Business leaders are increasingly expected to be well-trained and polished in media relations. Amy Fallon explores what this means for reputation management. This article is from Communicate magazine's third quarter issue.

As an organisation wanting to reach and inspire a new generation of vets, behaviourists and senior directors, Cats Protection has been media training staff for two decades — and has reaped the benefits. “We've noticed our people are much keener to do interviews once they've been trained which has really helped to raise our profile,” said Kate Geary, media relations manager for the UK’s largest cat welfare charity.

“Investing in this and the media training is good value as an organisation's visibility is vital. Without it we wouldn't raise the funds, rehome the cats and help to change the legislation that we have through the years.”

But whether it’s a charity looking to ensure funding or a business searching for investors, not all view media training as a worthy investment of time and money. “I think particularly in the UK for people who maybe aren't professionals who are close to the press there is distrust of the media because we have this sense of the tabloid pressing questions,” said Julian Rea, the managing director of Liminal, a London-based financial services-focused communications agency.

“I think media training can help with that.”

Only 13% of Brits trust in the media and only 30% of people in the US, according to the World Values Survey, released in March 2023. Some companies may feel that media coaching is a “nice to have” but not essential, said Rea.

Yet in 2024, when there’s more competition than ever — different channels and different voices — reputation is more important than ever. Building and maintaining this can come from a strong press presence. “Reputation is harder to build and easier to lose,” said Rea. “But if a crisis hits and you have a strong reputation, you'll be more likely to at least get a fair hearing and to be able to give your side of the story.

“Media training pays dividends over time and if you don’t do it, you’re wasting all the other time and resource and assessment you're making in your communications program as a whole.”

Jeromee Scot has 20 years’ broadcast experience as an Emmy-award winning journalist and assistant news director in the US. Two months ago, he launched Scot Media Tulsa, a media relations agency which works with business and nonprofits to create strategies for media coverage, digital marketing or video products. “I think a lot of the organisations do have the money, they just don't have it allocated correctly for media training because they don't see it as a priority,” he said.

“Once they start to see ‘I can get more donations for my mission, more ticket sales for my fundraising gala, if I spend a little bit of that money to promote it in a way that is professionally done, that is tailored specifically for a certain audience', they will start to see the effects of it and see it as a benefit and not an extra expense.”

Scot says a lot of people who dismiss media training actually get caught off guard. “A bad interview can ruin your brand pretty quickly. It's public perception that you have to try to control,” he said.

Training employees to be proactive about media coverage or react to it can also increase the variety of voices we hear from. “It promotes diversity,” Scot said. “It gives people an opportunity to have their voices heard, not only within the organisation, but publicly, which then reflects upon the organisation.”

This sentiment is echoed by Rea. “The narcissistic, charismatic leader will naturally step forward, but there might be people who wouldn't and with media training they can be given a bit more made more comfortable in spotlight,” he said.

Both Scot and Rea agree that training should be bespoke. Scot conducts it in-person using cameras, lights and microphones and sets up mock interviews so that clients know what to expect from a journalist. He records the sessions and plays back the video clips to provide trainees examples of how they appeared on camera, if they stumbled over their words, used jargon or if there’s any other problems.

He throws in random questions that his clients aren't expecting so that they are trained on how to pivot the conversation back to their message. Given that a lot of TV channels now use Zoom for live interviews, Scot also conducts training via this platform.

"A bad interview can ruin your brand pretty quickly. It's public perception that you have to try to control"

Rea conducts his session in small groups, offering individual feedback and practice. “We do groups with up to four people for a full day of training, and that will be two trainers with a cameraman, with the internal comms person.” Similarly to Scot, trainees watch themselves back. And Rea also does training on how to speak in Zoom interviews.

If organisations cannot afford to train their whole team, they should focus on arranging the best training possible for just one or two spokespeople, he said. “Prioritise the individuals most keen to speak to the press, as the bulk of media engagements will fall to them so it’s important they’re motivated to get stuck in.”

Using a recently produced refresher face-to-face course and modules, Cats Protection has offered in-house training for 1,000 staff members and volunteers, giving them an introduction into the media and ideas on how to land coverage. They have also used an external trainer to show employees how to tailor their language and messaging accordingly.

With recent coverage in the BBC, Independent, Channel 5 and ITV regional news among others, the charity’s efforts show. “We’ve always tended to have more women work here and have been fortunate that many of them are in senior positions,” said Geary. “Media training provides our staff with the confidence to speak on their subject areas they specialise in, and having a spokesperson does help us in gaining valuable coverage, especially airtime.

“We hope that it also inspires the next generation of women — who see our vets, behaviourists, advocacy officers and senior directors — in wanting to study in these areas.”