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Good news: the media needs you.

Too many organisations, companies and peak bodies think that gaining media coverage is for someone else. It’s not. I guarantee that you are sitting on untapped media potential. What a waste.

The media really does need you.

Without organisations just like yours actively participating in the process of identifying story ideas, contributing talent and helping to facilitate the media’s own ideas, the media would collapse for lack of content. Grant yourself a licence to participate.

Media loves misery – and lots of other stuff.

“But the media only wants bad news stories.”

No matter what some people will tell you; good news stories do get coverage, so too do bad news stories, sad news stories, complicated news ones. There is lots of space to fill with issues of every persuasion. Go get yours.

So what does media want?

NEWs: tell the media something it doesn’t know. At least a little new. New to them doesn’t mean it is new to you. It’s more likely to be re-packaged news. Spotted a trend? Unveiling a product? Launching an event? Excellent; that’s news.

EXPERTISE: Every journo has a black book. You must ensure that you feature in these lists of expert spokespeople and contacts. It’s not easy to dislodge an existing go-to contact. Generally speaking, a journo will keep going to the one contact until that contact moves on, gets boring or, heaven forbid, says “No”. Be ready to interpret and comment on data, reports and breaking news AS IT HAPPENS. That’s what experts do.  

VISUAL: weak stories (and downright non-stories) can be run simply due to strong visuals.  Go to great lengths to create compelling visuals. You have yourself a story as .

DATA: whether it be a small survey or a national longitudinal study, media loves something that crystallises an issue. You are sitting on data – the sort of thing that you send to members, investors, funders. Or grab a clipboard and ask 100 people three questions. It can be that easy.

SENSATION / CONTROVERSY: You don’t have to slander and lie but bold statements, strong opinions and contrary  views make more impact and engage media.

IMMEDIACY: media wants everything ASAP. First in is best dressed; even if not necessarily best informed.

PRE-PACKAGED & SELF-SAUCING STORIES: Journalists are busy people working under a lot of pressure in a harsh working culture. Also; they are as lazy as the rest of us. Thus a fully rounded story suggestion – one with expert, data, case study, visual angle and even a media-friendly opposition spokesperson is much appreciated. Do the work for them.

Great media hit inspired by giving a journalist a “ride-along”.

ACCESS: to case studies and real life examples via you. This is vital. They also love access to visiting overseas experts. You are the insider, help them in. Let them tour your facility, meet your client, review your data.

PREDICTABILITY: journalists rarely make calls to find out what an organisation thinks about an issue. Media wants to know what you think about issues before they arise. Do you have your opinions / demands / plans listed on your website?

CONTEXT / TOPICALITY: media wants stories that tie-in with bigger issues or happenings; positive or negative. That youth crime wave terrorising the city is an opportunity to talk about: sentencing, parenting, home security, funding for youth sports, policing and more. Get on board.

RESONANCE: media wants appropriate stories that resonate with their audience. Try to make your story relevant – perhaps to parents, new parents, fathers, first home buyers, a geography, a profession. Do your potential stories relate to a niche audience? Good – now approach media that targets that audience.

SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS: propose a specific answer or solution. Don’t just commentate or whinge. Media wants your proposals so that it can hold decision-makers accountable to it.

TIMING: You will always do better if you pick a slow news day – weekends, public holidays, post-football, Summer. Choose to unveil your survey / poll / report / study at a time that makes it more topical to maximise the appeal.

Yes – this really was published by a professional journalist.

FINALLY: Don’t think that your story isn’t newsworthy. Look at the bollocks they will print! A LOCAL ANGLE  works a treat.

This new video for public speakers outlines a simple way to increase the chance that you maintain control and deliver your key messages during your next presentation.

Become a more perceptively better presenter by attending our upcoming Present Savvy workshop at Melbourne’s Hotel Lindrum Wednesday November 11.

So significant is our December 10 Speak Savvy media training workshop in Melbourne that we created its own special website.

Be quick – the earlybird bonus ends October 20.

We’ll set it all up – no pressure, no pressure.

Brett is looking for two lucky souls to each receive an hour – exactly one hour – of free training.

We are seeking one PR / media relations person and one media spokesperson. The catch? The lucky souls will be part of two experiments. We want to see how radically we can improve people’s performance in 60 minutes.

1. We’ll run the media spokesperson through four or five predictable media questions before, and then after, Brett’s training. The training will be identical to the Speak Savvy workshops enjoyed by our clients.

2. We’ll work with the PR person to package a strong story idea and refine the all important media pitch and media release. The training will be identical to the Media Savvy workshops enjoyed by our clients. Again we’ll be recording a before and after with Brett’s training in the middle.

The two one-hour sessions will be conducted separately.

Here’s the catch: the sessions will be caught on camera for us to create a short video encapsulating the experiment. We’ll also be asking the participants for their comments. The video will be used on our website and in various formats.

We’re after someone who is:

• (for the media spokesperson experiment) a CEO or similarly senior individual with some media experience or intentions to be a media spokesperson with specific ideas about their next media foray;
• (for the PR experiment) a PR person with less than five years experience with a specific upcoming media campaign.

Fear not – everybody’s dignity will be kept in tact. Whoever they are they will need to be:

• happy to be recorded throughout the process;
• willing to accommodate a rather regimented format (we want the experiment to be rigorous);
• able to provide their thoughts about the experience on camera;
• available to shoot in late July or first week of August in Prahran, Melbourne;
• comfortable with our editorial judgement in regards to the final cut;
• a good sport;
• enthusiastic to be a part of the experiment.

So if you or your powers-that-be want to be a part of this email us. We need a brief description of the candidate, their upcoming media campaigns and of course tell us if they are after the PR or spokesperson training. Please understand that we will have to refuse all but two interested parties. Don’t delay!