Media Spokesperson Training: Get Your Message Across

How do you train a media spokesperson?

Since 2005, I’ve been train­ing media spokes­per­sons and pitch­ing their stor­ies. As an intro­vert, I respect any­one who enters the spot­light consciously.

Becoming a suc­cess­ful media spokes­per­son can be daunt­ing, but the out­come is valu­able for both the organ­isa­tion and the individual.

Here we go:

People Connect With People

We often talk about how people con­nect with dif­fer­ent brands.

But this kind of talk is usu­ally a bit… off the mark.

Sure, we know brands.
But do we con­nect with brands?

What we do is that we con­nect with people. And this is why it’s so import­ant to have decent spokes­per­sons — no mat­ter the organ­isa­tion’s size.

Sure, we do have the abil­ity to anthro­po­morph­ise. A brand’s unique voice can be established.

But if you want people to con­nect with your brand, you must pop­u­late your extern­al inter­face with humans.

So, how do you train a media spokesperson?

Media Spokesperson Training

Spin Academy | Online PR Courses

Media Spokesperson Training

I love coach­ing media spokespeople. Here’s how to approach your very first media train­ing as a media train­er yourself:

• Train for an actu­al appear­ance. General media train­ing is inef­fi­cient. There should be an actu­al media appear­ance com­ing up. The upcom­ing media appear­ance will sharpen our prac­tice ses­sions. The real­ity of the situ­ation will make a huge difference.
• Roll the cam­era already. When we have a rough idea of what the spokes­per­son should say, I don’t both­er about ton­al­ity, gim­micks, per­so­nas, choice of clothes, etc. Instead, I start the video cam­era. Go! Since there is little pre­par­a­tion, we can quickly identi­fy the problems.
• Allow for self-cor­rec­tion. After each attempt, I play the video back. As we watch the foot­age, I ask the per­son in train­ing what they think. Sometimes, there’s nervous laughter. Sometimes, there’s uncom­fort­able squirm­ing. Other times, the mood gets ser­i­ous. But without me hav­ing to give any notes what­so­ever, the spokes­per­son imme­di­ately self-cor­rects. After exper­i­en­cing a cata­logue of emo­tions from watch­ing one­self deliv­er cor­por­ate cringe unpre­pared, the spokes­per­son soon wants to try again. We will keep doing this until the spokes­per­son is “done” and ready for care­ful input from the media trainer.
• Use Socratic ques­tion­ing. Instead of giv­ing notes, I prac­tice Socratic ques­tion­ing. “Did you like or dis­like the way you delivered the mes­sage? How did it feel when you changed your approach?” These types of ques­tions can admit­tedly be annoy­ing, but the spokes­per­son is often too engaged in their per­form­ance to both­er about how I behave. Some might seek my approv­al dur­ing the pro­cess, but it’s easy to deflect and redir­ect their ques­tions back at them. “What parts did you like? What parts do you want to change?” 
• Explain the pro­cess at the end. When we’re near­ing the end of the train­ing ses­sion, either by sheer fatigue or schedul­ing con­straints, some spokes­per­sons start to think about my role in all of this. “Why is Jerry not giv­ing, only ask­ing me ques­tions instead of giv­ing feed­back? Why is Jerry not telling me what to do — or what not to do?” Leaders want to know that they’re get­ting their money’s worth. So, I typ­ic­ally end the first train­ing ses­sion by explain­ing that media train­ing should allow the media spokes­per­son to ”excav­ate” their best media per­sona. It’s always some­where, but they must pull it out themselves. 

Learn more: Media Spokesperson Training: Get Your Message Across

💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get bet­ter PR ideas.

Why Camera-Training Works

In our heads, we have these ideas about ourselves. From a PR coach’s per­spect­ive, these ideas are gen­er­ally too biased to be helpful.

People with con­fid­ence think they’re funny, cool, or good-look­ing. People without con­fid­ence believe they are bor­ing, awk­ward, or ugly. People in between tend to over-com­pensate left and right to find some bal­ance that isn’t there.

“Wouldn’t it be great if I always used this catch­phrase or if I always wore yel­low-tin­ted sunglasses indoors?”

Well, maybe you can work those things out with your ther­ap­ist later.

If I sit down and talk to these people about how they want to be per­ceived, we enter the world of ther­apy. Not spokes­per­son training.

Think of stand-up comedi­ans who work hard for dec­ades (and some­times their whole careers) to be them­selves on stage.

