Comments on: Don’t “Message” Me

By: If It Walks And Quacks Like a Duck… | davefleet.com

If It Walks And Quacks Like a Duck… | davefleet.com — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:01:30 +0000

[...] practice to simply repeat key messages in slightly different ways regardless of the question. That’s working less and less well with traditional media (as Paul Martin discovered even a few years ago), but it works even less [...]

By: What Obama and Vince the ShamWow guy both did right: Don’t Message the Audience | Marissa Bracke

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:54:21 +0000

[...] DaveFleet.com offers a great blog post called Don’t “Message” Me. [...]

By: Cluetrain Plus 10: People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice | davefleet.com

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:01:23 +0000

[...] at all times. However, there’s a balance to be struck between rigid on-message formality (no-one wants to be messaged) and off-target communication that, at its worst, can damage companies’ [...]

By: PR Dave

PR Dave — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:52:43 +0000

I think the question you are actually asking is why is Parrot Media Training Inc so successful? Clearly its because our message and image enhancement solutions are both effective and trusted as can be seen by our leading edge work with Mr Personality Bypass, leader of the Zombie party. Let me answer like this, our effective message enhancement solutions, as used by the Zombie party, have never been more trusted – that’s why we are so successful in image enhancement. As Mr Personality Bypass remarked in the House just the other day, no other Party is so trusted, or so enhanced, or has as many solutions, in its image. Looking at it another way, if you have an enhanced image, you are bound to be effective, and trusted, and have solutions. Can I add just three things for the benefit of your listeners? First, Parrot Media Training has solutions. Second, Parrot Media Training has an image. And finally, if you want and image, if you want solutions, if you want to be effective – give Parrot Media Training a try.

By: Ruth Seeley

Ruth Seeley — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:11:20 +0000

Very nice post, and I couldn’t agree with you more. However, I also can’t stress strongly enough how important it is for clients to get themselves media trained. I keep seeing people say yes to interviews and then come away from the experience saying, “I had no idea I looked so old/fat/angry/sloppy/goofy.” Or, “But I never got a chance to talk about our new product/service….”

Working out what you need to communicate in a media interview is no different than anticipating the questions you’ll encounter at a job interview. Including the answer to ‘what’s your greatest weakeness?’

By: Kellye Crane

Kellye Crane — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:30:50 +0000

Wow, we were on the same wavelength yesterday (funny how that happens!). I guest posted on a similar topic on Communication Overtones (http://tinyurl.com/ajgsyq), and I completely agree with you that the stilted, repetitive nature of traditional messaging comes off as obnoxious these days. Today’s messages have to be flexible guidelines,

By: TwitLinksRSS (TwitLinksRSS)

TwitLinksRSS (TwitLinksRSS) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:56:42 +0000

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By: Terry Fallis

Terry Fallis — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:24:46 +0000

You’ve nailed it Dave. We’ve talked about this on Inside PR a few times now. This idea has become central to our media training. No canned messages. We definitely want spokespersons to get their message across. But you do that by telling stories, using examples, coming at it from different angles. Just don’t regurgitate the same tired message verbatim. While you rewind the key message track in your head and hit PLAY again, the viewer/listener is changing the station. Don’t do it.

By: Dave Fleet

Dave Fleet — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:12:31 +0000

Jen, I completely agree. I remember the coal mine incident – the spokesperson was a train wreck. However, sticking to his points doesn’t have to mean repeating verbatim – he could have been well prepared to talk to the key issues while still being flexible in how he approached them.

By: Jen Zingsheim

Jen Zingsheim — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:08:04 +0000

I think it depends on the spokesperson. I’m reminded of a story that I actually wrote a blog post on back in August ’07–there was a coal mine disaster, and they put the owner of the mine in front of the camera to take reporter’s questions. It was hands-down the most bizarre press conference I’d ever watched. The owner was all over the place: talking about the mine workers’ union, global warming, seismic activity, etc. Oh, and yes, he did talk about the missing miners too.

It would have been better for his own cause had he stayed “on message” and got his point across. Not everyone can be thrown in front of the camera or microphone, etc., and be articulate and thoughtful, particularly when under stress as the mine owner quite clearly was.

Media training for situations like that one is essential. No, I don’t want people to sound like robots and continually dish out the same answer no matter what the question is.

Online is different. You are responding with the written word (most often) so take the time to not sound like a corporate brochure.

Another great post Dave!

Jen