A good deal of my work comes from PR company referrals.
Smart PR companies often look to outside consultants to help them prepare their own clients for important media appearances. They know that if their clients are prepared with quotes and stories and ways of discussing statistics in context if they can anticipate tough questions and pivot off of them to their own messages, and if they’re trained to reduce any jitters or ticks, they’ll enjoy the process more and increase their chances of being asked back when the time comes.
Plus, some PRs prefer to use outside consultants because it removes the onus of having to inform clients that they are long-winded or obtuse or dancing around the main point when facing a journalist or camera.
Unless the client is extremely nervous and prefers to work in private I like to invite the PR exec in the session with me. Because I do “message-based” training, the PR folks often get new material for pitches or learn details about their clients’ business that might never have come up for discussion. Done properly, media training is as much education for clients as it is for public relations pros.
So how does it work?
Ideally, the PR firm outlines a messaging document in advance of the session and shares it with me. PR and I parse through it, discussing the types of media outlets the client will be facing. It matters if they are speaking to the trade or mainstream publications or to print/web or TV outlets.
This serves three key purposes:
- It gives me a head start on what we’ll be discussing. I can then do my own research to ensure that Client X’s messages are distinct and more exciting than those of his competitors. It also allows us to cook up some interesting and apt metaphors that explain the business better.
- It gives us an opportunity to discuss the types of stories, statistics, and sound bytes (the 3 S’s) I’ll need to equip Client X with. I don’t believe in sending clients to face the wolves unless they have these three S’s in their arsenals.
- It’s efficient. I don’t have to spend time in the session discussing the company’s mission or the messages we need to convey in this round of interviews. When the session begins, we hit the ground running. It also confirms to Client X that the PR and I have done our homework and have come prepared.
“I appreciate working with someone who actually understands the value & the purpose of what we’re trying to build,” one CEO of a tech start company in the financial sector wrote to me after we trained. I was certain to assure him that I would have understood much less if the PR exec and I hadn’t spent 30 minutes together prior to our session.