When there’s a stage, a micro­phone, and an audi­ence, our nar­ciss­ist­ic biases go hay­wire, and we start act­ing unnat­ur­ally. And this is what hit­ting the record but­ton on a video cam­era will simulate.

This is why I prefer to start work­ing dir­ectly, not with biased self-images, but with what’s right then and there — on camera.

Classic Media Training Advice

Spin Academy | Online PR Courses

Classic Media Training Advice

Speaking with a report­er while adher­ing to best prac­tices in media train­ing is straight­for­ward in the­ory but dif­fi­cult in real-life situations.

Here is some clas­sic media train­ing advice:

• Never spec­u­late. Anything you say before a report­er could be recor­ded and used against you later. Therefore, avoid spec­u­lat­ing since you might be proven wrong, or your guesses could be con­veyed as faulty state­ments of facts to dis­cred­it you later.
• Stay on mes­sage. Develop 3 – 4 key points you want to con­vey and con­sist­ently steer the con­ver­sa­tion back to those mes­sages. This helps ensure that your core mes­sages are com­mu­nic­ated clearly and fre­quently. ¹Silfwer, J. (2024, May 2). The Core Message. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​c​o​r​e​-​m​e​s​s​a​ge/
• Be pre­pared. Before any media inter­ac­tion, famil­i­ar­ise your­self with the journ­al­ist, their recent work, and the media out­let’s audi­ence. Preparation will help you tail­or your mes­sages and anti­cip­ate poten­tial ques­tions. ²Silfwer, J. (2022, June 28). Media Spokesperson Training: Get Your Message Across. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​m​e​d​i​a​-​s​p​o​k​e​s​p​e​r​s​on/
• Avoid jar­gon. Speak in plain lan­guage to ensure your audi­ence under­stands your mes­sage. Industry-spe­cif­ic terms can con­fuse listen­ers and dilute the impact of your mes­sage. ³Silfwer, J. (2015, October 9). The Platitude Sickness: The Trash of Corporate Writing. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​l​a​t​i​t​u​d​e​-​s​i​c​k​n​e​ss/
• Be con­cise. Offer brief, clear responses to avoid mis­in­ter­pret­a­tion. Long, com­plic­ated answers can lead to snip­pets being taken out of context.
• Use bridging tech­niques. If asked a dif­fi­cult or off-top­ic ques­tion, use bridging phrases like “What’s import­ant to remem­ber is…” to trans­ition back to your key messages.
• Never lie. Always tell the truth. If you don’t know the answer, say so. Lying can dam­age your repu­ta­tion and cred­ib­il­ity if the truth emerges later.
• Monitor your body lan­guage. Non-verbal cues can say as much as your words. Maintain an open pos­ture and eye con­tact to con­vey hon­esty and confidence.
• Practice. Rehearse your key points and poten­tial ques­tions with a col­league or a media train­er to refine your deliv­ery and tim­ing. If pos­sible, do it on cam­era for easi­er review.
• Manage your emo­tions. Remain calm and com­posed, even if the ques­tion­ing becomes aggress­ive. Emotional responses can be por­trayed negatively.
• Correct mis­takes. If you mis­speak, cor­rect your­self imme­di­ately. This pre­vents mis­in­form­a­tion from spread­ing and shows your com­mit­ment to accuracy.
• Control the pace. Speak slowly and clearly to give your­self time to think and to ensure your points are understood.
• Use examples and anec­dotes. Personal stor­ies or spe­cif­ic examples can make your mes­sage more relat­able and memorable.
• Know when to stop talk­ing. After mak­ing a point, it’s okay to stop speak­ing. Filling silence with unne­ces­sary elab­or­a­tion can lead to errors or off-mes­sage statements.
• Anticipate dif­fi­cult ques­tions. Prepare for tough ques­tions in advance so you can handle them con­fid­ently without being caught off guard.
• No blame-gam­ing. Emphasise hope­ful aspects and solu­tions rather than dwell­ing on neg­at­ive issues or blame.
• Avoid non-apo­lo­gies. Either you’re truly sorry and wish to apo­lo­gise — or you don’t. There’s no in-between. Make up your mind before­hand. ⁴Silfwer, J. (2020, July 26). When a Public Apology is Warranted (And When It’s Not). Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​a​p​o​l​o​gy/
• Avoid “no com­ment.” This phrase can appear evas­ive. If you can’t dis­cuss a top­ic, explain why, per­haps cit­ing pri­vacy or leg­al reas­ons. ⁵Silfwer, J. (2020, May 23). Corporate Cringe. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​c​o​r​p​o​r​a​t​e​-​c​r​i​n​ge/
• Be mind­ful of the back­ground. The set­ting of your inter­view can also send mes­sages. Ensure the envir­on­ment reflects the image you wish to convey.
• Respect dead­lines. Understanding a journalist’s dead­line and respond­ing promptly can help shape the story and foster a pos­it­ive relationship.
• Follow up. After the inter­view, promptly send any prom­ised inform­a­tion or cla­ri­fic­a­tions. This helps ensure accur­acy and main­tains a pro­fes­sion­al relationship.

