Want the media to pay attention to you? Think more like a journalist!

"Is there any way to make your association's good news story more appealing to journalists?" Someone asked me this question after my talk on media relations at the CSAE National Conference in Newfoundland. Here's my take on getting reporters to pay attention to your media pitches... FYI, I reference my sister a few times in this clip. Just for context, so you know who I'm referring to, my sister is Carly Weeks, a health reporter at The Globe and Mail.

Funny moment from a social media training session

Flip phone?? 

I was going through some video from the summer and found this clip from the very beginning of a talk to a group of divorce lawyers and mediators in Niagara Falls. I was trying to figure out which kinds of phones everyone was using (as context for the talk) and there was an unexpected exchange with one of the audience members. Videotaping your talks means you get to preserve funny little moments like this one.

Advice to media relations pros: "Never stop learning"

The media landscape is always changing. When you think you've seen it all or when you think you're done learning, you'll be putting yourself and your clients in a vulnerable position. Keep learning. Pay attention to the changes from things like social media. Continue to adapt to the changing media environment.

Great key messages aren't enough

In less than 30 seconds, here are the two things that every great spokesperson brings to every single media interview! 

Great key messages (by themselves) are not enough. You need to have the skills to excel at the 'chess match' of the interview as well. You need to have both of these things firing on all cylinders.

The wrong thing to think just before your media interview begins

"I hope this goes well..." That's the last thing most people say to themselves just before they're interviewed by a journalist. It might be a nice sentiment, but from a media relations standpoint, it's a losing proposition. A great spokesperson will be much more intentional and proactive about what they want their quotes/coverage to look like.

Your key messages are too long!

One of the quickest things you can do to improve the quality of your media coverage is to focus on creating shorter, more powerful messages that tell your story in a way that will be interesting to journalists and your audience. 

When your messages are too long, journalists are forced to edit your answers, which increases the chances that a partial answer may be taken out of context.

So...how long should your messages be? This is my take on that question.

Be wary of repeating a reporter's negative language

The #1 most common mistake that people make in their media interviews? Repeating the negative language that reporters often use in their questions.  If you pay attention, you'll find quotes like these in most news stories, whether it's in print, radio or TV.  Why is it such a serious mistake? Because you end up telling your story using someone else's words and, in many cases, they're negative, controversial words you would never use to tell that story. If you can kick this habit, you'll be well on your way to better media coverage.

If you're a business owner, you need to be on Instagram right now

If you run a business, you need to be on Instagram right now. Even if you're in your 40s, 50s, 60s or up. I did a talk three days ago to a room of divorce lawyers and mediators in Niagara Falls. Only a very small percentage of them said they had their businesses on Instagram. That number needs to increase if they want to remain relevant and competitive. I can tell you that in the past year, Instagram has become one of my most important marketing channels. Here's a very short video (1-min) where I talk about how I use Instagram for my media training business.

Media spokespeople: Get out of 'CSI' mode!

Without realizing they're doing it, many media spokespeople put themselves in what I call CSI mode. They default to a role that's the equivalent of a suspect being interrogated by the police. And when it comes to conducting media interviews on behalf of your brand, that's not a winning approach...

Without realizing they're doing it, many media spokespeople put themselves in what I call CSI mode. They default to a role that's the equivalent of a suspect being interrogated by the police. And when it comes to conducting media interviews on behalf of your brand, that's not a winning approach...

When it comes to media relations, don't pitch boring sh*t!

I asked a bunch of journalists for their best media pitching advice that they'd like to share with PR people. The best answer was from a journalist named Mitch Moxley. His advice was short but to-the-point: Don't pitch boring shit...

I asked a bunch of journalists for their best media pitching advice that they'd like to share with PR people. The best answer was from a journalist named Mitch Moxley. His advice was short but to-the-point: Don't pitch boring shit...

A media interview is NOT a conversation...

Most media interviews that don't work out the way a spokesperson had hoped can be traced back to one simple truth. That way too many people treat media interviews like their other day-to-day conversations. I can talk about this for hours but here's a quick, one-minute hit on my favourite topic.

Most media interviews that don't work out the way a spokesperson had hoped can be traced back to one simple truth. That way too many people treat media interviews like their other day-to-day conversations. I can talk about this for hours but here's a quick, one-minute hit on my favourite topic.