The last two weeks have been very focused on time intensive media issues that our church has been taking a lead in. Public relations (PR) isn’t my strongest point, but I love engaging with the press.
My role has been setting up the various media and preparing our message to ensure we stay on message.
Here are some of the media outlets Crossway has had coverage on:
MTR 1377 Radio with two high profile Melbourne radio presenters, Steve Price and Andrew Bolt
Top of the TV news on SBS (my favourite)
ABC AM program – Radio
Herald Sun – online
Perth Now – online
The West Australian – online
Sky News – online
Pro Bono News – online
Eternity Magazine – online
Leap News – online
Here are a few lessons this public relations novice has learnt:
1) Talking and doing preparation for media is time intensive. It literally has taken a lot of my working day which has meant I have had to delegate work out.
2) Be prepared to operate outside 9am to 5pm. I set some media up for a Monday release which meant that I worked on Sunday to refine the media release and send it out. I also took calls from journalists on Sunday night.
3) Plan out where you want your spokesperson to be interviewed. Carefully choose the location of where you want your spokesperson to be. It helps shape your message.
4) Plan out any cut away shots of your spokesperson in advance to set the right tone you want for the interview. I got this partly wrong and chose cutaways for the family I had set up for the interview but didn’t think to choose the right one for my spokesperson. Hence a slightly awkward cutaway.
5) Not everyone is going to agree with your position. Even inside your church.
6) Online news is hungry for content and is much more likely to fold your story into their news cycle.
Do you deal with the media? Are you a media guru? What could you teach us? Comment below
