The MediaCoach

Hi John,

It's my birthday on Sunday. Yes, thanks very much. No, I don't look it. This year, I've decided to reverse the usual practice and give you a gift. It's the Kindle version of my book, 101 Media Tips. For the next three days, until midnight on my birthday, Sunday 17th December, you can download it for free from Amazon. Just use this link. Don't mention it. You're welcome. You don't even need to leave your email address, since obviously, I already have it.

There will be a version of this ezine next week, as always, but I will keep it brief, as it will be close to Christmas. The following week, on December 29th I will be announcing the Media Maestro and Media Mug of the Year. If you want to influence the decision in any way, or nominate someone, send an email to the judging panel (that's me).

I've been very impressed by a duo called the Mona Lisa Twins (real twins called Mona and Lisa). They are making a big splash online, using YouTube and Facebook to promote themselves. They are heavily influenced by 60s music, and persuaded 60's legend John Sebastian to play on their latest album. Hear their story in the Media Coach Radio Show. There's also, of course, a song from the Mona Lisa Twins, featuring John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful. One for the teenagers, there.
Go to the iTunes Archive of the MediaCoach Show
Follow me on Twitter

The MediaMaestro this week is not a person, it's a TV programme. Well if Time Magazine can give a person of the year to a lot of people.... Anyway, the show that I'm honouring is one that gives away its own awards - the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. It's always a typically lavish occasion with fumbling presenters, cheesy interviews and unremarkable acceptance speeches. I love it. And the winner will be - Anthony Joshua of course!

The MediaMug award goes to one of the worst political spokespeople I've ever seen. I'm obliged to my pal Niels Brabandt for spotting it. The spokesperson in question was Ted Crocket, supporting the hapless Roy Moore in Alabama. Mr Moore lost. Mr Crocket just lost it, when challenging the right of Muslims to be elected since they "could not swear on the bible". That's not true, and when it was pointed out to him, Mr Crocket simply sat with his mouth open. Extraordinary.

TELL THEM YOUR STORY, NOT SOMEONE ELSE'S

Storytelling is a great way to engage an audience, but you need to be careful about the stories you tell. I was reminded of this recently when an email arrived from a client I've been coaching on speech construction and delivery. He recounted a visit to a political event last year when two speakers told the lighthouse story. A few years ago, I was working in the US with Stephen Covey, and he opened his speech with the lighthouse story too. In fact, I must have heard the story directly, or second hand hundreds of times.

There are a number of stories which fall into this category. They include:
1) The lighthouse story, where a night-time conversation between a US warship and another "vessel" builds up, with each asking the other to change course. It ends with the line "We're a lighthouse - your call"

2) The starfish story, where a man meets a boy throwing beached starfish back into the sea. He says "With so many starfish, how can you hope to make a difference?" The boy replies "It made a difference to that one". Even Barack Obama has been caught telling that yarn, attributing it (wrongly) to an original experience of Ed Kennedy.

3) The boiling frog story, where we're told that a frog placed in boiling water will jump out, but one placed in cold water that is then boiled will die, because it doesn't notice the change. Charles Handy used to tell that one many years ago.

There are many more - the three bricklayers, the shoe salesman in Africa, the lipstick on the mirror, etc, etc. They may have happened once, but they won't have happened to the storyteller. What's worse, they are used so often, they have lost their impact.
Professional speakers don't use these types of stories. They use their own, because they won't have been heard before, they are easy to tell, and they can still make a strong point, For example, I talk about founding a pirate radio station in 1967, playing a Glaswegian shopkeeper on Italian TV, and being the holder of an unbreakable TV Guinness world record. No-one else can tell those stories (and if they do, I will be after them).
So if you use stories in your speeches, as I hope you do, use your own. It's the professional thing to do.

LIFE'S A PITCH

Getting your story into print, even if the ink is digital, is not easy. You have to work at it. There are a number of things you can do to increase your chances of being featured. Here are some of them.

1) Sell a story. I know you know this already, but it's a reminder. Whatever you are trying to pitch, the reporter won't be interested in the new product or service, but they will be interested in what it does for someone. Remember not to pitch the marketing claims, but to focus on a personal story, preferably with a case study.

2) Do your research. It pays to understand both the journalist's interests, and those of the audience they are writing for. Your initial job is to pique the interest of the writer, but then to convince them that their readers will love the story. So you need to review the journalist's previous articles, and study the publication to see what stories they run. There's no point pitching to someone who will never be interested.

3) Be ready for the response If your story gets picked up, the chances are, they will want extra information from you - quotes, more detail, local examples. You should respond immediately. Don't let them leave a voice mail, take the call. If they ask for a sample, send it by courier. Do everything you can to make their job easier. If you do it once, they will call you again when they next have column inches to fill.

DON'T THROW FUEL ON THE FIRE

A crisis can develop on social media very quickly, and before you know it, like a bushfire, it's out of control. There's a natural temptation to respond to every comment, engage with every critic, and keep putting forward your side of the story. Alas, that often makes things much worse by prolonging the crisis, and keeping it in front of the online community.

I'm not suggesting that you should ignore a crisis. Far from it. However, once you have put forward your side of the story, and apologised if necessary, you should think long and hard about making further remarks. If you feel you have been libelled, or been the subject of strong abuse, then another intervention may be helpful. However, if the comments are simply grumbles about what you did, it may be better to let the fire burn itself out.

Rather than make matters worse, here's a positive strategy for dealing with a crisis on social media:

I haven't been following The Apprentice too closely, but I did tune in this week to watch the toe-curling embarrassment that is the interview phase. It's a tough watch, and no candidate comes out well. Over the years, some interviews have been really, really bad. Take a look.

I can help

The information in this ezine may be freely re-used in any online or offline publication, provided it is accompanied by the following credit line - "This information was written by Alan Stevens, and originally appeared in "The MediaCoach", his free weekly ezine, available at www.mediacoach.co.uk."