Thursday, November 12, 2009

Briefing spokespeople for media interviews

Spokespeople should be properly briefed before being interviewed by a journalist or any other media interviewer. The better the brief, the better equipped they will be to prepare for the interview. A good brief will give them more confidence and allow them to anticipate questions that are likely to come up.

Going in blind will put the spokesperson in a vulnerable position and experienced journalists could use this to their advantage. It could also damage the spokesperson’s credibility and put his or her company at risk.

A written brief in time to prepare

A simple written brief with bullet points will suffice, and the spokesperson should receive this in plenty of time to prepare for the interview. A proper briefing should be a prerequisite for all types of interviews, including situations where spokespeople are interviewed by the company’s PR consultant or a hired journalist for writing a press release.

The brief should include basic information such as:

The purpose of the interview.
Whether it is face-to-face or on the phone.
The topic to be discussed.
A few discussion points around the topic.
A two-sentence CV of the media interviewer.
The name of the publication or radio or TV station.
The type of article or programme.
Whether the interview is face-to-face or on the phone.
The venue, address and directions if applicable.
The time allotted for the interview.

Handling sensitive issues

The spokesperson should also be aware of any sensitive company issues that might come up during the interview, such as a pending deal, merger or acquisition, an ongoing court case, market rumours or an old skeleton in the company’s cupboard. Journalists have been known to have hidden agendas when they request interviews on a seemingly benign topic.

The brief should specify how to handle with these questions if they come up, for example with a statement like, “I am afraid our corporate policy dictates that only our CEO can discuss that,” or “That question would need to be directed to our media communications people.”

If a formal interview has been arranged by the company’s internal media liaison or communications department or by an external PR company, the person who set it up should give the spokesperson a written brief outlining the interviewer’s expectations.

Similarly, if interviews have been requested by a number of journalists, for example as a result of a news leak or market rumours, it is even more important for the spokesperson to be briefed on the situation, the type of questions that are likely to come up and how to handle them. Spokespeople should be briefed on a similar basis when preparing to address a press conference or when making a presentation to any audience that might include journalists.

Unexpected phone calls

Even when spokespeople receive an unexpected direct phone call from a journalist or radio interviewer looking for comment it will pay them to obtain a brief on the spot by establishing a few things before responding. For example, by saying something like, “So that I can give you the best value here, could you tell me which publication this is for and what type of article you are writing.”

Depending on the circumstances, it might also be useful to establish whether the journalist has spoken to or is intending to speak to anyone else on the topic. Asking questions like these will give the spokesperson time to collect his or her thoughts and respond more confidently to questions.

In addition, knowing how long the interview is likely to be, will help the spokesperson to prioritise the information he or she is imparting and be even more concise if it is a short interview.

No excuse for not being briefed

During the media training workshops and one-on-one coaching sessions I run, spokespeople often complain that they are never briefed properly for an interview. My answer to this is that if they should insist on a brief or draw one up themselves, because if they don’t do this they could jeopardise their progress with becoming a sort-after spokesperson.

CEOs and directors of small businesses that don’t have their own marketing departments or external PR companies will need to brief themselves for media interviews. In my experience, many spokespeople in this category are a lot better at this than some of those who come from bigger companies and have a marketing and PR department to support them.

Having lunch with a journalist?

Spokespeople should also be briefed when they are meeting a journalist for lunch who they have not been exposed to before. During a recent one-on-one media training session the spokesperson told me his marketing people had organised a lunch with a journalist the following day.

I asked him the purpose of the lunch and he said he had not been told, and did not know anything about the journalist or the publication. He had just been told to pitch up at the restaurant. When I asked him how he felt about this, he said he was quite nervous because he didn’t know what to expect or what the journalist expected from him.

I suggested he, his company and the journalist might achieve more out of the lunch date if he asked the person who had set up the meeting for a brief. I also suggested that if he found out more about the journalist’s publication and the topics he or she writes about beforehand, he could break the ice by showing an interest in this.

From the feedback he gave me afterwards, this tactic worked wonders, the lunch went really well and it led to a subsequent interview.

Jennigay Coetzer is a business and technology journalist with 25 years experience. She has run more than 150 media training workshops and writing skills workshops and one-on-one coaching sessions. She can be contacted on +27-(0)83-212-5754 or at: jennigay@icon.co.za. Her website address is: www.jennigay.co.za

Tiips on Media interview techniques

When being interviewed by journalists and other members of the media a good spokesperson will interact in conversational layman’s terms, listen carefully and respond directly to questions without preamble, and will not preempt the journalist’s questions.

