We always devote a portion of our Media Interview Skills Training sessions to a discussion about going “off-the-record” with journalists. Our recommendation is the same today as it was 20 years ago: there is no such thing as “off-the-record.” Think of it as a cliff for your career. You can dance at the edge of that cliff and think you are in control. But there are many forces at play that can send you right over the edge no matter how confident you are. Splat. There goes your career. If you say something, you should be prepared to see it attributed to you in print. Even if you have a relationship with a journalist, that journalist’s job is to get a good story and tell that story. If you expect them to do otherwise, you are suggesting that what you …
Lessons from Our First Decade Training America's Spokespersons During our first 10 years, DPK Public Relations has been honored to train more than 1,000 spokespersons for organizations throughout Texas and across the United States. We have conducted training in top secret military installations and highly volatile chemical facilities. We have conducted one-on-one training for individuals shortly before major media opportunities and for large groups that were unlikely to ever be interviewed -- but who rightly embraced the training 'just in case.' Through it all, one thing has remained true: how you deliver information is just as important as what you say -- and research suggests how information is delivered can easily amplify the power of the information, or it can suck all the power out of it. The goal is to project confidence and positivity to reinforce that you are …
As I watched Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s news conference this afternoon, I was reminded of a story that I often use as an anecdote in media training sessions. Since Mr. Bernanke is winding down his time with the Fed, I wanted to revisit the subject that I originally discussed in the article, "Media Training Fundamental: Reporters Are Always Working." The key point of the upcoming story is that journalists never turn off their nose for news. There is no 'drink in hand' rule that states a journalist who is relaxing isn't also subtly gathering information. A journalist is never idle. They are always curious. Sniffing out interesting information is what they do and who they are. They don’t punch a clock and turn it off. Ever. So when an executive encounters a journalist, that executive should similarly always be in …
DPK Public Relations is proud to work closely with Lockheed Martin in support of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program in recent years and we enjoy spreading the word about the jaw dropping capabilities of the plane, which is being built in Fort Worth, Texas. We have helped people throughout the organization -- including test pilots, business development executives and manufacturing leaders -- prepare for all types of interactions. While the program has faced some scrutiny, the feedback from the most important community -- the pilots -- has been universally enthusiastic. This terrific first-person account from British Squadron Leader Frankie Buckler is a great example of why it benefits organizations to have people who can communicate complex information in ways that are easy to understand ready at all times to speak. Con Coughlin, The Telegraph's defense editor, accompanied a …
The summer 2012 launch of client Saint Arnold Brewing Company's Divine Reserve No. 12 took on a life of its own, with news organizations competing for the inside scoop and tracking down brewers on their way to the grocery store and at the brewery late at night. Here is the story from Houston's KHOU Channel 11: The Saint Arnold example provides a few lessons for any organization seeking positive media coverage: 1. Think long-term. DPK Public Relations has been working with Saint Arnold for eight years and keeps information flowing regularly to the newsrooms. 2. Don't get discouraged. We have had plenty of instances where we felt we had a great story only to be disappointed that nobody jumped on it. Instead of getting discouraged, we trusted that our good ideas weren't being ignored and they would eventually generate coverage. …
Holidays offer great opportunities for your organization to work with the media to get your messages out. First, the news business doesn't rest on a holiday. It might be a sleepy, peaceful day, but that news hole still needs to be filled. That's why there are certain holiday stories that were being done the day I was born and I suspect will be done until the day I die, such as the New Year's resolution story, the Memorial Day boating safety story, the July 4th fireworks safety story and (as illustrated in the video below) the Labor Day story about the American workplace. If you can find a good angle related to the holiday, you have a good shot of attracting attention. Second, nobody else is pitching stories. Your competitors are all enjoying the holiday! Every major holiday we have …
Note: This article was published in the April 2011 issue of Public Relations Tactics. It is posted here with permission. Assessing the impact of social technologies on the winter uprisings is complicated. In the midst of the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and other Middle Eastern autocracies, pundits attributed the spreading demands for democracy to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This seriously over-simplified the highly complex web of economic, cultural and political factors that contributed to the demands for change. Revolutionaries are using text messages, blogs and social networks to communicate and collaborate with each other and the rest of the world. However, social technologies weren’t necessary for the U.S. Civil Rights movement, the People Power Revolution in the Philippines or the fall of the Iron Curtain. It is tempting to suggest that social technologies are causing revolutionary change, but that …
I am not sure how I missed this story when it first happened, but it is worth recapping even if the event happened a couple weeks ago. Those Chilean miners who once were trapped underground and now are hobnobbing with the rich and famous? They were media trained while awaiting rescue. Okay, that definitely deserves an LOL. There are a lot of jokes that come to mind, but the reality is that sometimes I think the people who trudge into a media training session would prefer to be trapped underground for a month rather than participate in training to prepare them to handle media scrutiny. Their perspective changes once we get rolling, because what we do is fun and interactive, but I haven’t found too many people who get excited about spending a day in a media training session. They …
At DPK Public Relations we have gradually been adding more tools to our arsenal and wanted to share some of the results with you. When I started in public relations with Ketchum Public Relations Worldwide in Pittsburgh in the mid-1990s, we often advised clients of the benefits of a corporate video. It game them something to loop on the video displays in their tradeshow booths and was a nice leave-behind or follow-up for meetings with prospective customers. But they were complicated and could be pretty expensive. I remember one we did for an energy company cost upwards of $17,000 for shooting, producing and editing -- not even counting the time for the account team to script it, coach the client and supervising the shoot. Now that same video can be done far more efficiently and quickly -- and …
The practice of public relations has dramatically changed. It is imperative that organizations change the way they communicate and resist the forces that encourage you to continue the way you have always done things because it is the way you have always done things. Read more from Dan Keeney, APR.