Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Communicating with the Media During a Health Crisis with Grant Ainsley

Transcript

Communicating with the Media During a Health Crisis with Grant Ainsley · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

• 0:00
  3, 10, 1, 0, ignition, liftoff,
• 0:08
  Ending small business failure.
• 0:11
  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with a number 1 small business expert Melinda Emerson.
• 0:17
  Bolinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
• 0:21
  you need to succeed and live the life you've dream of.
• 0:25
  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
• 0:29
  Melinda Everson.
• 0:31
  Hi, everybody.
• 0:32
  Welcome back to small biz chat.
• 0:34
  It is time to talk about the coronavirus and the media.
• 0:38
  I have veteran media expert former award winning journalists and public relations
• 0:43
  professional, Grant Inslee, and he works with politicians, business executives, and leaders
• 0:49
  and others to refine their messages to the public.
• 0:52
  He also speaks about communication, social media, and digital marketing.
• 0:56
  He is the author of the book the honest spin doctor.
• 0:59
  Grant, welcome to Smovish chat line.
• 1:01
  Thanks for having me tonight.
• 1:03
  Alright.
• 1:04
  So you know the coronavirus I don't know about you, but I feel like the media has picked this
• 1:09
  thing up, and they were not gonna be satisfied until all of the grocery stores had no anything
• 1:15
  left.
• 1:16
  No bread.
• 1:16
  No milk.
• 1:17
  No nothing.
• 1:18
  No water.
• 1:18
  You know, it was like, acupanic times 10.
• 1:21
  So is the media, you know, has the media been the the culprit in this, or is the media
• 1:27
  actually helping the community?
• 1:29
  And how should we be handling
• 1:31
  Well, when a situation like this happens and there's so much focus on one story, what
• 1:36
  happens is that is that the media will jump on it and there's different angles to the story,
• 1:41
  you know, toilet paper running out and and and and whatever it might be.
• 1:45
  And so they jump on different angles to the story and and the stories continue to build,
• 1:51
  build, build, and people feel, Jesus, just so much media coverage and God, I wish they'd give
• 1:56
  it a break.
• 1:57
  And every time they talk about it, the stock market goes down.
• 2:00
  The the media has been doing its job on the story as the media did on 911 as the media did
• 2:06
  on on the housing crisis and the banking crisis.
• 2:09
  I think the media has been been really good and and fairly accurate with with covering a story
• 2:15
  that we must remember We've never seen before.
• 2:18
  We've never seen a story close to this.
• 2:22
  And so if the media is saying it is you know, certainly a week or 2 ago that we're media
• 2:27
  outlets.
• 2:27
  So we're saying, it's no big deal.
• 2:31
  And now we're seeing this this really sense of urgency It's just because we haven't seen
• 2:36
  anything like this before.
• 2:38
  So my message is don't shoot the media.
• 2:40
  I think the media has been doing the best job that it possibly can.
• 2:44
  And, you know, we have to remember the media has gone through a tremendous number of
• 2:48
  cutbacks over the last 20 years.
• 2:50
  And so, these people are literally running themselves ragged trying to trying to cover all
• 2:56
  angles of the story.
• 2:58
  As someone that started out as a television producer, I completely appreciate that.
• 3:02
  So a lot of the medium stories that I'm starting to see a little bit now is that, you
• 3:06
  know, businesses are struggling.
• 3:08
  Now all the restaurants are allowed, only allowed to be takeout only.
• 3:12
  I'm in the state of Pennsylvania.
• 3:13
  You know, our governor said, if you're not a gas station of grocery restore or a pharmacy,
• 3:18
  you gotta close.
• 3:20
  That is very, very real for a lot of small business owners out here.
• 3:24
  And I'm starting to see media stories, you know, a media, interviewer, television
• 3:29
  reporter, show a microphone, and a small business under space.
• 3:32
  How are you doing?
• 3:34
  How are you faring?
• 3:35
  Have you laid off your employees?
• 3:37
  How long do you think you can survive?
• 3:39
  In this current climate.
• 3:41
  And I wanted really for you to help people figure out how to answer those questions
• 3:46
  because you know, our our businesses are baby.
• 3:48
  We're we're prideful about our businesses.
• 3:51
  And, you know, if if a report is putting a mic in your face, asking you that, how do you
• 3:56
  handle it?
• 3:57
  Well, I'm a small business person too.
• 3:59
  Like you, Melinda, I've had speaking engagements that have disappeared.
• 4:03
  So I certainly, feel everybody's pain You know, I always I always believe that it's great for
• 4:09
  for business people to learn how to speak to the media.
