45. How to face the media

Having been on both sides of the microphone - as a journalist and company spokesperson - I thought it was about time I share some tips on how to shine in the media! This comes off the back of being featured in a segment on Sunrise about how I'm using TikTok in my business.

Watch my piece on Sunrise HERE

Transcript

So you've been asked to do a media interview or want to be asked, having been on both sides of the microphone. I want to let you in on a few little secrets to help you shine.

I'm Sally Prosser. You're listening to That Voice Podcast, no matter who you are or what you do, your voice matters. So unless you've sworn a lifetime vow of silence, this is the podcast for you.

If you want to speak with confidence, you know, front that news camera like a boss, if you want to speak with clarity and be able to answer a question with something that makes sense. And if you want to speak with charisma, be that spokesperson the media loves then join My Six Week Voice Makeover. You've just missed out on the latest intake. So beg me via email sally@sallyprosser.com.au if you want in, or just join the list for my next one, head to sallyprosser.com.au

Okay, awesome. Welcome to episode 45 of That Voice Podcast and extra special welcome if you're new around here. Last week, I was on Sunrise. So for those of you outside Australia, Sunrise is one of our breakfast TV shows. And I was in a segment where we were talking about how I'm using TikTok in my business. I know a lot of people were asking me how it came about and what approach I took to it. So I thought I'd share some insights with you, and I'd love to share with you my top three tips for facing the media.

But first I want to give you a bit of background about why I even know anything about this stuff. So from my early twenties, I worked in broadcast news. I was at Wave FM in Wollongong, i98 FM in Wollongong, C 91.3 in Campbelltown reading the news. And then I worked in television in Rockhampton for channel seven and then down in Brisbane, I freelanced for channel 10 and the ABC. And so that's where I learned a bit about being a journalist. Then I crossed to the dark side, AKA the light side, and I worked in the media team at one of Australia's largest water and sewerage companies. Yes, I was the glamour girl for sewerage, definitely career highlight. And that's where I learned from the best in the business about PR public relations essentially. And part of my role was to be one of the spokespeople for the company. So, you know, I'd speak to TV cameras at the scene of burst water mains. Um, I was actually even on national television talking about fatbergs. If you don't know what that is, Google it 'fatbergs' - make sure you're not eating. And so now I work with companies, helping them prepare their spokes people for the media. And I also work on this stuff with heaps of my private clients, because there's a lot more to this than you might think. And it's quite unique having had the experience both as a journalist and as a spokesperson.

Okay, let's get into these top three tips about how to face the media. And you also use these if you're speaking on a podcast. So number one, know your key messages, know your key messages. When you speak to the media or speak on a podcast, you're not there just for the other person. You're not there just to answer questions, right? It's an opportunity for you to protect or enhance your reputation. It's an opportunity for you to protect or enhance your reputation. All right? So you are there for a reason. You've got to think about why you're doing it and what you want to get out of it. And remember you are responsible for everything that comes out of your mouth.

And so even if you don't get asked a direct question that you want to answer, you want to be able to weave your key messages in anyway. I won't go too much into detail. We could do a whole episode just on key messages, but you want to have three. So only three. These are big umbrella statements. Key messages are umbrella statements, which summarise your message. And then you can have some facts underneath that to back that up. Now, why do you only want three? Well, it's easier to remember and your message is going to be clearer. You know, you don't want to be going into an interview with reams and reams of paper. Now you might feel like you're repeating yourself quite a bit, but remember usually not every single part of what you say will be used. And also other people are hearing it for the first time. So if you are repeating your messages, that's okay. Now the other thing is, is you don't need to be using exactly the same wording each time. Okay? So one of my key messages might be a call to action. So a call to action often makes a good key message. It might be join My Six Week Voice Makeover, but I can say that in lots of different ways, it could be oh and My Six Week Voice Makeover's coming up starting on Monday. Oh, there's still time for people to sign up for My Six Week Voice Makeover. So it's all the same key message. It's just not said using exactly the same words. If you're always using exactly the same words, it can sound a little bit contrived. So that's key messages.

