In the previous column, “A
Look Inside Media Training,” we explored the importance of exposing
your company’s spokespeople or “SpokesTeam” – from the “C suite” to the
product manager level – to practical, hands-on media training.
Formal media training is the key to making a company spokesperson –
whether loquacious or reticent – deliver your key company messages to
the media clearly and concisely. In the best case, an outside expert or
team of experts is brought into the company for a half- or full-day
session that provides both the theory and hands-on practice of speaking
to the media. Through actual practice interviews, the spokesperson gains
experience responding to an interviewer’s questions and developing
salient answers that deliver the key company messages.
Having gone through a formal media training session, your company
“SpokesTeam” is ready to face the media. The first step is to determine
appropriate roles for each team member, and these roles will be shaped
by the size and structure of the company. In a large global organization
with three divisions, for example, the team could consist of the
following executives with these responsibilities:
• CEO – overall corporate direction, including sales, marketing and
divisional activities for entire company
• Vice President of Sales – sales strategy, results for entire
company
• Vice President of Marketing – marketing strategy, opportunities for
entire company
• General Manager, Division X – overall division-specific activities
• General Manager, Division Y – overall division-specific activities
• General Manager, Division Z – overall division-specific activities
Now let’s imagine that your corporate communications department or
outside public relations counsel has set up an interview with the
business writer from the important daily newspaper in your local market
– whether it’s The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, AZ, or Lawrence, MA,
with The Eagle-Tribune. The writer is interested in writing a corporate
profile based on some important recent news from your company – the
launch of an important new product from Division Z – and would like to
interview the company executives in person.
Based on the writer’s interest, the ideal situation for this live,
in-person interview would be to have all six of your "SpokesTeam"
members available. Each of the members would be prepared to answer
questions in their specific areas of responsibility – linking their
answers to the key company messages. Ideally, since the article is
intended to be a corporate profile, the CEO would be the focal point of
the interview, but since the “news hook” for this piece is the new
product introduction, the General Manager of Division Z would share some
of the spotlight – but only as it relates to the new product.
We also recommend that each of these two “SpokesTeam” members
recognize that they do not have to answer every question that is
addressed to them. Each should be comfortable directing sales and
marketing questions to the respective vice presidents. In addition,
although they are not a focal point of the interview, the other two
divisional general managers need to contribute their perspectives on the
overall company while not detracting from Division Z’s new product
announcement.
In the best case, the questions and answers flow freely, with each
team member contributing something in their specific area of
responsibility and also presenting opportunities for the other members
of the team to answer directly or contribute their own thoughts to an
ongoing discussion.
The CEO, for example, in answer to a question about the new product,
would discuss the importance of this product to the overall success of
the company and tie in a key company message. Perhaps, the key company
message as we discussed in an earlier column (“Being – and Staying – ‘On
Message’”) is “technological innovator” and this message is supported
factually in the following manner: • We have a long history of
technological innovation as an alternative energy company • Our
worldwide investments have produced a stream of new and innovative
products
• We invented the first portable fuel cell generator
• We sold the first fuel cell to a public utility
• We invented the first solar fuel cell
• We have twice introduced the lightest on-road zinc fuel cell
In responding to the interviewer’s question about the new product,
the CEO may respond like this: “As you are probably aware of, technical
innovation is our company’s mission, and we have a long history of
technological innovation as an alternative energy company. Our latest
new product is, in fact, part of a steady stream of new and innovative
products we have introduced since the company was founded in 1990.
“Let me give you an overview of just some of our key innovations: We
invented the first solar fuel cell and portable fuel cell generator,
sold the first fuel cell to a public utility and have twice introduced
the lightest on-road zinc fuel cell. Our goal in the years ahead is to
stay at the forefront of technology; it’s what our customers have come
expect from us. And this new product is our latest proof point that we
are continuing to do just that.
“Now, I want to let the General Manager of Division Z talk about the
importance of this new product to his division.”
As you see, with the CEO handing off part of the answer, he or she is
opening up the discussion to present a more well-rounded company
perspective. In like manner, if the interviewer followed up with a
question about how the product would be sold or marketed, ideally the
vice president in charge of the respective areas would be the first to
answer the question.
The best way to ensure that this interview turns more into a
conversation is for the corporate communications or public relations
counsel to obtain the specific questions that the writer plans to ask
prior to the interview. This will allow representative answers to be
formulated and appropriate “SpokesTeam” members to be assigned to answer
each question.
If the specific questions cannot be obtained, which is most likely in
a business interview of this nature by a daily newspaper (trade journal
interviews are different), perhaps a list of “topics to be discussed” or
“areas of inquiry” can be obtained.
We will look more closely at this area – the art of media interview
preparation – in our next column.
A veteran marketing executive and journalist, Randy Savicky is the
President of
Strategy + Communications Worldwide, Inc., a consulting firm that
helps companies gain mindshare and win market share by improving their
communications to their key audiences. With his unique "both sides of
the editor's desk" perspective, Randy Savicky’s advice and counsel on
public relations, marketing communications, web marketing and media and
sales training has been called upon by some of America’s largest
corporations and best-known brands. These include such Fortune 500
companies as IBM, UBS, Fujifilm, Motorola and Sony, early stage
companies like Arbinet, Barnesandnoble.com, Dialogic and Juno as well as
startups like ClubMom.com, New Paradigm Software, SBIC Services and
Viaweb. He welcomes your comments, questions on how to put his ideas to
work or communications challenges and can be reached at (516) 467-4122
or at
[email protected]
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