Strategic planning

Corporate positioning
Before we start a public relations campaign, we work with our client to define its corporate identity. Understanding existing image and comparing to the desired image is important first step in marketing. Evaluating this gap and knowing how to close in on it is the essence of a successful PR campaign. It can only be achieved by experienced professional practitioners.

Message strategy
The timing of company announcements should be planned as part of a program of pro-active communications across target audiences. These plans change frequently, but the deliberate and intelligent management of communications achieves the best results. Creating a practical strategy, devising the messages and knowing the audiences can be successfully achieved only by experienced consultants.

Activities/Timing strategy
Balancing news, feature stories and investor initiatives is then converted to a check list and systematically implemented.
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Media relations

Getting coverage via briefs/editorials/features
Getting Media familiarisation is where it all starts. Several Monsoon consultants were senior journalists in a past life and are more than happy to organise an informal meet-and-greet between a new CEO and the journalists who will be covering his/her company. If they know you, they will ring you. It is the most important relationship you can have with the media.

Media announcements and monitoring
News announcements should be crisply written and correctly timed. Emphasis should be on the tangible. To consistently convert announcements into coverage is about knowing when and which journalists to pursue. This is where long-held relationships and experience are crucial.
Monsoon provides all clients with Australia-wide print copies of coverage by 9am on the day of the coverage.

Announcement distribution – National & International
We probably have the best database for announcement distribution covering business/biotech/healthcare/medical journalists as well as analysts, fund managers and client advisors active in biotech stocks. To maximise the value of all biotech news we have invested heavily via internal building and buying names in Australia and internationally. Australian email announcement distributions include over 300 contacts. Internationally we distribute relevant company news to over 400 life sciences publications.

Media training
Monsoon Communications runs full and half day media training workshops on media etiquette, interview techniques and how to ensure core messages are delivered. This includes simulated studio conditions with professional camera operator, lights, hardware, how-to notes, dress rules, instant play-back and take-home video DVD recording. Two of Monsoon's consultants met when working in the chemical industry. Between them they were responsible for announcing chemical contamination of groundwater, taking the front line against Greenpeace site raids and defending the chemical industry during the infamous Coode Island fires (inner Melbourne). Issues management is best performed when issues are anticipated and responses to stakeholders/shareholders are pre-planned. Again, experience makes the difference between gloss and results.
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Investor relations

Monsoon Communications specialises in working with public companies. We communicate to and with brokers, analysts and fund managers as well as the media world every day. We know them well and we speak their language. We understand investor turn-on and turn-off buttons. We make judgements about continuous disclosure obligations and best practices in reporting and ensure that our clients protect and build their reputations.

Australian roadshows
Monsoon Communications organises road shows using our contacts and extensive databases of analysts/ client advisors/brokers and fund managers. We assess client contact history, select our targets based on the objectives, organise roadshows and undertake fulsome evaluations. We carefully review the PowerPoint presentation and handouts. We work alone or cooperatively with corporate advisors.

European roadshows
Monsoon’s partnership with MC services, a leading European Biotech investor and public relations specialist allows us to give our clients the opportunity to reach the overseas market. Together we are able to provide a scope of services including one-on-one meetings in 4 to 5 European cities with the top Biotech and Small Cap fund managers, analyst lunches and interviews with financial market journalists. MC Services has offices in Munich. London and Brussels.

Investor forums
Monsoon Communications has a unique relationship with Finsia – the Financial Securities Institute of Australasia (formerly the Securities Institute of Australia). We help organise biotechnology/technology/resources/ emerging listed company showcases in most states. The showcases are highly effective prestigious investor relations that often result in media coverage.

Brokers' lunches
Monsoon Communications organises brokers' lunch briefings in Sydney and Melbourne to raise awareness and stimulate investment interest in small/mid cap companies and IPOs as well as generating interest and awareness in secondary markets. Chief executives brief 50-80 investment advisors, fund managers and high net-worth investors over a full hour to gain a profile boost and attract new investors. We are also able to arrange smaller group presentations. Monsoon's brokers' lunch databases comprise nearly a 1000 names close in Sydney and in Melbourne and also includes high net-worth investors.
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