Learn more: Classic Media Training Advice

💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get bet­ter PR ideas.

Classic Media Training Mistakes

Spin Academy | Online PR Courses

Classic Media Training Mistakes

Standing before a cam­era or a micro­phone can be stress­ful, espe­cially dur­ing a crisis. Therefore, many lead­ers, politi­cians, and com­mu­nic­a­tion pro­fes­sion­als invest in pro­fes­sion­al media training.

However, media train­ing can be taken too far.

Answers Without Substance

• Typical media train­ing advice: If the report­er asks, “Is it unsafe to work for you?” You often can­’t say ‘yes.’ Just because it was unsafe once at one loc­a­tion does­n’t mean all related work envir­on­ments are unsafe. You can­’t say ‘no,’ either. It was unsafe in this spe­cif­ic situ­ation. You’re being cornered! The only thing you can do is focus on what you actu­ally can say.
• How this advice back­fires: Being “media trained,” a spokes­per­son can get over-con­fid­ent in their abil­it­ies. And so, they believe that they can get away with card-stack­ing and talk­ing them­selves out of the situ­ation. Reporters are trained to spot this beha­viour, and instead of let­ting the spokes­per­son off the hook, they start prob­ing even harder.
• What to do instead: Prepare your Q&A bet­ter. You must have some­thing of sub­stance to say before enter­ing the inter­view situ­ation. Even if you could talk out of a tricky ques­tion without say­ing any­thing of sub­stance, the audi­ence will dis­like you for avoid­ing the question.

Exaggerating the Bridge Technique 

• Typical media train­ing advice: Use the bridge tech­nique. While unable or unwill­ing to accept the fun­da­ment­als of the ques­tion, the inter­viewee can add con­text, and by doing so, it’s often pos­sible to slide over to pre­pared state­ments and talk­ing points. ⁶Silfwer, J. (2022, June 28). Media Spokesperson Training: Get Your Message Across. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​m​e​d​i​a​-​s​p​o​k​e​s​p​e​r​s​on/
• How this advice back­fires: It’s easy to grasp the mech­an­ics of the bridge tech­nique. The report­er asks a ques­tion, does­n’t answer it, and then dis­cusses what you want to high­light. Too often, media-trained spokespeople take this tech­nique way too far. It’s impol­ite at best and does­n’t look good on camera.
• What to do instead: When you’ve answered a ques­tion, adding addi­tion­al con­text or insight into your ini­ti­at­ive can be help­ful to the report­er. But always ensure you add con­text or insight rel­ev­ant to the ori­gin­al question.

Parrotting Your Key Message

• Typical media train­ing advice: Prepare a short­l­ist with key state­ments you want to con­vey. These state­ments will help when pressed by a reporter. 
• How this advice back­fires: At times, media-trained spokes­per­sons might decide to repeat their pre­pared state­ments word-for-word, over and over again. An irrit­ated report­er could quickly pun­ish you by air­ing this type of “par­rot beha­viour” — and it’ll be ter­rible both on cam­era and in audio. ⁷Silfwer, J. (2020, May 23). Corporate Cringe. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​c​o​r​p​o​r​a​t​e​-​c​r​i​n​ge/
• What to do instead: Write down single words to rep­res­ent your inten­ded talk­ing points, and remem­ber these instead of actu­al phrases. Don’t mem­or­ise word-for-word state­ments. And most import­antly, don’t say the same thing repeatedly.

