More and more companies today are investing in media skills training for their staff. With so much to play for, understanding how best to get a particular message across when being interviewed by a journalist is important but not always top of the list when it comes to training.
Convincing your boss that you should go on a media skills training course will take a bit of planning on your part. Put in the initial legwork and build your case, however, and you have more chance of succeeding.
Here are top tips for making a great pitch:
- Check Out Your Company Guidelines
The first thing to do is understand what your company guidelines are for individual training. If you work for a smaller business, these may be fairly ad hoc or even non-existent. For larger organisations with a HR department, you should expect at least some formal training process to be in place. This might include a list of courses and suppliers, so check if media skills training is included.
- Building Your Pitch for Media Skills Training
Assuming that it’s not on your company’s radar at the moment, the next job is to build a case for taking part in media training. You don’t simply want to look at how it’s going to benefit you but what the ROI for the business itself might be.
The benefits of media training may include:
- Giving staff confidence in handling the media.
- Avoiding pitfalls such as not being prepared for live interviews.
- Developing the skills to deliver effective and clear messaging when it most matters.
- Handling crisis situations and reducing potential damage to the business.
- Searching for more opportunities to get the company noticed in the media.
- Learning crossover skills that can be used for other parts of the business such as delivering sales pitches to new customers.
While many of these provide something tangible for the individual, they also benefit the business as a whole. It’s worth putting together a specific list which outlines the ROI for the company that you can use to bolster your case.
What you also need to do is take a look at the courses and training opportunities that are available, how long these run for and what their cost is. Your boss may be sold on the benefits of having media training, but they’ll still want to know what it’s going to cost as well as how much time you will need to devote to it.
- How to Cope with Resistance
With any new idea, you are likely to run up against some form of resistance from the boss. It’s worth putting together a list of these objections and finding some solid answers. One question might be: How much time will it take to get the training? Another could be: Why should you be considered for this kind of training and not someone else?
Anticipate any resistance type questions and make sure that you have your answers ready to go.
Media skills training is becoming increasingly important in today’s digital world. You never know when you might need to provide a few quotes for a newspaper, handle an urgent crisis or even conduct a TV or radio interview. Making sure that you are well prepared is key and understanding how the media world works is absolutely vital and the team at Hawkeye Media can offer services to upskill your entire team.