Pugliese on PR
Performance tips for spokespersons
By Tina L. Pugliese, APR, Pugliese Public Relations
In today’s environment, every professional who deals with the media must take advantage of every opportunity to reach their target audience with their organization’s key messages. The trick is to do more than hold your own with the media. You must seize the moment to communicate your message instead of simply answering questions.
Use positive declarative language. Avoid using negative words and phrases. They cause confusion, generate negative follow-up questions and make you feel defensive.
Talk about the future rather than the past. Everyone remembers the past differently. Going there often causes confusion and disagreements. If you must talk about the past, speak only about the lessons you learned there that will help you build a better tomorrow. Generally, the past holds very few, if any, useful lessons for tomorrow.
Be constructive. Make suggestions or give helpful advice rather than criticize. Criticism creates critics and victims and is remembered forever.
Stick to the script. The only way to have message consistency and the benefits that brings to those who support you, or want to support you, is to use approved, positive, constructive statements again and again.
Repeat yourself. Even under optimal listening and hearing conditions, most individuals get every third word. Repeat important ideas and concepts at least three times.
Check for understanding. Ask your audience or listeners, Am I being clear? Is this understandable? Does this make sense?
Limit your answers to 75 to 150 words. A 75-word answer is about 30-seconds speaking time. Say less but make what you say more important. Always talk to time.
Use small numbers in your answers, stories and verbal illustrations. This technique has great power to gain the attention of your listeners while simplifying very complex subjects. You can make people write things down using this technique. Keep the numbers small, usually three or lower.
Be a storyteller. If you want people to remember you and what you talk about, as well as learn something that matters, tell a story. Remember, what sets the story apart from an anecdote is that stories have lessons, morals, self-evident truths, or punch lines. The more stories you tell, the fewer visuals you have to create or use. A story lets the listener create the right mental visual for themselves.
Go easy on the data. The truth is about 15 percent data and facts, and 85 percent perception and emotion. Data is always debatable, and lots of data often starts fights or controversies. Combine some data with a good story and you will prevail every time.
Tina Pugliese's columns on public relations appear in Palm Beach Business.com every other Monday. Her previous column can be found here.
Tina L. Pugliese, APR is an executive coach and counselor for Pugliese Public Relations, a communications firm in Boynton Beach, Florida. Pugliese is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America, and is the author of the book, Public Relations for Pharmacists, and e-books, Marketing Your Business for Success, How To Work With The Media, Public Relations Manual — A Guide for Entrepreneurs, and the PR Survival Kit. She can be reached at (561) 889-3575 and by email at Tina@PugliesePR.com. Her web site is www.PugliesePR.com.
Article excerpted from e-book, PR Survival Kit, by Tina L. Pugliese, APR.
