Nothing more effectively amplifies your message than media coverage – nothing delivers more bang for buck, bestows credibility or generates more influence. How often do 300 people listen to you for 12 minutes? Or 300,000 people? Precisely. But when was the last time your media officer practiced pitching a story? Or coming up with a good story in the first place? Or sat down and mapped out her next six media seeking sorties?
How much are these audiences worth to you?
Many organisations feel that media is a bit like a far-off foreign destination – they’ve heard of it, talked to some people who travelled there and want to go there themselves one day. It’s just that they don’t quite know how to get there. Media Savvy changes that. Other organisations secure media coverage but would like to expand both the quantity and quality of coverage.
Media Savvy shows you how to create stories artificially in ways that suit you. Create your own catalyst for the media to cover you and your issues. After all when was the last time a journalist came knocking to your door?
Media Savvy also maps out how to take advantage of happenings outside your control to create media coverage. This might include the release of data, government reports, awareness days, conferences, anniversaries and milestones.
Hootville secured its clients 1000+ media hits since 1999 – we must know something.
We use a mix of chalk and talk, role play and video. Frankly this course is the goods – practical, fun and full of stuff that makes a PR degree look like the academic exercise it is. It is aimed for PR, marketing, communications people right up to CEO and board members who need to know how media really works. It is lead by Brett de Hoedt who draws on about two decades of media experience split evenly between journalism and publicity. How often do trainers get these reviews?
Individual organisations book Media Savvy as do peak bodies, professional associations and other networks which bring together participants. We are popular with training managers, conference organisers and local governments which engage Hootville and invite local community groups to come learn. We can present shorter versions of the workshop to suit.
Standard workshops typically last 10am-4pm are conducted at a time and place to suit you. Weekends are OK too. Standard workshops begin with pre-workshop preparation and are followed by 40 or so pages of notes and 12-months on-call telephone coaching. We think that makes the workshops more like a year of professional development.
The curriculum is tailored to your needs but based on the following:
What media wants: know the rules of the game & get the media coverage you seek.
Communications commandments: five principles to guide your communications.
Preparing your organisation: deciding your issues, your spokespeople, your case studies, your expertise, your key media initiatives for the year ahead.
Media relationships – building meaningful media relationships from scratch.
Media catalysts – totally artificial ways to generate coverage.
Developing a pro-media culture: attitudes that lead to coverage.
Media releases: writing, distribution and follow up. Professional distribution options are explored. (We think that they are over-rated.)
Perceptions: how are you and your issues perceived? How do you turn this into attractive story ideas and expertise?
Medium By Medium: comparing & contrasting radio, television, print and web;
Packaging your story idea: be positively irresistible to media.
Story Pitching: refining pitch technique; when was the last time you rehearsed the all important phone call to media? Never – we’ll change that.
Event Planning: making your events more media friendly;
Story Mining: looking for the hidden stories within your organisation. What stories are there to be told within your organisation? What methods do you have in place to find them?
Pre-Interview Preparation: questions to ask, issues to resolve, conditions to apply beforehand to avoid poor performances and nasty surprises.
Messages: finding and refining them;
Good Habits: coverage doesn’t happen by accident – small habits can yield coverage;
Critical Incident Response: how will you deal with a crisis?
Press Conferences: When to use them, how to handle them;.
Website: use your website to attract, inform and persuade journalists.
Get some training for free right now:
Public Media Savvy workshop Melbourne, Thursday January 28, 2016
10am to 4pm at the gorgeous Hotel Lindrum, Flinders Street Melbourne.
◾Fully catered;
◾Pre-workshop preparation;
◾Energetic, challenging, fun workshop;
◾Comprehensive notes;
◾Unlimited period of follow-up coaching;
◾Lots of Q&A for your specific issues;
◾Specific advice to gain media hits.
Three options: 4, 26 and 52.
4: pre-workshop preparation, workshop, notes and 12-weeks unlimited follow-up coaching. $1200 including GST.
26: as above but with a total of 26-weeks unlimited follow-up coaching and an additional 1-to-1 session to fine tune your presentation skills. $2200 including GST.
52: as per our 26-week option but with a total of 52-weeks unlimited follow-up coaching and two 1-to-1 sessions to perfect your PR skills. $4400 including GST.
Got a group to train? Contact Brett on 0414 713 802 to arrange a workshop that will be tailored to your needs and represent even better value for your staff development dollar.
The worm awaits.
Earlybird bonus: the first three people to register will have their coaching period doubled.
Questions and bookings: Call Brett on 0414 713 802 today or email him.