#71 Assistant Secretary Trish Johnston on the perfect storm for communications

Trish Johnston is the Assistant Secretary, Communications Branch at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C). For over two decades Trish Johnston worked on some of the government’s most complex policy and communication issues including domestic violence, cyber security, indigenous affairs, climate change, resources and energy and preventative health. Her experience spans developing large scale advertising campaigns, managing complex media and stakeholder issues and supporting communications in remote indigenous communities. She is currently leading PM&C’s digital communications transformation.

“It is a case of having to demonstrate to the business areas how you add value and how what you’re going to do and the time that they’re going to spend with you on that is worth it for them.” -Trish Johnston
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In this episode, you’ll learn:
2:51 The catalyst of strategic communication at PM&C
5:50 Why business areas don’t listen to communications
6:55 PM&C’s Digital First strategy
10:03 PM&C’s Senior Executive Service content committee
11:10 Why PM&C’s social media policy made the news (and why it’s now changed)
14:00 Case study of using content marketing for the Closing the Gap report
17:33 Case study of communicating the Cyber Security Strategy which got almost 450 news articles across print and digital
18:19 How to convince the executive and the line area to want to communicate
20:54 Case study of communicating the Smart Cities Plan which trended #1 on Twitter