Media training and why you need it

The media can be a very effective communication tool for companies that want to raise awareness of their good work, shape public opinion, spark public debate, educate and inform stakeholders or get their message through to politicians and decision makers.

But if interaction with the media isn’t handled well, things can go south pretty quickly (and publicly).

At ReGen Strategic, we believe undertaking media training is an essential part of working well with the media.

Media training can help our clients to understand how the media works, what to expect, what media is looking for in a story, how it should be presented and how interactions with the media should be handled in order to maximise positive publicity and minimise the negative.

The value in media training is that it encourages participants to be strategic in their dealings with media. Rather than just throwing a dart at a dartboard and hoping it hits something, in media training, we encourage people to think strategically and ask themselves some questions about why and how they plan to engage with media.

For a start, we help clients to get really clear on their objectives (their WHY); what exactly are they hoping to get out of interacting with media? How are they planning to carry it out and what have they got to offer? Who is actually going to be responsible for telling the story? And at the end, how are they going to measure results to determine whether their objectives were achieved?

During our media training, we help our clients to work out what they want to say, and how to capture that in succinct key messages that can be delivered during a media interview.

Media training also gives our clients practical tips, advice and feedback on interviewing techniques. This includes advice on how to handle themselves before, during and after an interview, and what the differences are in interviewing for different mediums including radio news, radio talkback, TV news and TV current affairs.

We also talk people through some of the techniques journalists use, and how to deal with them.

Every media training is tailored to the client, but perhaps the most valuable part is putting people through their paces in front of both a camera and a radio microphone. It gives participants the chance to practice all the techniques they’ve learned and then get immediate feedback on what they did well, and where they could improve. We provide copies of these so people can watch themselves later, and we encourage them to do so, no matter how uncomfortable it is!

Contact ReGen Strategic to improve your media relations performance with our bespoke media training program.

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