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Amanda Firth is a Group Client Manager for BBS Communications. Before making a career in public relations and corporate communications, Amanda acquired journalism skills from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and News Corp.
Nowadays, Amanda applies those same skills in helping clients tell their stories to the world. For this piece, Comms Room caught up with Amanda to talk about how she got started in communications as a career, and why more businesses and organisations in Australia need to learn how to do environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) reporting well.
During high school, I was interested in journalism as a possible career and completed work experience at the local newspaper. I then went on to study a Bachelor of Journalism, during which I completed a couple of subjects in public relations and started to learn more about the world of communications.
While studying, I completed some further work experience in magazines and radio broadcasting, while also starting a part time job as a copywriter. This was a great way to get a small taste of potential media and marketing careers ahead of university graduation.
In the very early stages of my career, I worked as a journalist and again as a copywriter before heading over to the UK in the mid-2000s and securing a junior role at a boutique PR firm. Working predominantly in media relations, this initial PR role helped me to gain experience across a variety of sectors including aviation, retail and technology.
While there are many pathways into a communications career, I think that having a journalism-based background meant the transition to an initial media relations-focused communications role wasn’t too difficult.
Having a strong sense of curiosity about the world and an understanding of the fundamentals of journalistic writing was certainly an asset when it came to understanding my clients, their goals and helping to tell their story with media and other audiences.
Starting off my PR career in one of the world’s central media hubs of London was also a great opportunity to experience the incredibly fast-paced and dynamic business environment there.
While the saturation of media outlets meant plenty of opportunities for journalist engagement, it also meant lots of competition from other organisations and communications professionals pitching their own stories.
At BBS Communications Group, our team of communications strategists, marketers and creatives is fortunate to be able to work with some of Australia’s leading organisations, gaining new insights and perspectives about what is driving holistic change throughout the business community.
Over the past decades, organisational accountability in terms of environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) has grown increasingly important, from a governance and risk perspective as well as reputationally.
The evolution towards greater – more standardised – environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) reporting to aid corporate and investment decision-making is also pushing organisations to demonstrate their efforts more broadly to a wider range of stakeholders.
As Australia moves towards meeting its net zero emissions targets and introducing mandatory reporting of climate-related information for larger entities, the intensification of scrutiny on all businesses is likely to continue.
With Government stakeholders, partners, customers, employees, journalists and the general public keeping a close eye on big and small organisations – and alert to attempts at greenwashing – companies need to ensure they are taking appropriate ESG-related actions and reporting on these well.
Many larger organisations will likely have started ESG reporting, either as part of annual financial reporting or as part of a standalone sustainability report. However, with international standardisation and Australian mandatory reporting forthcoming, the level of detail and transparency required are likely to intensify.
For smaller companies not yet required to report on ESG, it’s still worthwhile understanding best practice in terms of reporting frameworks and measures, especially where they are part of a broader supply chain to those with more stringent requirements.
Given ESG is generally a cross-functional priority within organisations, involving roles like assurance and risk, financial relations, environment, operations and policy development, ESG reporting may be driven by varying executive or departments leads.
Corporate communicators – often the custodians of internal and external communications which outline and promote an organisation’s ESG-based efforts – are involved to varying degrees. For those new to ESG reporting – or looking to prepare for possible future reporting – I would recommend:
Putting the time in to understand what standards are in place or may be in the future, as a general awareness of what’s required.
Becoming a regular reader of ESG-focused news, whether that’s coverage across mainstream and business outlets or ESG-specific media. This will help to give a sense of which aspects of an organisation’s ESG efforts are of interest to journalists and audiences more broadly.
Focusing on boosting engagement skills in terms of working together with the people and departments that may be central to tracking, measuring and reporting on ESG-based measures.
Keeping an eye on what some of the top companies in your industry – or the business community at large – are doing in terms of their ESG reporting.
Checking through existing communications materials – internal and external – for any references to ESG-relevant activities which may need further transparency or proof points.
BBS has proudly launched CommsWatch, our new report series investigating some of our most pressing economic and social trends and issues, and the way these intersect with the work of corporate communicators.
In our inaugural edition, we delve into the ever-growing significance of ESG to business, and the need for investment across compliance, market engagement and reporting to meet global benchmarks and stakeholder expectations.
To find out more, please download our report.
