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Soulati-'TUDE!

Did Anyone Media Train Lance Armstrong?

02/06/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Cover of The Power of Body Language

During the station (there were two of them), I was particularly interested in body language, facial expressions, and an earnest apology with sincerity.

What we got was a stone “who” only on occasion succeeded in being sincere. Only once did he tear up and that was when he was speaking about the regret he had for his eldest son. Not once did he look into the camera and speak one to one with any viewer; in particular those he most bullied and abused.

When media relations specialists work with spokespeople, we do what’s called media training.
Everyone is familiar with the word “handler” in political and celebrity circles. That’s the pro who manages the media and turns away reporters getting too close for comfort. That’s also the publicist who has the frontline backdoor role to be on top of current events with a snappy response.

It’s obvious Lance Armstrong didn’t have a handler (they probably couldn’t lie like he did) nor did he have any formal media training.

Here’s what the pros say about Lance Armstrong’s performance (from ):

Lance Armstrong’s Marketability

  • , Sports business reporter, ESPN: “Lance Armstrong doesn’t have any future marketability; it’s over. It was his inspiring story of a cancer survivor triumphing in races that made him marketable. If the wins are not legit, then neither is he.”

Lance Armstrong’s Body Language

  • Tonya Reiman, author, “The Power of Body Language:” This is the first time I ever heard the term “fig-leafed” – he nervously covered his groin with his hands. He was also wringing his hands, crossed his legs, tucked his hands between his legs, touched his face, bit his lip, took deep breaths, and swallowed hard. Tonya says these are all signs of a man under serious pressure and his face showed “so much arrogance and not enough real remorse” which is what viewers wanted to see.

Lance Armstrong and PR

  • Mike Paul is a crisis PR expert quoted in Advertising Age. He believes Lance only partially told the truth. In not so many words, Mike believes Armstrong failed his first crisis-PR move (when “scandal-plagued athletes often do confessional interviews where they come clean and throw themselves at the mercy of the court of public opinion.”)

How To Prepare For Media Interviews

Regardless of whether you’re a “scandal-plagued athlete” or a bona fide Wall Street executive, there are stones to turn over and it’s reporters’ jobs to find them (except in the case of the scandal!). Preparing for an interview with the Wall Street Journal is akin to Lance Armstrong preparing for an interview with Oprah. It takes hours and hours of pre-interview preparation prior to sitting in front of an investigative reporter or someone with the skills the likes of Oprah Winfrey.

Here are several media training tips:
1. This tool is golden when it comes to putting a story on one page.
2. Hire a media trainer who consults with a media relations professional. You need someone from the outside who isn’t close to the situation to come in and drill. In the case of Lance Armstrong, he should’ve been preparing and practicing just like it was a presidential debate.
3. Write a Q&A document with every single possible question that could be raised. Answer these questions using a message map. In the case of Lance Armstrong, however, there was more than a decade of lies to address and rectify in advance of the Oprah interview.
4. Rehearse, but be careful how rehearsed answers become. Lance was too stone-faced; however, no amount of preparation was going to allow him to break down in front of an international audience. He failed to earn respect from anyone; he succeeded in being labeled a consummate liar.
5. Review reporters’ history of interviews and writings. This is a job for any good media relations professional. It’s called writing a brief. It allows spokespeople to reference previous stories, break the ice, and also be prepared for the type of style and to expect a barrage or line of questioning.

Here’s the nutshell…no one in this era of visible online identity should ever assume anything is private. Prepare for an interview as if you’re Lance Armstrong being interviewed by Oprah.

Related articles
  • Report: Feds have new investigation into Lance
  • No charges planned against Lance Armstrong, U.S. attorney says
  • Oprah Winfrey: Lance Armstrong admitted to doping

Filed Under: Media Relations Tagged With: body language, Interview, Lance Armstrong, Media Relations, Media Training, Oprah, Oprah Winfrey, Public Relations, Tonya Reiman, Wall Street Journal

Media Training, Hoodies and Facebook

09/23/2011 By Jayme Soulati

Advertising Age has a fascinating article in its Sept. 5, 2011 issue oriented to the media training of 20-something leaders of tech companies who sit in their hoodies and sweat under drilling questions posed by reporters. These CEOs typically have no concept of media training and have not been privy to the wily nature of seemingly friendly reporters who turn aggressive to get their story.

Mark Zuckerberg proved that correct when he stated  his notorious faux pas, “privacy is over.”

He’s not the only one…every CEO and business leader regardless of age, industry or company needs to be savvier when being interviewed by media. It’s easier in the internet era for reporters to dig up dirt from more channels than just a printed magazine, and thus it’s easier to get hung up during an interview.

Where I have to disagree with this AdAge piece is when Brandee Barker, former VP of PR at Facebook, suggests that Zuckerberg helped “shape a media environment more accepting of the less-structured response or mishap.”  She states in the article, “There’s an authenticity that comes across, and if it’s awkward and they say the wrong thing, that’s OK.”

Really?

This woman is sending entirely the wrong message to young CEOs that it’s OK to come across as a noob and act befuddled. How can this be appropriate media training? When that tech leader grows up and heads to another company will that style be acceptable? In fact, like the Zuckerberg debacle, those situations will stick like glue and be resurrected throughout a leader’s career.

Ask Sarah Palin! She floundered and fell flat on her face in front of Katie Couric during her bid for vice president on the ticket with John McCain. Ask John Kerry who ran for president and all anyone could talk about was that he needed a haircut and acted like a statue in front of the cameras.

Being polished in front of reporters certainly comes with seasoned experience; losing your personality is one thing with too much messaging and training, but getting permission to bumble an answer and be accepted for it is another.

Media training is what we public relations practitioners strive to do with our internal and external clients.

It begins with research. When there’s a story brewing, the PR person must conduct due diligence to find all the stories and reporting style of the interviewer.

Then, we develop Q&A using the company’s approved message map so everyone says the same thing. Approved messages help deliver the facts without straying into murky waters (although this happens frequently).

Role playing is part of media training. A PR team tries to trip up the executive and put him or her in a stressful situation with a barrage of media questions. Using that message map is critical at this point, and knowing the tricks to sidestep a tough question is always helpful.

The onus is on PR only at the back end during prep. Executives must always be cognizant about their accountability to position the company in the most positive light. Often, company leaders forget they’re still on tap at the very end of an interview. This is when reporters swoop in for the kill, when there’s an apparent moment of relaxation. Leaders have been known to really mess up at this time because they think the interview is over.

It’s never over until the mic is off, the phone is hung up, and the reporter has left the building!

If you’re a business owner and you’re seeking the limelight to tell your story, or if you’re a politician running for office, then media training is absolutely a must. There are varying levels of training, and you don’t need to hire the big guns, either. Unless, of course, you’re Sarah Palin or John Kerry seeking the presidency of the United States.

Filed Under: Public Relations Tagged With: Media Relations, Media Training

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