Why your clients need media training

I just finished an interview for a feature on IP-enabled telephone systems, and how they can help businesses be more successful. For those who aren't techies, this sort of phone system combines phone and computer networks so you can do smart things like hot-desking, video conferencing and the like.

The PR person arranged an interview with his client, the head of product marketing for a communications company that positions itself as a major player in this market. Here's a transcript of how the interview started:

Me: Okay, so I'd like to start by asking why the readers of [publication name] should be interested in buying converged voice solutions?

Marketing guy: I'm not sure what you mean.

Me: Okay, let me be more specific. I've got a phone system, it lets me phone people, so I'm pretty happy. Why am I going to spend thousands more on an IP phone system?

Marketing guy: Well, I can't answer that. It's a stupid question, it's far too broad.

Me: Okay, so let's start somewhere else. Why is this stuff important to businesses?

Marketing guy: Really? Errr...well, how would I know? I mean, it's not my job to tell customers why they should find it important. They either do or they don't. I don't know, I mean, I didn't know this was what you writing about, I thought is was about [product name]. I'm not sure I'm the right guy for this, I mean that's a general question, isn't it?

Me: Well, I'm really just asking why you think your customers should buy your new products....

Marketing guy: Yeah, that's just not something I can answer. [Long pause]

Me: Okay, so tell you what. How about I go back to the PR agency and see if they have someone else who might feel a bit more comfortable on this issue and then if I need any more, I can come back to you on the product stuff?*

Marketing guy: Fine. [hangs up]

I'm going to bet my entire commission for this feature that marketing guy has never been media trained.

Media training is important because it teaches  spokespeople about how the press works and what a feature actually is (and it's not simply a list of All The Things That Are Great About This Product). Really good media training also helps execs to plan ahead for interviews and understand how to say something useful in a way that journalists will understand.

And lesson one of any media training session? Never, ever tell a hack that he's asked a stupid question. Seriously. Bad. Idea.

(*This is me just being polite. Really, I'm just not going to include his company in the feature. I'm going to ring one of his competitors for someone who can provide an intelligent comment with a bit less hard work.)

Comments

[Jess]

Makes you wonder what he was expecting to be asked, doesn't it? Maybe 'What's your favourite colour', or, 'Which are better - kittens or puppies?'

[Sally Whittle]

Ooh, kittens, definitely.

Personally, I love the fact that a product marketing guy says he can't answer the question "why should I buy your product?"

Er, isn't that YOUR WHOLE JOB???

[Kim]

How utterly bizarre. I mean, having done god knows how many interviews on this kind of subject myself, I could have answered that question. It would be something like: "Because this kind of solution will save you money, it's easily scalable, it's easy to transfer the phone system if you move offices, you can move seamlessly between your mobile phone and your fixed-line phone, and you can integrate it with your videoconferencing application." Maybe journos should just interview other journos and have done with it.

[Sally Whittle]

Kim - you're right, it's one of those features where you want to say: "Look, I know the answer, my editor knows the answer, the PR knows the answer. We just need you to bloody well say it!"

I'd make a GREAT interviewee. And I'd probably also mention kittens, too.

[Catherine]

I would LOVE to think this sort of thing almost never happens, but I suspect it's depressingly common.

[niyah]

I learned something new today. I would have never thought that someone who held that high of a position would not know how to promote his product or at least explain how it’s useful for his target consumers (like Kim suggested). I am not trying to be distasteful towards the guy but as I was reading the transcript I was wondering what his problem was. I was thinking the same thing as the author, this guy isn’t get’n no play. Besides training in media relations he needs training in being professional because he probably missed an opportunity for free marketing in the feature. Hope he learned his lesson.

[Megan Soto]

Thanks so much for discussing this topic. It's a good thing to keep in mind. As a journalism student focusing in PR, I've got a prof who made sure one of our case studies included a press-naive client and the PR plan looked like it would be quite a mess without media training.

[Danny]

He sounds like he was scared of you. I've run across people like this before. You ask a few polite questions and they come back with answers that are either surly or aggressive. It doesn't happen often, but when it does I just call it a day, assuming that they've prejudged all journalists according to some of the stereotypes levelled against us -- never letting the facts get in the way of a good story, etc etc.

Presumably, even the part of the media training that puts the client in front of some journalists and makes them realise that we're not all out to get them will help to solve the problem. Sorry to hear about your bad experience, Sally. Must be very frustrating.

[Sally]

Danny - you're right, media training might not have changed this guy's views of journos (and what you say about prejudging makes perfect sense) but what it would definitely have done is flagged up that he should never have been put up in front of the press in the first instance, surely?

Sally