Since Ricochet's publicists book our clients in a high volume of press interviews, we always insist on media training client spokespeople. Like anything we do, this process begins with research.
Understanding how a journalist approaches her work – what trends and companies she often covers in her reporting – is crucial when preparing for an interview. Thus, before every single media interview, your Ricochet account team will author an easy-to-read "About the Reporter" dossier. Not only will this document give you a clear picture of who you will be interviewing with and how they report, but it will identify any hot-button issues or potential pitfalls.
After educating you about the opportunity, we begin media training. Depending on your spokespeople's prior level of experience, media training sessions can be as short as a one-hour refresher exercise or much more in-depth, requiring a full day of videotaped sessions (when preparing a client for a round of live, on-air TV interviews, for example, we will videotape spokespeople during mock interviews and enhance their capabilities via repeated drilling).
In all cases, we train spokespeople to articulate just 2-3 core messages which will resonate with that particular reporter. We then teach them proven "bridging" techniques so they can reinforce those messages with greater clarity and conviction.