Number two is knowing what they want, knowing what they want. Now, this is not about you pandering to them. It's about understanding. If you're able to give them exactly what they want, then there's a bigger chance that your key messages are going to be used. So Sunrise contacted me. It wasn't something I proactively reached out for. They reached out to me and I knew it was for a prerecorded segment. It wasn't a live cross or anything. And I know from the program that they're looking for short grabs, you know, about six seconds, even less. That's what they want. So when I was preparing for it, that's what I was putting together. I was putting together short statements that fit into six seconds. You know, I didn't want to leave it to the editing suite. I wanted to give all my answers in a short form that was very easy for them. Just to cut and put into the story. A few months ago, I was interviewed Hughesy and Ed.

It was about a tweet. I put out about overcrowding at Sydney airport. Not related to my business. When they contacted me, I know it's a commercial radio program, right? They want it to be fun. They want it to be light. They don't want the in depth political take on the whole thing. They just want to have a bit of fun. Yet when I did the interview for SBS News, I knew they were looking for something a bit different. So you really want to understand the media that you're going into. Are they looking for short grabs for TV? Is it live radio, more of a free chat? What style of radio show is it? What style of podcast is it? In order to know this? You need to consume a lot of media. You'd be surprised, but I've had some people do interviews for programs that they haven't even watched.

And you might be saying, Oh, well, there's so much media out there. How do I consume everything? Well, you know, if you get an opportunity to speak on something, you can at least do a little bit of research and watch one program and get a bit of an idea of what they want. Because you know, if I had've just talked and talked and talked like I do on my podcast for the Sunrise interview, then there's no way I would have got the outcome that I did, which was three really fantastic grabs. But I knew they were gonna be fantastic because every single thing I said, I was happy to be put on the show. So that's number two, know what they want.

And number three is prepare. You must prepare. So with the Sunrise story, I was lucky to have a couple of days. I honestly wrote out all the grabs that I thought I could use. And I walked around the house and I practiced them. I memorize them and I practiced them and I did go a little bit off script, so to speak when I was doing the interview. But when you're in that situation, even for me, I've done a fair bit of media and it can be a little bit unfamiliar, you know, having a big TV camera in your face, bright lights, you're probably thinking "Sal that's what you do all the time." Yes. I am getting used to having a ring light blasted in my face. But for a lot of you, I'm sure a media interview is a bit unusual. You're not used to having microphones in front of your face or TV cameras. And so when that comes into play, a lot of the information can just go out of your head, right? You forget about stuff. So if you're really prepared, then you can draw on that preparation. I'm talking about, write out your key messages, write out your plan, walk around the house, practice speaking. A little bit of preparation goes a long way. So, you know, if you'd like me to personally help you nail down your key messages and prepare for media interviews or podcast interviews, then check out my private coaching packages. And they're at sallyprosser.com.au and get in touch to have a chat because that's something that I do do with a lot of people. We sit down, I've got a piece of paper. It feels a bit like school, but we write down what are the key messages? What are the facts that support those key messages? And then I drill people, right? We practice just practice, practice, practice, practice. So that gives people the confidence to be able to go into whatever interview they're doing. And of course, let me know if the spokespeople that your organization would like some help as well.

So there you have it, my top three tips for how to face the media is to number one, know your key messages, number two, know what they want, understand the format of the show or the program that you're going to be going into, and finally make sure you prepare and practice.

And finally, I would just say, don't be afraid of the media, right? It's all just people. And if the opportunity does come up to speak to a journalist to be in a story, then say, yes, say yes. Oh my gosh, my voice just cracked. I'll admit I did go out last night and I'm sitting here with a cup of tea, a glass of water and a glass of orange juice. You know, when you're just not quite sure what you feel like? Oh, I did spend all the morning doing warm-ups, but at some point I just had to had to do this. Okay. So if you would like my help then this is something that I really can only do via private coaching. So check out sallyprosser.com.au and let's chat.

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