Staring Down the Reporter

• Typical media train­ing advice: Most journ­al­ists use a com­mon trick to remain silent instead of fir­ing anoth­er ques­tion. For most people, this silence is awk­ward and unpleas­ant. To escape this unpleas­ant­ness, they start talk­ing aim­lessly. The rule of thumb is to be com­fort­able and allow for a little quiet now and then.
• How this advice back­fires: Allowing for silence is essen­tial, but you do not need to sit there and stare intensely for 30 seconds. Because this does­n’t look good, either. Many media-trained spokes­per­sons apply this advice by tri­umphantly try­ing to stare down the reporter.
• What to do instead: If the report­er is ser­i­ous about stay­ing quiet for a long time, care­fully use the bridge tech­nique to add more con­text and insight. But take a few moments in silence to think about what you’ll say before you open your mouth. The key is not to be afraid of silence, feel the need to fill these pauses with excess­ive talk, or enter some star­ing con­test with the reporter.

Relying on Non-Apologies

• Typical media train­ing advice: Don’t be afraid to apo­lo­gise. Making an apo­logy pub­licly is some­times just the right thing to do. The import­ant thing here is not to sound like a robot but to make sure you genu­inely empathise.
• How this advice back­fires: More often than not, media-trained spokespeople say things like, “We’re sorry they feel this way,” “We’re sorry if this did­n’t come across,” or “We’re sorry that you’re sorry.” These state­ments are also known as non-apo­lo­gies — and every­one right­fully hates them. ⁸Silfwer, J. (2020, July 26). When a Public Apology is Warranted (And When It’s Not). Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​a​p​o​l​o​gy/
• What to do instead: Connecting through emo­tions means talk­ing and act­ing like a human being. Don’t say that you’re sad; be sad. And even more import­antly, avoid non-apo­lo­gies alto­geth­er. It’s about your feel­ings on the mat­ter, not theirs. If you can­’t express human emo­tions like empathy dur­ing dif­fi­cult times, see a ther­ap­ist, not a reporter.

Using Platitudes and Jargon

• Typical media train­ing advice: Never spec­u­late. Nothing good ever came from second-guess­ing any­thing in front of a report­er. Stick to what you know.
• How this advice back­fires: Media-trained spokespeople rarely say things like “no com­ment” or “I can neither con­firm nor deny.” They know bet­ter. However, resort­ing, as many do, to plat­it­udes and jar­gon instead is not a much bet­ter strategy. ⁹Silfwer, J. (2015, October 9). The Platitude Sickness: The Trash of Corporate Writing. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​l​a​t​i​t​u​d​e​-​s​i​c​k​n​e​ss/
• What to do instead: Avoid cor­por­ate cringe. Talk like you would with someone you met on the street ask­ing for dir­ec­tions you do not know, and nev­er resort to platitudes.

Transposing Human Emotions

• Typical media train­ing advice: The story is always about people, so you should focus on those dir­ectly involved. Addressing share­hold­ers, mar­kets, and cus­tom­ers will have to come second.
• How this advice back­fires: To address the human aspect, many spokespeople make the mis­take of try­ing too hard to reas­sure people. But it’s nev­er a good idea to tell people not to worry if they aren’t ready. If you con­tra­dict people’s feel­ings, you’re act­ively dis­qual­i­fy­ing their real emotions.
• What to do instead: Don’t talk about oth­er people as if you have magic­al insights into how they feel. Once again, it’s about your feel­ings, not theirs.

Learn more: Classic Media Training Mistakes

💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get bet­ter PR ideas.

Media Spokesperson Selection

Training to deliv­er mes­sages to an audi­ence is paired with some­times con­flict­ing ideas of identity.

Many fant­ast­ic pub­lic fig­ures have cer­tain trade­marks that allow them to stand out. I know of an excel­lent Swedish eco­nom­ics pro­fess­or who often makes pub­lic appear­ances in his T‑shirts, long black hair, and black-painted fingernails. 

But that’s not where it begins. Maybe you rock black fin­ger­nails, but those fin­ger­nails must be what remains after you’ve removed everything that’s not you. Finding your spokes­per­son per­sona is a pro­cess of elim­in­a­tion, not a meth­od of adding quirky trademarks.

Eventually, try­ing out cre­at­ive ideas to spice up pub­lic appear­ances or devel­op per­so­nas can be great fun. But it’s not a good place to start. Some argue that spokespeople should be cha­ris­mat­ic, good-look­ing, intel­li­gent, know­ledge­able, and witty. 

In my exper­i­ence with coach­ing spokespeople, those traits are liab­il­it­ies long before they become assets. If we’re in a hurry, I’d prefer someone Stoic.

