The public has turned to more trusted news sources in the wake of the global pandemic. And more people than ever are paying for news from leading organisations, according to the Digital News Report from Oxford’s Reuters Institute. At a time when we all want to read the latest facts and when we want our information sources to be accurate and unbiased, there is a shift towards trusted news brands such as television news and national newspapers.
 
To me, this has accelerated a trend that was already happening as the public, confounded by the fake news epidemic, started to look to respected and trusted news sources for information.  It’s certainly one reason why many of my clients prioritise gaining share of voice with the global tier one news media such as the BBC and the Economist. This is why my new consultancy is focused on executive communications services in this area, from storytelling techniques to media relations and, in preparation for this, media training,  because while a great article in the FT is clearly desirable, it is never easy to secure one. 

So what should be front of mind as you prepare for a media interview?

1. Assess if you really want to do the interview.  Is the interview in a publication that it relevant to your business?  Who are its readers?  What is its circulation?  Is it influential? Is the publication unbiased, independent, and likely to report what you have to say accurately? But don’t be overcautious.  As my old mentor Harold Burson used to say,  “If you don’t get out and tell your story, someone else will and you won’t like the way they tell it.”
2. Know who you’re talking to.  What is the focus of the publication you’re talking to?  Who reads it?  Where are they located?  What are they interested in?  How knowledgeable about your business are they?  From this research you may be able to anticipate angles, questions, points of view and be able to prepare more effectively.
3. Know about the interview. Ask questions, or get your PR team to ask the reporter, about the context of the interview.  Is it for a news piece?  Or a general feature or a market overview?  What is the angle?  If it is for TV or radio, will the interview be live or pre-recorded?
4. Know what you want to say, and be able to say it clearly and succinctly. This is the absolute foundation of the interview.  We use techniques such as the message house to prepare strong and quotable messages for interviews.  We put time into helping trainees hone their messages – and we test them in realistic, sometimes tough interviews.
5. Practice sticking to this story through the tough questions journalists can throw at you. In our training session, we run through techniques to address some of the media’s tricks of the trade.  I work with Mike Dempsey on this in practice interviews – as a working journalist for the BBC he knows how to put a spokesperson on the spot. We offer intensive coaching and we have already researched the toughest questions you’re likely to get before the training starts.

 
Engaging with the top tier business media, while challenging, is often the holy grail for many communications campaigns.  In April, we are hosting free 30 minute one-to one sessions to answer questions on how to handle the media, prepare your spokespeople and what it takes to get cut through in the elite business media.    If you want to reserve a slot, please email me at [email protected].

 

Today I open the doors of my new consultancy, Chris Cartwright Communications. 
 
Its focus – to build and protect reputations – is not necessarily new but how I want this consultancy to do this is new.
 
Many of the multinationals have headquarters in Switzerland (it has the world’s highest concentrations of MNC).  My home town Geneva is the world’s centre for commodities trading and private banking. NGOs and international organisations are clustered here (Geneva alone has 250 NGOs and 95 international organisations).  Nearby Lausanne is home to over 50 of the world’s sports federations.  All of these organisations need communications support.
 
For their global or regional work, they have a choice: either use London based agencies due to the almost total absence of ‘global agencies’ here with experienced English-speaking consultants, or use local agencies who often lack the right global experience.  Many choose London agencies but many have told me what they really want is a senior communications resource, based locally who can advise them, and be on hand when needed.  They want the strategic chops of a London agency – but here.  And ideally, they want the experienced person actually working on their business, not just turning up at meetings occasionally.
 
So, the immediate niche for my new consultancy is to offer clients strategic consulting from senior communications professionals who have worked at the  world’s best-known agencies, are locally based and who will execute the work themselves flawlessly.
 
The second niche, however, is that we will be very C suite focused.  We want to offer services that senior executives, based at Swiss located headquarters, need to make use of in the reputational mix of what you do, what you say and what people say about you:

1. What you do: helping build Purpose programs that are authentic to the strategic, operational realities of a business but which make the business more than an entity solely based on the bottom line
2. What you say: helping C-suite executives articulate their Purpose; helping them become better storytellers; creating thought leadership programs; developing their own digital strategy and coaching them on how to engage with the media
3. What people say about you: helping executives with personal brand building via speaker podiums, social platforms or via engaging with the word’s top business journalists at the Economist or the FT
   
   

Happily, I will not be doing this all on my own.  I will be tapping into a network of great people who are also independent consultants in their own right: Matthias Lüfkens, former EMEA head of Burson, Cohn & Wolfe’s digital practice whom I worked with for years when I was MD of BursonMarsteller in Geneva. Aimee DuBrule, former global head of communications at Nestle CPW who will assist on C level engagement, internal communications and Purpose projects, and Michael Dempsey,  journalist for BBC News and contributor to the Telegraph, Financial Times with whom I have done countless media trainings in Geneva and London.
 
I have, for a long time, wanted to start my own consultancy business – and I am excited about the journey ahead.  If you’d like to know more, please get in touch at [email protected].

Chris Cartwright