The camera is always on...

Your media interview doesn't start when the reporter asks their first question. It starts the moment the phone rings, the moment you walk into their building or the moment they walk into yours.  And the interview isn't over when they say thank you and ask you how to spell your name. It's over when you've hung up the phone (and confirmed that you've hung up), when you leave their building and hear the door click behind you or when you see the journalist driving off into the distance... This unguarded, 'hot mic' moment of Sainsbury CEO Mike Coupe singing 'We're in the Money' is now part of his professional legacy. And it was totally preventable. 

One of the biggest reasons people mess up their media interviews

It's the Achilles heel of way too many spokespeople. And it's completely preventable if you know what to do. The #1 reason why people underperform in media interviews is that they don't make the time to prepare in advance. You don't need a ton of time. Just 20-30 minutes. But for whatever reason, spokespeople seem to think they can improvise a media interview and have it go well.

Lose the teleprompter!

Take a leap of faith and throw the teleprompter away (or at least sell it on eBay). When your executive does a corporate video reading from a teleprompter, they look stiff and stilted. There's something about reading from a screen that just takes the soul out of your videos. I know you want to stick to the script. But there's a better way.

Your video doesn't need to go viral to be a success

Just a quick post to help manage expectations when it comes to producing/sharing videos for your company or association. Don't obsess about hits, clicks, views and shares. If you put out great video content on a consistent basis - video that's useful to your audience - those metrics will follow.

What Tony Robbins can teach you about doing great media interviews

No, I'm not talking about walking across hot coals. But there is one element of what Tony Robbins talks about that can be particularly helpful when it comes to preparing for a media interview.

Reporters are not out to get you...

I asked a recent audience how many of them thought reporters were out to make them look bad. The number of raised hands stopped me in my tracks.  Contrary to popular belief, the media is not out to get you. But if you handle your interaction the wrong way, you can make it antagonistic. Here's my 94-second take on this question...

Should we ask a journalist for a correction?

You did an interview with a journalist but you or someone at your company didn't like one of the quotes in the story or didn't like the way your company was characterized. Should you go back and ask for a correction? Here's my take on that question.

The Art of War in media relations

There's a line in The Art of War that says every battle is won or lost before it is ever fought. I really believe this is also true in media relations - a point that I expand on in this clip. I also give a real-life example of an interview I did a while back with The Canadian Press and how I put these techniques into practice (and how you can do it too).

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...