This is not just because Stoicism looks good on cam­era but also because a Stoic per­son is more likely to accept that prac­tice, exper­i­ence, and rig­or­ous pre­pared­ness are the way to go.

PR Resource: The Stoic PR Professional

Stoic Philosophy for Public Relations

I’m inspired by Stoicism — and intrigued by the idea of trans­lat­ing clas­sic­al Stoic vir­tues (wis­dom, cour­age, justice, tem­per­ance) and apply­ing them to pub­lic relations:

The Wisdom Pitch

“A Stoic is someone who trans­forms fear into prudence, pain into trans­form­a­tion, mis­takes into ini­ti­ation, and desires into under­tak­ing.”
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Tell PR stor­ies of how organ­isa­tions can be wise and over­come obstacles that have stopped oth­ers in their tracks. Convey PR mes­sages on how to apply wis­dom, know­ledge, and experience.

The Courage Pitch

“We can­not choose our cir­cum­stances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.”
— Epictetus

Tell PR stor­ies of brands that nev­er back down in the face of hard­ships that would des­troy oth­er organ­isa­tions. Convey PR mes­sages of how an organ­isa­tion can be right­eous even when storms are raging.

The Justice Pitch

“Concentrate every minute on doing what’s in front of you with pre­cise and genu­ine ser­i­ous­ness, ten­derly, will­ingly, with justice.”
— Marcus Aurelius

Tell PR stor­ies of how organ­isa­tions relent­lessly can strive for hon­esty and trans­par­ency — even when uncom­fort­able. Convey PR mes­sages about how all brands, without excep­tion, can rid them­selves of dis­hon­esty and incompetence.

The Temperance Pitch

“It’s not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, who is poor.”
— Seneca

Tell PR stor­ies of organ­isa­tions that strive for high­er val­ues in a world where all oth­er organ­isa­tions suf­fer short­sighted­ness. Convey PR mes­sages of organ­isa­tions pre­pared to abstain from short-term gains to make the world bet­ter for all.

Learn more: Stoic Philosophy for PR Professionals

PR Resource: The High Road Tonality

The Stoic Tonality

An organ­isa­tion is the poly­phon­ic sum of all its cowork­ers. Imagine extract­ing each cowork­er­’s most vir­tu­ous and mature traits and com­bin­ing them into one voice — the Stoic tonality.

Stoic Tonality Examples

“Why does­n’t your brand speak out against indus­tri­al over­fish­ing killing our oceans?”

“As a com­pany that sells fish­ing gear, we want our oceans — and all anim­als and plants liv­ing in them! — to be healthy and plen­ti­ful. We, too, were dis­turbed by the recent news of over­fish­ing. How could any­one not be? We now ask ourselves, how can our com­pany make more of a dif­fer­ence? Honestly, we’re dis­cuss­ing our strategy for sus­tain­ab­il­ity every day. I can­not say how or when we might take spe­cif­ic action regard­ing this latest news, but rest assured that we’re tak­ing the gen­er­al issue of sav­ing our oceans seriously.”

“Why does­n’t your brand engage in Black Lives Matter?”

“As for right now, we’re listen­ing. We’re listen­ing to the stor­ies being told. We’re listen­ing to under­stand bet­ter how we can learn and grow as a com­pany. As for inclus­ive­ness and human rights in gen­er­al, we think we’re doing a great job, and part of that is to stay open and care­fully listen to people’s stor­ies. We might take spe­cif­ic actions, but we’re listen­ing and learning.”

“Why does­n’t your brand join our protests against tox­ic mas­culin­ity and the pat­ri­archy?”

“Honestly, we’re a product com­pany. We make products for any­one who likes them. And I dare say that we’re experts in mak­ing these products. However, we’re not experts on ideo­lo­gies or soci­et­al struc­tures. So, for now, we listen. And we con­tin­ue to focus on mak­ing the best products that we can. For every­one. We believe that’s our best way of con­trib­ut­ing at this point.”

“Why does­n’t your brand sign our peti­tion to boy­cott all com­pan­ies on our Environmental Black List?”

“As a com­pany, we oper­ate dif­fer­ently. Instead of sign­ing peti­tions or par­ti­cip­at­ing in oth­er pub­lic demon­stra­tions, we take action with­in our sphere of influ­ence. And I dare say that our many envir­on­ment­al ini­ti­at­ives are mak­ing a lot of dif­fer­ence world­wide rel­at­ive to our size and reach. If we were to sign your peti­tion, we would first have to use our resources to research the legit­im­acy of its cre­at­ors and then make sure that none of the com­pan­ies on that list is being wrong­fully accused. While it would be pos­sible, we’ve decided that we can do more good by dir­ect­ing our resources to where we can make the most difference.”

