Proactive PR during a Pandemic
Getting the balance right is absolutely vital. Should you speak up, or do you keep your head down? Putting your head above the parapet risks getting shot down when the “blame culture” still surrounding the Coronavirus Pandemic is rife. However, if you have something compelling to say – for national, local, or trade media, now may be a good time to say it. In “peace time”, we have always argued the need for Proactive PR to balance out the bad news and show your audience you are doing more than...
Launching Lunchtime webinars
Join us on our short lunchtime Webinars. Remote working can be challenging. We often overlook how important networking with colleagues and chatting informally over small work related issues can motivate and inspire us. We can’t recreate the “water-cooler chat” experience, but we are offering a range of short lunchtime Webinars over the next few weeks. They are all free attend, start at 1pm and will last about 30 minutes. There are more details on our resources page or just book on the Webinars...
Media Success and Inspirational Stories
We are all in need of some good news in these challenging times. Covid-19 maybe be taking up most of the air space at the moment, but there is one positive, inspirational news story that has dominated the media. Everyone loves Captain Tom Moore, but what made this such a great story? It’s a numbers game and you can’t ignore the numbers here. He was 99 years old when the story started, his goal was 100 laps before his 100th birthday. Google 100 year old war hero, and he covers the first three...
Coronavirus and the Media
Currently there is only one story in town for local and national newspapers - Coronavirus. It’s a topic that affects us all and everyone has a story. It’s no surprise that many organisations are being approached by the media with enquiries about coronavirus related crisis stories. Here are a few tips on how to handle negative enquiries and avert a potential media crisis : Respond as quickly as you can with a confirming email – simply saying you have received their enquiry and will respond in...
Media Training during the Covid-19 pandemic
There’s no need to cancel your training plans because of Covid-19. We are delivering high-quality interactive media training courses virtually on Zoom. The initial reaction to Covid-19 from our clients was to postpone presentation skills and media training courses and to reschedule them for later in the year, but as lockdown and remote working continues, virtual training is the obvious way forward. Covid-19 has changed how we deliver training now, it’s also changed how the media works. Social...
The Comms Event
We are looking forward to The Comms Event 2020 in March. We are regular supporters; in fact we have attended every year for the last fifteen years. It’s always an inspirational day, with plenty of insightful and thought-provoking sessions. It’s also a great place to network and catch up with old friends. As Media, PR and Communication Skills specialists it’s especially important for us to keep up with the daily challenges that housing communications and marketing professionals face. We...
Making the most of your media opportunities
If you work for a large organisation, more likely than not you will have a well organised Communications team who work hard to raise your profile and get you the media interest that you deserve. They will be constantly be on the look out for media opportunities and have a diary of events planned. They will also be ready to react to events and sometimes to offer an opinion from an industry expert at virtually zero notice. It’s a tough job and, as with all news, you have to act fast. If your...
Harry breaks silence over Megxit
Harry and Meghan - Amazing how actually speaking to the media changes perceptions. Sentebale held an event on Sunday 19th January 2020, hosted by The Caring Foundation, to raise funds for Sentebale’s vital work supporting young people affected by HIV in southern Africa. pic.twitter.com/bxL2RqhiNS — @Sentebale (@Sentebale) January 19, 2020 It is interesting to see how some of the tabloid press are covering the Duke of Sussex’s appearance at a dinner in aid of his children’s charity Sentebale....
Top Media Training Tips
When it comes to media interviews, many spokespeople are worried about what they can and can’t say. It’s a very valid concern, no one wants to have their mistakes seen by millions of people. What they do want is to engage positively with the media and get their messages out to their target audiences. Taking control of the media interview is easier when you understand how a journalist thinks, what they want from the interview and what makes a good story. Our top tip for media interviews is to...
Keeping on message isn’t always enough
Staying on message is important, but not as valuable as knowing how to handle the curve ball, think on your feet and have a strategy for dealing with difficult questions. Tried to show @BorisJohnson the picture of Jack Williment-Barr. The 4-year-old with suspected pneumonia forced to lie on a pile of coats on the floor of a Leeds hospital. The PM grabbed my phone and put it in his pocket: @itvcalendar | #GE19 pic.twitter.com/hv9mk4xrNJ — Joe Pike (@joepike) December 9, 2019 In fact the...
I guess she didn't read our Top Tips for TV Interviews from home. https://mediafriendly.org/top-tips-for-tv-interviews-from-home/
The room is an 8. The cat fight is 10/10
The government has the power to resolve the cladding safety scandal. It’s the only way to unlock the thousands currently trapped & to prevent thousands more from being caught up in this failure of the building-safety system
See my article in @Telegraph 👉 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/02/post-grenfell-building-rules-wreaking-havoc-property-market/
Five reasons why #coronavirus rise in cases is not all it seems - extra testing, targeted at high infection rate areas and a massively under-estimated spring peak all should be taken into account https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54064347
‘The message clearly from the start should have been stay local’ – Prof Devi Sridhar tells @JackieLongc4
https://www.channel4.com/news/the-message-clearly-from-the-start-should-have-been-stay-local-prof-devi-sridhar