as well as loss of productivity. Work stoppages related to community protests increased from 16 days to 43 days lost so far in 2018. Production has decreased from some 3290kg of gold per year in 2015 to 2814 kg in 2017.

Barberton Mines will not be sustainable if these disruptions continue. In the short to medium term this will lead to the loss of jobs and benefits for employees, contractors and local businesses and suppliers, as well as the loss of contributions from the mine for local development projects and social investments in our communities.

In the longer term, closure or downscaling of operations will be a reality and have detrimental impacts for all our stakeholders.

LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND CSI IN OUR COMMUNITIES

Barberton Mines community upliftment projects are high impact initiatives that benefit a broad range of local beneficiaries. Spend on local community projects (SLP and CSI) and bursaries amounted to R17.6m in 2016 and R18.7m in 2017.

Barberton Mines has established a Community Forum to facilitate engagement with our communities and to obtain feedback on community matters. Please contact Norman Hartman at 013 712 8500 or normanh@bmines.co.za

Barberton Mines spent over R172m on BEE compliant local companies that supply capital equipment, goods and services, thus contributing to the local economy while also creating significant additional employment and opportunities.

As job losses in the South African mining industry are reported to increase daily, Barberton Mines employee and contractor numbers have increased from 1740 in 2011 to over 2600 currently.

Barberton Mines produces gold from the Fairview, New Consort and Sheba mining complex.

Barberton Mines (Pty) Ltd

CRIMINAL ACTIVITY AND ROGUE ELEMENTS DISRUPT OPERATIONS – JOB OPPORTUNITIES AND COMMUNITY PROJECTS ARE AT RISK

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interesting projects

Aprio’s issue and crisis leadership division under the direction of Alan Arguile has been extremely busy with corporate reputations under intense scrutiny. Notable achievements and assignments:

• Presentation skills and training: Alan has completed more than 920 executive training sessions in his career. Aprio has recently delivered presentation skills training sessions for executives at a leading banking group, a pan-African retail group, and for one of the biggest state-owned companies in South Africa.

• Media training: Recent clients have included four of the big five banking groups, a multinational risk management provider and multiple sessions with the country director of a global medical services provider, and the 100th session for a big four professional services company

• Issue and crisis management: Aprio has supported a global engineering consultancy through a potentially devastating business continuity issue in an African country and continues to provide advisory services on a food quality/ethics issue. We have also supported a global advisory firm and two JSE-listed enterprises on governance issues over the past two months and developed a social media risk alert dashboard for a listed pan-African retailer. In August we will once again facilitate the reputation management elements of two major liquidity simulations for JSE-listed banking groups – making up more than 80 large-scale crisis simulations that Alan has designed and/or facilitated.

Aprio issue and crisis leadership update

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July 2018

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general

The value of content marketing demonstrated at Aprio’s client breakfast

On 14 June Aprio hosted a successful client breakfast at the OPEN in Sandton. During the breakfast, Mark Leighton, Aprio’s Digital Content Marketing Consultant, demonstrated how to create content that engages the audience. The session also provided an understanding of the intricacies of creating

content on different digital platforms for a variety of target audiences. During his presentation, Mark touched on digital analytics and demonstrated how to extract valuable data from a digital newsletter and website to inform the development of a successful content marketing strategy.

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July 2018

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general

Aprio teams put their culinary skills to the test and give back to those less fortunate

On 8 June 2018 Aprio participated in an action-packed and fun-filled MasterChef teambuilding challenge at Valverde Eco Hotel in Muldersdrift. The prepared food and remaining ingredients were donated to Mother of Peace in North Riding.

Mother of Peace offers abandoned and orphaned children an opportunity to live within a structured family environment and to be cared for, nurtured and loved. The children are fostered by full-time and committed volunteers who dedicate their lives to looking after them. The home also provides care for children who are HIV positive and disabled.

(From left-right) Phillemon Mosala, Hethen Hira, Kim Clur, and Jacqui Gwillim who

were the overall winners of the challenge