“Why does­n’t your com­pany act against your female employ­ees who take time off for abor­tions?”

“All our employ­ees are grown-ups, and what they do on their own time is frankly none of our busi­ness. We’re a large com­pany, and we have employ­ees who are pro-life and pro-choice. We believe we have a work­place where people can have dif­fer­ent opin­ions but still respect each oth­er and work well together.”

“Why has­n’t your com­pany offered your thoughts and pray­ers for the vic­tims and their fam­il­ies of the school shoot­ing?”

“The vic­tims and their fam­il­ies have our empath­ies, of course. I speak for every­one work­ing at our com­pany when I say we were dev­ast­ated by the news as every­one else. But you’re right that we haven’t pos­ted any status updates about the shoot­ing on our Facebook page. It’s not that we don’t care (we do!), it’s just that we focus our updates on our products and ser­vices and how they make a pos­it­ive dif­fer­ence in the world.”

Learn more: The Stoic Tonality: Rise Above With Integrity

PR Resource: The Paradox of Prominence

Spin Academy | Online PR Courses

The Paradox of Prominence

The ever-loom­ing “dark side” of what drives people’s interest can be chal­len­ging for pub­lic rela­tions (PR) and com­mu­nic­a­tions pro­fes­sion­als. This phe­nomen­on, where every strength inher­ently pos­sesses a cor­res­pond­ing down­side, can be called the “Paradox of Prominence.”

An example of this para­dox is the halo effect, where phys­ic­al attract­ive­ness becomes an asset for a spokes­per­son. Attractiveness often leads to pos­it­ive biases; attract­ive indi­vidu­als are fre­quently per­ceived as more cred­ible and com­pet­ent. ¹⁰Eagly, A. H., Ashmore, R. D., Makhijani, M. G., & Longo, L. C. (1991). What is beau­ti­ful is good, but…: A meta-ana­lyt­ic review of research on the phys­ic­al attract­ive­ness ste­reo­type. … Continue read­ing ¹¹Silfwer, J. (2023, December 17). The Halo Effect: Why Attractiveness Matters in PR. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​h​a​l​o​-​e​f​f​e​ct/

However, this same attrib­ute can spark neg­at­ive reac­tions. Critics might claim that the indi­vidu­al’s suc­cess or vis­ib­il­ity is primar­ily due to their looks, under­min­ing their com­pet­en­cies. This dual­ity illus­trates how the qual­it­ies that draw pos­it­ive atten­tion can sim­ul­tan­eously attract cri­ti­cism and scepticism.

Competence, anoth­er valu­able trait, often encoun­ters sim­il­ar pit­falls. Highly com­pet­ent indi­vidu­als inspire con­fid­ence and admir­a­tion. Nevertheless, this com­pet­ence can be per­ceived neg­at­ively when will­fully inter­preted as arrog­ance. Studies sug­gest that while com­pet­ence garners respect, it can also lead to social pen­al­ties, such as envy and resent­ment. ¹²Fiske, S. T., Cuddy, A. J. C., Glick, P., & Xu, J. (2002). A mod­el of (often mixed) ste­reo­type con­tent: Competence and warmth respect­ively fol­low from per­ceived status and com­pet­i­tion. Journal of … Continue read­ing

Examples of the Paradox of Prominence

The para­dox of prom­in­ence seems to be an inher­ent aspect of human interest dynamics. 

Prominence	Positive Outcome	Negative Outcome
Physical attract­ive­ness	Enhanced cred­ib­il­ity and trust	Accusations of super­fi­cial success
High com­pet­ence	Respected and trus­ted as an expert	Perceived as arrog­ant or unapproachable
Charisma	Ability to inspire and attract followers	Viewed as manip­u­lat­ive or insincere
Strong advocacy	Increased sup­port and mobil­iz­a­tion for a cause	Target of intense cri­ti­cism from opponents
Wealth	Seen as suc­cess­ful and influential	Resentment and accus­a­tions of greed or unfairness
Assertiveness	Effective lead­er­ship and decision-making	Labeled as dom­in­eer­ing or aggressive
Innovation	Admired for cre­ativ­ity and forward-thinking	Resistance to change and cri­ti­cism from traditionalists
High vis­ib­il­ity	Greater recog­ni­tion and influence	Increased scru­tiny and loss of privacy
Generosity	Viewed as kind-hearted and philanthropic	Suspected of ulteri­or motives
Success in com­pet­it­ive fields	Role mod­el and sym­bol of achievement	Envy and attempts to under­mine accomplishments

We must recog­nise that with every increase in vis­ib­il­ity, there is a cor­res­pond­ing increase in scru­tiny and criticism.

