Jennigay Coetzer

Media training helps spokespeople to interact with journalists and other media interviewers more effectively. However it is important to choose a media trainer who has in-depth experience in this field and has a journalistic background.

Only an experienced journalist will be able to give spokespeople insight into what the media look for in a good spokesperson, and provide them with the skills to become one.

The right form of media training will equip spokespeople with techniques that will help them anticipate any eventuality in any interview scenario, prepare accordingly, organise their thoughts, and share knowledge clearly and concisely in a two-way discussion with a media interviewer.

Anyone who interacts with the media or is planning to do so will benefit from media training. Natural spokespeople do exist, but they are few and far between. Interestingly, these spokespeople are usually the first to jump at the chance of honing their media interaction skills.

At the other end of the scale are those who spurn the suggestion of media training because they consider themselves to be great spokespeople already with no room for improvement.

Meanwhile they are often the worst spokespeople to interview, due to their inflated egos, arrogant, know-it-all attitude, superficial knowledge, and a tendency to speak at the journalist instead of engaging in a two-way conversation.

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Being a media spokesperson is often seen as a grudge role that is out on a limb, far removed from priorities like dealing with customers. But if approached in the right way media interaction can complement rather than detract from customer interaction, and vice versa.

For example, by broadening their understanding of the markets in which they operate to give good value in a media interview spokespeople will be able to feed this knowledge back into their customer base. Similarly, they can gather rich market intelligence while interacting with customers that will elevate them to the ranks of sort-after spokespeople.

During the media training workshops I run, I always stress how important it is for  spokespeople to support their viewpoints with key market statistics when discussing trends in media interviews. Journalists like me love statistics, because they quantify and give the audience a reference point, or measure that will enable them to judge for themselves whether a trend is significant to them or not.

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Companies go to great lengths to get the maximum editorial coverage in the media, but often neglect to consider the risks associated with this exposure. These include factual errors in published articles, spokespeople’s comments being taken out of context, and negative speculation after a “no comment” statement or nobody being available for comment.

Media exposure is always a case of risk versus reward. Media training will help spokespeople to be aware of the potential risks, anticipate them and have tactics up their sleeve for dealing with them if they arise.

It is difficult to rectify negative publicity after an article has been published or comments have been made to a live audience on radio or TV. Even if an article is retracted, the damage will already have been done.

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When being interviewed by the media, spokespeople should have some key statistics up their sleeve to support their viewpoints. Journalists love statistics, because they give them and their target audiences a reference point or measure, for example by which to judge the importance and credibility of what the spokesperson is saying.

When I am running media training workshops with three to seven spokespeople, I always ask them what statistic comes to mind when I say the word “most,” and I sometimes get a different answer from each of them, ranging anywhere from 51% to 99%. Interestingly, many people think “majority” and “most” are interchangeable – it’s all about perception.

If a spokesperson makes a vague comment like “Most companies are moving in this direction……” the audience will interpret it in their own way. Meanwhile, the spokesperson had a definite statistic in his mind as to what he meant by “most,” but he omitted to share it, and clarity was lost.

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It is important for media spokespeople to understand the difference between their agendas and those of the journalists that are interviewing them.

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Spokespeople need to have rich knowledge of the topic being discussed to give value in a media interview.

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Good listening skills are vitally important when being interviewed by the media.

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The saying “To assume makes an ass out of you and me.” is particularly apt when being interviewed by a journalist or any other media interviewer.

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When being interviewed by the media on a topic or market trend, be authoritative, don’t go into sales mode, go with the flow and don’t get personal

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The better spokespeople are briefed before being interviewed by a journalist or other media interviewer the better equipped they will be to prepare for the interview.

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Whether being interviewed by a journalist from a print publication or on radio or TV, imagine you are speaking directly to the audience.

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Companies appoint spokespeople to interact with the media to get their marketing messages across, but journalists have a different agenda.

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Sort-after media spokespeople keep up to date with what is going on locally and globally in the markets in which they operate and explore the trends and topics on which they wish to be interviewed in the media.

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