• 4:13
  This is not the time, obviously, that you're going to do it.
• 4:15
  The time you're going to do it is when your business is doing well.
• 4:18
  But I talk about when you have to do speak to the media, make sure that you understand all
• 4:23
  the information.
• 4:24
  You get as much information to your head as possible.
• 4:27
  Secondly, anticipate the questions the media is going to ask you.
• 4:31
  And you probably can figure out what 2 or 3 or 4 of the questions are going to be.
• 4:35
  That gives you a really big head start, Melinda.
• 4:37
  And then you figure out how you're gonna answer the question.
• 4:40
  So what am I gonna say?
• 4:41
  And and so, really, once you can do those things, especially what are they gonna ask me
• 4:46
  and what I'm gonna say you know, if I came home at 3:30 in the morning, my wife was gonna have
• 4:50
  at least two questions for me.
• 4:51
  Where the hell were you and how come you didn't let me know?
• 4:54
  I better have answers to those two questions.
• 4:57
  And so I know that people, you know, now having to answer questions to the media, they're
• 5:02
  running stores, they're running bars, they're running restaurants, their businesses are are
• 5:07
  are going down to get the microphone on your face.
• 5:10
  You know, if you have a little time, what questions are they gonna ask, and what am I
• 5:14
  going to say?
• 5:16
  Be honest in your response, but also be positive in your response.
• 5:20
  And so, yeah, we had to let people go, but we thought it was best because it's important to
• 5:25
  let them know where they stand.
• 5:27
  But in the meantime, we think we can recover here if we're given the go ahead and we'll be
• 5:31
  even stronger.
• 5:31
  You know, if you watch the news every night, they are running typically in 3 to 4 or 5
• 5:37
  second clips from people.
• 5:39
  And what they're looking for is something short, something with emotion, something
• 5:43
  memorable, something with passion in it.
• 5:45
  And so upon somebody says, I'm gonna make sure I get to open my bar again, and we're gonna be
• 5:50
  better than ever.
• 5:51
  That's the sound bite that typically is going to run-in the media.
• 5:55
  But yet, a lot of people don't think about that.
• 5:58
  Typically, reporters come to people and they're saying give me a sound bite.
• 6:01
  Give me a sound bite.
• 6:02
  Give me something I can use.
• 6:04
  And so if you've got something in your mind that is gonna be short, 3, 4, 5 seconds, That
• 6:09
  is typically the sound bite that the media is going to use.
• 6:13
  I've trained a lot of people on sound bites and, you know, I go home after a news
• 6:16
  conference and I'll see all the television stations running the same sound bite because
• 6:21
  that's what they're looking for.
• 6:22
  So keep it short.
• 6:24
  3 to 4 seconds is what they're looking for.
• 6:27
  When you are gonna be interviewed, what did you wear?
• 6:30
  You know, should you be walking billboard with the, you know, your company's information on
• 6:34
  you or You know, how should you look when you know you're gonna be interviewed?
• 6:39
  Really depends to do, if you're a chef, dresses a chef, you know, if if, you know, I think the
• 6:47
  media wants realism today more than ever.
• 6:50
  And so I don't think if you're a chef, as an example, you should be coming to work in a
• 6:54
  three piece suit, could you?
• 6:56
  To for the interview because you don't wear a three piece suit.
• 6:59
  Right.
• 6:59
  Where would you wear to work?
• 7:00
  Sometimes you may wanna dress a little bit better than where you are normally, but, media
• 7:07
  loves media loves uniforms, they love something that we anticipate the person is going to be
• 7:12
  wearing.
• 7:13
  If you're a chef in a restaurant, you're gonna be interviewed.
• 7:16
  You don't have the big chef hat on.
• 7:17
  That's that's gold in the media.
• 7:20
  Good stuff.
• 7:20
  Alright.
• 7:21
  So if if when you're being interviewed, Do you thank someone for for the media parents?
• 7:27
  I mean, or do you like, think them off camera?
• 7:29
  Or do you think them on camera?
• 7:30
  Or, I mean, are you always I I guess, should you even if you're it's a hostile interview or
• 7:36
  it's a tough interview, should you always thank your interviewer?
• 7:41
  I think you should.
• 7:42
  You never you have to remember that the media always has the last word.
• 7:47
  You should never lose your cool with the media.
• 7:50
  You you you're never one to question questions for the media.
• 7:54
  It's your job to answer the questions.
• 7:56
  And so I answer the question.
• 7:57
  I think at the end, you should say thank you if if it's an interview like this, a one on one
• 8:02
  interview, but keep it short.