Pick Your Opponents Wisely

Public aware­ness comes with inev­it­able costs.

In the quest for great­er vis­ib­il­ity and influ­ence, it is crit­ic­al to acknow­ledge that “being uni­ver­sally well-liked” is a naïve and unreal­ist­ic goal. 

• “Public rela­tions pro­fes­sion­als must stra­tegic­ally decide the audi­ences they aim to attract and — of equal import­ance! — the adversar­ies they are will­ing to con­tend with.”

By stra­tegic­ally har­ness­ing this para­dox, pub­lic rela­tions pro­fes­sion­als can man­age pub­lic per­cep­tion by inter­n­al­ising expec­ted “down­sides” as addi­tion­al aware­ness drivers. 

Learn more: The Paradox of Prominence

💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get bet­ter PR ideas.

PR Resource: The Core Message

Spin Academy | Online PR Courses

Core Message vs Slogan

A core mes­sage is the found­a­tion­al concept for all mar­ket­ing and com­mu­nic­a­tion strategies. 

Unlike a slo­gan, which can be seen as a catchy, often super­fi­cial tagline, the core mes­sage is a deep­er, con­sist­ent nar­rat­ive that con­veys a brand’s fun­da­ment­al val­ues and promises.

Core mes­sage = the fun­da­ment­al idea or prom­ise that a brand con­sist­ently com­mu­nic­ates across all plat­forms, defin­ing its val­ues and what it stands for in every inter­ac­tion with its audience.

Slogan = a catchy phrase or series of words used in mar­ket­ing and advert­ising to quickly cap­ture atten­tion and accur­ately encap­su­late a brand’s appeal or mission.

Together, the core mes­sage and the slo­gan ensure all com­mu­nic­a­tions and mar­ket­ing activ­it­ies are aligned, rein­for­cing the brand’s iden­tity and mis­sion across all platforms.

Please note: Seen as a prom­ise, the core mes­sage must reflect the organ­isa­tion’s main advant­age over com­pet­ing organ­isa­tions. All mar­ket­ing- and com­mu­nic­a­tion activ­it­ies must rein­force this sen­ti­ment more clearly than any efforts by their competitors.

Core Message vs Slogan Examples

These examples show­case how the core mes­sage com­mu­nic­ates a deep­er, ongo­ing mis­sion or cus­tom­er prom­ise. In con­trast, the slo­gan is a catchy, imme­di­ate hook that com­ple­ments and enhances the core message.

Red Bull

• Core Message: Energizes and enhances per­form­ance in extreme sports and adven­tur­ous activities. 
• Slogan: “Red Bull gives you wings.”

Apple

• Core Message: Innovating user-friendly tech­no­logy with soph­ist­ic­ated design to enhance every­day life. 
• Slogan: “Think Different.”

McDonald’s

• Core Message: Providing con­sist­ently good food quickly in a fam­ily-friendly environment. 
• Slogan: “I’m lov­in’ it.”

Microsoft

• Core Message: Creating tech­no­logy that empowers every per­son and every organ­isa­tion on the plan­et to achieve more. 
• Slogan: “Be what’s next.”

Ikea

• Core Message: Making styl­ish, func­tion­al, and afford­able Scandinavian fur­nish­ings avail­able in the spir­it of every­day simplicity. 
• Slogan: “The Wonderful Everyday.”

Nike

• Core Message: Inspiring ath­letes every­where to reach their poten­tial with innov­at­ive sports gear. 
• Slogan: “Just Do It.”

IBM

• Core Message: Developing tech­no­logy and con­sult­ing to lead busi­nesses towards innov­a­tion and efficiency. 
• Slogan: “Let’s put smart to work.”

Spotify

• Core Message: Personalise music stream­ing exper­i­ences to con­nect users with the right music for every moment. 
• Slogan: “Music for every moment.”

Learn more: The Core Message

💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get bet­ter PR ideas.