Why is Media Training Important?
Media training is important for senior leaders and is the responsibility of a media relations professional. With media training, not everyone within an organization is allowed to grant interviews representing the organization and the business leaders who do are properly guided on what to say in order not to cause damage to a brand that intends to grow.
Engaging with the media is an effective public relations strategy that can contribute to the business or organization in several ways but the preparedness of those who are saddled with this responsibility has to be prioritized to maintain a good brand image and reputation in the media. This is why many leaders especially in the political sector and public sector appear to lose the public’s respect because they played down the high stakes that their office demands.
Media training is about helping you come across as comfortable, confident, and relaxed anytime you have to speak to someone in the media, a reporter, a journalist, or a talk show host, and these days it’s about speaking to your own camera for social media and media you create.
The above was gotten from TJ Walker. You can read more here.
According to Sola Abulu in this article, media training for senior leaders “should include at the barest minimum, various simulations including a LIVE on-camera interview (on tough and controversial issues) with many microphones pushed in their face and the recording played back to SEE what it would be like if it was broadcast verbatim on TV and uploaded on the internet forever.”
Internal stakeholders who are allowed to make media appearances about your brand are ambassadors of the brand and can shape the perception of the public towards the brand. Media training ensures it remains a positive perception.
Live interviews for instance often has a lot of pressure with it because it requires an on-the-spot thinking which must be on brand else it cedes to the internet and the media. This is why the communications professional must decide whether the business or organization should grant them, who should make the appearance or determine if the time is best for it. Did you know that there is a difference between media relations and public relations? You will find this article insightful and educating.
5 Importance of Media Training
- Media trainings ensure preparedness
- It also ensures that the senior leader stays on message
- It protects the reputation of the brand and avoids negative press or bad PR
- It immerses the business leaders and executive officers with the corporate messaging for key issues
- It maintains a good personal brand of senior leaders especially with public-facing roles.
It is very unsafe to wing things in the communications profession. Therefore, practitioners should not only be media-trained but hand down that experience to internal stakeholders who occupy roles that require interaction with the media and the public.
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Sola Abulu & Associates is a strategy and communications consulting and training firm committed to enabling businesses, brands and organizations to achieve their objectives through strategic communications, organizational effectiveness and reputation risk management.