The Bonner Business Series – Media Relations. Allan Bonner

and producers may often overreact or have misplaced priorities, you dismiss or ignore the media at your peril. Organizations must actively participate in the information flow.

      This is particularly true when reporters are interested in a potentially negative story. If there is a problem, acknowledge it — then enumerate the actions being taken to correct the situation. This same information should be provided to stakeholders. All communications and actions should be taken with the focus on the long term interests of the stakeholders. Each direct contact with the stakeholders or contact with the media should be viewed as an opportunity to transmit the organization’s message and build rapport. The questions and needs of all stakeholders including the media should be anticipated and met in a timely fashion.

      During these times, the news media will ask for, consume, collate and disseminate more information at a higher rate of speed and more widely than public affairs managers can anticipate. It is important that the company address this insatiable appetite with the attitude that the media and the public they serve have proper reasons for inquiring about the status of an event.

      No purpose will be served by questioning why the media require as much information as they do as quickly as they do.

      It will be important to use charts, graphs, status boards, cork boards or other means in media briefing or news conference rooms to keep reporters uptodate on as many facts as possible. Assemble those facts by asking the traditional journalistic questions WHO, WHEN, WHAT, WHERE, WHY and HOW.

      Some of these questions present special legal predicaments. There should be no speculation on the exact cause of an event or incident unless it is completely obvious. The same is true of liability and responsibility. In most cases these issues should not be addressed by anyone other than senior management. But senior management should also protect the organization’s credibility in cases where the answers to these questions are completely obvious. Beware of being too optimistic too early. You may not get back to normal or clean up the mess as quickly as you predict.

      Formal media monitoring is available from several companies and is the only effective way to know exactly what news reports said about you. Coverage of your statements and those by politicians and others about you should be monitored and analyzed by an independent team on a regular basis to allow for a proper response strategy. This monitoring and/or analysis should include communication from other significant stakeholders including telephone calls from customers, the public, suppliers and bankers.

      Irrespective of the level and frequency of contact with the news media, organizations and individuals need to be clear in their own minds of what they want to say before they start talking to reporters.

      They need SOCKOS.

      Chapter 2: Arm Yourself

      SOCKO: A Definition

      (so kó) n. acronym for Strategic Overriding Communications and Knowledge Objective. 1. A short, positive, sharp, memorable, honed, polished, true, unassailable statement. 2. A “mediagenic” clip or quotation on radio, TV, or in newspaper stories. 3. A 20second or less, quotable quote, with impact, often showing caring, knowledge and/or action. 4. A rough equivalent to a headline, cutline or lead, best delivered after full rehearsal at least 3 times, e.g. “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat,” “. . . ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country . . . .” “just watch me . . . .”

      The Power of SOCKOs

      You probably have considerable knowledge about your chosen field. Unfortunately that does not ensure you’ll be able to describe your work and beliefs clearly and succinctly to the media.

      We’ve found that most people take their daily life and activity so much for granted they just assume that others will have no difficulty in understanding their explanations. When asked by an interviewer “What do you do, why do you do it and is it important?” they look and sound uncomfortable as they struggle to put their thoughts into words. It doesn’t have to be like that.

      The SOCKO system has helped people in many parts of the world to be better communicators. It has proved its value in highprofile situations with politicians, diplomats, military leaders, trade negotiators and other public officials. It’s also worked with business executives, police officers, lawyers and social institutions.

      The SOCKO system helps you speak more effectively because SOCKOs help you identify your objectives and then stay focused on them.

      You may already have encountered, or heard of, “key messages,” “aces,” “ press lines” or some other term used to describe a sentence or phrase containing the information you would like to be able to deliver to an audience.

      While similar to SOCKOs, there is one vital difference: SOCKOs are designed to have an impact—just as the acronym suggests.

      The acronym stands for Strategic Overriding Communications and Knowledge Objectives.

      The SOCKO system starts with strategic thinking.

      Strategic

      Imagine a knock on your office door and a senior vicepresident asks you to step outside and give a status report on Project X , Issue Y or File Z to a visiting VIP. You have a strategic decision to make. Do you reply, “Sorry, I’m too busy right now coping with issue C or file D” or do you step out into the hall and give that briefing?

      Not surprisingly, most people would give the briefing. Many would do the same even if it were a reporter who walked up at a conference and asked for a quick interview. Few will take the time or trouble to compose themselves, think about what they want to say and then rehearse it.

      The most effective way to improve oral communication is to practise out LOUD, but most people have a builtin resistance to doing this, especially if someone else can hear them.

      It’s quite different with written communications. A briefing paper for senior management is likely to be written, reviewed and rewritten several times before it’s passed up the chain of command. We tend to treat written communication with much more care and reverence than oral statements — and yet these days, because of the media, oral communications are enormously important. Even when you’re dealing with print reporters, you need to remember that the medium of communication is speech, not print.

      Strategic thinking for the media relations function not only means serious thought about what you are going to say, but also attention to what kind of messenger you are going to be. Rehearsing out loud will catch many errors, omissions, bafflegab and just plain boring statements. Rehearsing with a colleague, family member, public affairs specialist or outside consultant will catch more.

      We find with our clients that still other obstacles to clear communication emerge when we ask them to draw their message during a practice session. This forces the speaker to make sure the message is concrete and that helps the reporter and audience “see” what’s being discussed.

      But the strategy doesn’t stop there. We use something we call 360 degree learning that surrounds the participants and immerses the spokesperson in the message. Participants talk through their messages, draw them, hear others talk about the message and pose questions about the topic.

      We find that most spokespeople have a general platitude about an issue. But very few can say how news consumers can benefit from the topic under discussion. Fewer still can give specifics on how they are going about their stated goals. It’s difficult to get this specific, but we insist that spokespeople know how to answer the fifth, sixth and seventh questions asked, not just the first and second. This cannot be done without practice and strategic thinking before walking out to the cameras and microphones.

      The other necessary activity is to inject humanity into the performance. Most senior executives spend their lives in front of computer screens, reading documents and talking into the telephone. But to be a convincing spokesperson is a performance art. People buy people first.

      I often tell clients that what