A warm welcome to PR expert Sue Rizzello, managing director of consultancy Potion PR who has written this guest article for us, making the case that media training is an essential part of a PR toolkit.
Most business people who voluntarily go into media interviews have a message to deliver, or at least one would hope so (since going in entirely unprepared is just plain dumb).
They are often so instructed by their boss or a PR staffer, and have probably mugged up on the message in the car en route. They have practised saying it many times, and feel quite confident that they are ready to deliver it with aplomb.
Their ideal scenario is for the journalist to open the interviews with “now, what do you want to tell me?” allowing them to talk unhindered, and asking several sensible questions along the way, for which the interviewee is well-prepared because the Q&A (also, no doubt, re-read in the car) has anticipated them.
If only life were that simple. While the interviewee may know his or her own agenda, that of the journalist can be forgotten in the preparation. The principle of journalism is simple: and it isn’t about the message you want to get across.
It is about the story that the journalist feels their reader or viewer will be most interested to read or see, about telling enlightening and factual stories and eliciting interesting new angles. Making a match between the two is where media training plays a critical connecting role.
Many PR agencies and executives pride themselves in their expertise in message development and delivery, yet can often neglect to stress the importance of training for something which, if neglected, can waste all their efforts.
Too often media training is presented as a set of hints and tips, yet, in my view, media training is not only about training a spokesperson in message delivery, but about training them in message agility.
That means the ability to present messages in fresh ways, or illustrate it in ways which bring them to life for a particular readership.
And it is about the ability to rethink and represent a message for new needs as they arise, without stiffness or fear. This can hinder the success of even proactively-sought press interviews which aim to get a positive message across.
It comes even more to the fore on those occasions when companies are on the back foot. A reliance on message alone, and an inability to listen and adapt to what is actually being asked makes spokespeople sound stiff, unthinking and uncaring as they repeat an often rapidly-rehashed message in the only way they know.
At Potion PR we believe in the power of collaboration between message development and delivery training, which is the reason we work with Rough House Media. PR people may be adept with message creation, but they usually do not hold the specific experience of actually being journalists, and perhaps some should stop pretending that they do.
We believe that the value we bring as wordsmiths and communicators is significant. We are not, however, professional interviewers, journalistic observers or behavioural trainers. Thank goodness there is a whole profession of those who are, available to help our clients make the most of their media opportunities.
Sue Rizzello, Potion PR
www.potionpr.com
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