Media Training In PR – Why Is It Important?
When we onboard our new clients and the press opportunities begin flooding in, something we often either get asked about, or recommend, is media training. Whether you’re new to the business or long-time CEO, talking to the press can be daunting. Especially if you’ve not done it before. Media training is something that can not only help combat the nerves and put you at ease, but it can also help clients better understand PR, which is something we’re always happy about.
What Is Media Training?
We either offer our clients basic media training in-house at Source PR, or for a more in-depth course, we work with several great industry partners in the North West. Simply put, it is learning how to engage with the media and successfully represent your brand during interviews with journalists, radio segments and even TV appearances. A trainer will walk you through how to prepare for questions, but also what to do if you’re thrown a curveball. They’ll help you understand techniques to beat any nerves you might have, and they’ll also run through some of the ways NOT to act, which we’ll come on to below.
3 Reasons Why Media Training Is Important
Presenting your best self
Firstly, when we put a client in front of a journalist, we want to ensure that they’re well-equipped to be the best brand ambassador they can be. This is why before all features and conversations we brief our clients and guide them through questions. But media training goes one step further in ensuring whoever is representing the company is cool, calm, and collected with answers that ‘wow’.
Understanding the end goal
Not every client will have an in-depth grasp of PR, after all – that’s why we’re here to help. We’ve found that media training helps clients to comprehend the ins and outs of what we do, and of course, the benefits of it! Many business we work with have walked away from training days with a healthy understanding of PR, feature work, interviews and so on… Most importantly – they get how important all of it is to their business.
Avoiding disaster!
We offer crisis communications support at Source PR, but it’s better when we don’t have to use it. Don’t fret, as media training ensures that no slip ups occur during interviews. Especially ones that can’t be edited, such as radio chats. There are so many examples we could give you, but one stands out. Prince Andrew’s car crash appearance on Newsnight demonstrates the benefits of media training more than any blog ever could because we all collectively felt the disaster unfold. Of course it’s unlikely you or your business would ever find yourself in such a situation, as remember – if a journalist wants to interview you about your company, they’re not going to be looking to catch you out – it’s still good to know what not to do.
If you’re ready to get your face and brand in front of the media, then you know we can help here at Source PR. In the last year alone our clients have been featured on the likes of the BBC North West Tonight and Points West, ITV Granada Reports, BBC Radio Shropshire, and BBC Radio Wales – if your business has a good story to tell, that could well be you too. Pop our team a message, or follow us on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn for all of our latest updates.