• 8:04
  I've seen people with a thank you that has gone on for 2 minutes.
• 8:07
  So keep it short.
• 8:08
  You know, hey, Melinda.
• 8:09
  Thanks a lot for the interview.
• 8:11
  Hope to work together again soon or whatever it might be.
• 8:13
  And, yeah, always let the reporter know, hey, look.
• 8:16
  If you do looking to do a follow-up, I'm gonna be here.
• 8:19
  This is where you plant the seeds for the next interview.
• 8:22
  And and so, you know, reporters are always looking for good people to talk to.
• 8:26
  They're looking for people cooperative.
• 8:27
  They're looking for people who can give you a good sound bite And chances are they're gonna
• 8:31
  come back and they're gonna be talking to you somewhere down the road.
• 8:34
  Let's hope it's when times are better.
• 8:36
  Alright.
• 8:36
  And then what out I know as a business owner, you might be tempted if somebody has a mic in
• 8:41
  your face to go a little self promotional.
• 8:44
  Like, you know, like, and particularly if your business is hurting.
• 8:47
  You might, we always say, oh, by the way, come down to Joe's Crabshack tonight, blah blah
• 8:51
  blah.
• 8:51
  You know what I mean?
• 8:52
  So is that okay to do if if it's if it's done in a little bit of a tongue and cheek thing, or
• 8:59
  is it like strictly the self promotion thing is like a no no?
• 9:03
  Really depends on the situation and what's going on, what's in a while in a chatty, happy
• 9:09
  talk, fun interview, a live interview.
• 9:11
  You can probably get away with some of those things.
• 9:14
  If it's a recorded interview chances are, it's gonna be edited out anyways because they don't
• 9:18
  want the promotional things going on.
• 9:21
  Generally speaking, Melinda, the more that you can help people give them information, not be
• 9:27
  promotional, It's better for you because people trust you more.
• 9:31
  And they say, you know, sounds like he runs a really good crab shack next time I go up for
• 9:36
  dinner and they open again, I'm gonna go see his place because it it really sounds like he's
• 9:40
  got his heart in his business, and it's probably a good place to
• 9:44
  Alright.
• 9:44
  Here's my last question for you.
• 9:46
  A lot of people now are doing zoo interviews for vlogs and and things like that.
• 9:52
  Are the internet video best practices any different than if somebody's got a camera and a
• 9:57
  mic in your face?
• 9:58
  Well, one of the things that I see a lot, and and I know that see a lot of interviews being
• 10:03
  done on television now where they are doing the video interviews.
• 10:07
  And I'm sure Burton would agree with this is that you see a lot of people who are being
• 10:11
  interviewed they've got a light behind them.
• 10:13
  And and typically it's never good to have a light behind you because it just, you know,
• 10:18
  it's it's bright.
• 10:20
  Some people are interviewed in front of, in front of open windows without drapes and again,
• 10:25
  once again, too much brightness coming in.
• 10:27
  I also suggest if you have a laptop that you're being interviewed on, take a stack of books and
• 10:33
  and and put the laptop higher because it it raises the eye level of the camera.
• 10:38
  In most cases, what's happening, Melinda, I see a lot of these interviews on television what's
• 10:43
  happening is that the camera shoots the bottom of your chin, and this is never a good angle,
• 10:48
  of course.
• 10:49
  And so what I suggest that people do is take a stack of books raise your laptop.
• 10:54
  So the camera, which is on the top end of the laptop, is going to, you know, look at your
• 10:58
  eyes much more closely and and it just makes for a totally different one.
• 11:03
  Well, thank you so much, Grant.
• 11:05
  That was actually very helpful advice because I know, and with everybody at home, a lot of
• 11:09
  people get interviewed on Skype and Zoom right now, so or Facebook live.
• 11:13
  So that is really, really helpful advice.
• 11:15
  So thank you so much for being with us tonight.
• 11:18
  We appreciate you.
• 11:19
  I'm gonna leave you with this.
• 11:21
  You know, you never lose in business.
• 11:23
  Either you win or you learn.
• 11:26
  If there's any more resources I can possibly provide for you, head on over to my website.
• 11:31
  Succeed as your own boss com.
• 11:33
  I have over 5000 articles there about how to start and grow and survive in business.
• 11:38
  If you need something, I gotta for you.
• 11:41
  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small bus lady.
• 11:43
  America's number one small business expert.
• 11:45
  God bless.
• 11:47
  Thank you for listening to the small biz chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 11:52
  For more resources and small business success strategies visit succeed as your own boss.com.
• 11:59
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday.