(If you have stumbled across this page, and would like me to deliver this quick-fire interactive presentation at your event, do get in touch!)
PICTURE THE SCENE …
The partners and senior management of Legal & Legal, a Sussex based law firm, are very excited.
Their company has just won a landmark legal case in the High Court about a building works property dispute at a luxury house in the Ashdown Forest.
It’s likely to be all over the news today, because of the property’s stunning views and a quirky legal precedent that has just been set, overturning a law dating back to the reign of King John.
The law firm’s PR, Pauline, has arranged for me to have an exclusive interview on camera with the wealthy owner of the property. I’ll be able to film shots of the building works, get close ups of some lovely antique historical documents, and of course film the stunning views on what’s turning out to be a beautiful summer’s day.
It’s 9.15am. The judgement will be handed down at 12 noon. We want this on our lunchtime news at 1pm. I’m in the car heading to the Ashdown Forest …
And my phone rings …
TO HAVE MOST FUN WITH THIS ACTIVITY, DON’T SCROLL BEYOND THIS PARAGRAPH UNTIL THE VOTES ARE IN AND I’VE ENDED MY PRESENTATION! BUT I’VE PLACED THE “TAKEAWAYS” BELOW A RANDOM PHOTO OF ME ABOUT TO GO ON AIR … FOR YOU TO REFER BACK TO AND SHARE IN THE WEEKS OR MONTHS TO COME. I HOPE THEY COME IN HANDY WHEN YOU’RE HOPING TO GET SOME POSITIVE MEDIA COVERAGE FOR YOUR STORY! AND IF YOU WANT MORE ADVICE, GIVE ME A CALL … 07850 188620!
SO — HERE ARE THOSE TAKEAWAYS THAT MAY HELP YOU GET YOURSELF ON THE NEWS … FOR THE RIGHT REASONS:
TAKEAWAY 1:
Journalists need interviews with the “real people” at the heart of the story.
Partners, CEOs, MPs, medics, experts etc speaking on their behalf are rarely a satisfactory alternative. And they usually need those interviews on the day (or even earlier, if under embargo.) Once the story’s out there, it’s out there. Next day or next week is too late for the coverage.
TAKEAWAY 2:
Journalists need phone numbers far more than email addresses or Facebook pages. On tight deadlines, they simply haven’t got time to fill in media enquiry forms on websites, or write an email explaining the story and their requirements, cross their fingers and hope someone gets back to them in time for their bulletin in less than three hours’ time. (And if you’re dealing with radio or online, it might be in 20 minutes’ time …)
If you are promoting a story, and love the thought of you or your company being on the news to comment on it — but simply leave an email address — the journalist is likely to ignore you and head to another eager commentator who’s been prepared to give them a mobile phone number too.
TAKEAWAY 3:
It is technically much, much easier to get yourself on TV now than before the pandemic. Interviews conducted over a laptop — once shunned by broadcasters as looking and sounding too shabby — are now seen as perfectly acceptable. Zoom saves news teams the logistical task of deploying their finite number of camera crews and reporters to different locations. And it’s much quicker.
Use this to your advantage. If you simply want to comment on a story that’s on the news agenda, offer yourself to a journalist and make it clear you are fully up to speed with Zoom (who isn’t?) and ready to use it in a quiet spot at home or at work.
If you have read this, but weren’t at the Gatwick Diamond Business Breakfast on May 11, 2023, let me explain …
This post is part of a quick-fire, interactive 10/15 minute presentation I offer to networking groups and businesses to give them an insight — in an exciting way — to how the broadcast news media actually operate. Participants are given three dilemmas as my (imagined) scenario unfolds, voting at each point with coloured flashcards to reveal what they would do.
It’s a lot of fun — and I’m told a lot more engaging than if I had simply talked for 15 minutes!
I don’t always charge for this activity, so if you are curious, and think it might spice up a networking or training event, then do give me a call on 07850 188620, or drop me an email …