Media training, will help spokespeople to acquire and hone the techniques that will enable them to give and get the best value in media interviews, but here are some tips to be getting on with.

Whether being interviewed by a journalist from a print publication or on radio or TV, imagine you are speaking directly to the audience. Don’t leave it to the journalist to interpret what you are saying.

This could be dangerous, especially if you don’t get the opportunity to check the article before publication. Speak clearly and deliberately slow down your pace, especially if you are a fast talker.

When interacting with print journalists don’t jump in to fill the silence gaps – they need to assimilate the information you are imparting, discard what is not useful, and take notes.
Similarly, radio listeners and TV viewers will need to be able to absorb the information being imparted, and it is difficult to do this if the spokesperson is speaking too quickly.

Portray confidence, but don’t be arrogant and don’t assume the audience has prior knowledge of the topic you are discussing. Avoid marketing speak, industry jargon, unexplained acronyms and over-descriptive words like UNIQUE.

Don’t keep punting your company’s name, and know how much time has been allotted for the interview. Don’t waffle! Those who lack content waffle - lots of words about nothing, which could result in a fragmented article.

If the media interviewer is knowledgeable about the topic being discussed, give him or her credit for this, acknowledge their comments and take the opportunity to share knowledge and ideas with them.

A knowledgeable journalist, will want to control the interview. So it is no good trying to download a pre-structured format of what you want to tell them, as if you were giving a presentation.

Those that do this run the risk of railroading their interview and could end up talking on parallel lines with the journalist - i.e. each having their own, different conversation. So go with the flow and watch out for opportunities to slip in your messages - without going into sales mode.

If the journalist is inexperienced, adopt the role of mentor and take this opportunity to educate them on the topic, without being superior or condescending. If you do this, the trainee could become a valuable media ally as he or she becomes more experienced and moves from one publication to another, as tends to happen.

Jennigay Coetzer is a business and technology journalist with 25 years experience. She has run more than 150 media training workshops and writing skills workshops and one-on-one coaching sessions. She can be contacted on +27-(0)83-212-5754 or at: jennigay@icon.co.za. Her website address is: www.jennigay.co.za

Spokesperson tips - understanding Agendas

Companies appoint spokespeople to interact with the media to build brand awareness and image, get their marketing messages across, keep the market up to date with what they are doing and how successful they are, attract new business, and encouraging customers to buy more of their products and services.

But journalists and other media interviewers have a different agenda. They are looking for information that will interest and enlighten their readers, listeners or viewers, keep them up to date with the latest news and trends and keep them coming back for more.

It is important for company spokespeople to understand these conflicting agendas, and media training will help them to do this.

Journalists are not interested in how much money your company is making or how good its products and services are, except when this information is of interest to their audience - for example when they are reporting on a listed company’s results or a new company listing.

They know their readers are looking for information that will keep them up to date with what is going on locally and globally that could affect their lifestyle or business interests, the economy, the political environment or the markets in which they operate.

Spokespeople therefore need to understand and identify with what the audience would be interested in hearing as opposed to focusing solely on what they want to tell them, when preparing for a media interview.

In essence, the media interviewer is a conduit between the spokesperson and the audience. So during an interview the spokesperson needs to imagine he or she is speaking directly to the lowest common denominator of the audience.

For example, I have a technology background, but I write articles about IT and telecommunication for a business audience. The spokespeople I interact with therefore need to speak in layman’s terms. It is not up to me to interpret their industry jargon and gobbledegook into the language my readers will understand.

When I write articles, I am looking for interesting views from spokespeople who are prepared to share knowledge and ideas that will enlighten my readers and enable them to use the information to make better decisions.

Even when discussing a new concept, product or service, readers, listeners and viewers will want answers to questions such as who it is targeted at, how it will benefit them, how it works, where it can be obtained and when? How it fits into the bigger picture of the market, whether this marks a trend, and so on. In other words, what’s in it for them to absorb this information?

This will require getting onto the audience’s wavelength as opposed to expecting them to get onto yours, which many spokespeople make the mistake of doing.

Jennigay Coetzer is a business and technology journalist with 25 years experience. She has run more than 150 media training workshops and writing skills workshops and one-on-one coaching sessions. She can be contacted on +27-(0)83-212-5754 or at: jennigay@icon.co.za.