Pierpont Communications, Inc.

Three-letter words tell the story: AIG, BoA, GMC . . . and CEO. Between billion-dollar bailouts and taxpayer-financed bonuses, the climate of populist rage directed at C-suites across America has reached media saturation equaled only by H1N1.
 

The stakes have never been higher for PR professionals tasked with managing a brand's perception. Communicating your market position to deliver credibility, trust, engagement and distinction now has the hurdle of rabid skepticism, fueled by personal disdain for the executive lifestyle. While real or imagined, corporate communicators must consider how to conquer this beast of a challenge. And to be sure, from the public's point of view, "this is personal."

All of which begs the question: Are you ready for this? Are your golden parachute C-suite spokespeople sufficiently prepared to take on their media stakeholders at a time when newsroom waters are chummed by near-record jobless claims and talk of a collapsing middle-class? Even if you're not playing on the bright lights of the national stage, your own daily paper, business journal or the aspiring 22-year old investigative reporter for your 99th DMA TV station poses a threat to your brand equity.
 

If you're responsible for preparing your spokespeople to "go public," you'll be wise to consider several contrarian, tactical angles which can effectively transform a ho-hum interview, with key messages left on the editing room floor, into a brand-building, competitive advantage:
 

• It's no longer about the questions. The old media-training manual advises you to gather your director of external communications, pull the reporter's last 50 stories and look for keys to anything and everything they might ask. If you prefer your interviews to resemble a good martini—stiff and dry—this is a great approach.
 

However, if you want to leave your readers or viewers inspired for action, spend time on how you'll convey what you want them to think, feel or do as a result of your interview. If you had a great prospect alone for thirty seconds, would you prepare by considering every question they might ask? Or would it be more effective to prepare three singular points that will leave this prospect with a clear, compelling message of what you want?
 

Of course, it's in your best interest to consider answers for the questions you hope they don't ask, but why dedicate your prep time to pondering every possible question when you'll have no control over the questions anyway? Remember, your answers will be on the page (print or Web) or on the tape . . . permanently. The reporter's questions will not.
 

• Get over yourself. Key messages and the resulting edited sound bites are not the place to prove to the world you know every nuance about every aspect of your industry. The clock is ticking in the editing booth and the layout editors are sharpening their X-ACTO knives. Too much talk and you're out (of the story). In addition, giving too much information increases the odds you're going to lose control of the interview, say something off-message and be besieged by the reporter in a follow-up piece, or even worse, the nameless, faceless citizen journalists of the blogosphere.
 

• Spokespeople are not newsroom reference tools during interviews. You should be glad to help a reporter advance their knowledge of your industry—but not when the tape's rolling. And by the way, "I don't know" is a legitimate answer.
 

• What have you done to make the world a better place? Remember when you streamlined production and earned shareholders $3.1 billion last quarter? Part of your challenge in the very limited span of an interview is to incorporate how you made people more money, how you saved them 300 hours per year stuck in traffic or how you created an efficiency program giving parents more time with their kids. Your key messages should remind your audience of how you've made their lives, their kids' lives or their pets' lives better, longer and more enjoyable. In the news cycle, the spotlight on the good you've done and the problems you've solved is just a bit shorter than the lifespan of a flash bulb. Use it or lose it.
 

• Everybody has a plan until they get hit: Attack your way into the headlines. This just in: News is defined as "conflict." It doesn't matter with whom or about what, but reporters want you for one thing: a quote. And if that quote is going to live to see the light of day, it better have a point of contention. Don't be afraid to use absolutes: "The market has never seen anything like our product;" "We're absolutely confident our new formula will be a hit with consumers;" "Read my lips: No new taxes." These examples create positive conflict and give headline writers a reason to brand your organization with distinction. It's a logical tool, but often overlooked and unintentionally conceded to a competing voice.
 

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