Take a lesson from Hancock
Here's the headline from a summer article in BusinessWeek - "(Anti-) Superhero Movie Features PR Heroics." The headline is for Jon Fine's review of the Will Smith movie "Hancock." Fine writes that "the weird thing about the movie is the hero is a public relations guy, who essentially saves Hancock through media training."
Naturally, as the media training specialist at this public relations agency, I don't think that premise is weird at all. As a matter of fact, working with a superhero or two would be a nice change from the usual grind.
Media training is often misunderstood by both reporters and executives. Reporters see PR people programming their clients to spit out boiler-plate marketing speak. Executives bristle at the thought of dumbing-down their corporate story. As usual, the truth lies in the middle.
Proper media training should accomplish two purposes:
1) Help the executive understand how to work with reporters. Too many executives (even experienced ones) come to interviews unprepared and with a chip on their shoulder. It's much more effective to give some thought to what you have to say that will add value to the reporter's story. And always treat the reporter with respect.
2) Summarize your story and be willing to talk about industry trends. Unless a reporter is writing a detailed feature of your company, you need to distill your company's story into concise and compelling pieces. Too many executives carry on with a long-winded tutorial on their business. Boring! In simple, no-jargon terms, tell the reporter what your company does and why it matters. And you should always be ready and willing to discuss what's coming up in a market.
How you say things and how you treat people do matter. Business executives may not be a Will Smith movie character, but it's still possible to have a company's story be diminished because of poor interviewing habits. Media training, and ongoing feedback, can help executives work more effectively with reporters.
If you get good enought at it, your colleagues, customers and investors may start treating you like a superhero.
Posted by John Moran on October 8, 2008 at 8:56 AM
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