The Key Message Is Dead
November 23, 2006 by Eric Eggertson
Filed under Marketing
The era of “the message” is past. Throwing your rehearsed, pat statement into the predictable media coverage is at best a holding action, regardless of which side you’re on.
Replacing it is engaged discussion, where the subject of the interview isn’t afraid to answer questions directly, using plain language.
Even if the answer to the question is, “I can’t talk about that right now because I don’t want to say something that would inadvertently distract the negotiators.” At least then you’re openly discussing the limitations on your role as spokesperson.
Canadians Terry Fallis and David Jones have taken a few swipes at “the key message” on their podcast Inside PR. Check out episode one (22 minutes in) and Terry’s interview with veteran political operative Patrick Gossage (12 minutes in).
Their take: Journalists are learning to fight back against those who are applying their media training too rigorously. They are challenging the messengers to go beyond reciting the same key messages over and over again.
My take: Engaged discussion can backfire if you get trapped making statements you don’t want to make. But that’s not the fault of the technique. That’s just a mistake in how you apply it.
The payoff can be huge, if other organizations are fronted by robotic automatons, and yours is represented by someone who looks, acts, and talks like a human being.
(Startled robot picture by :mrMark:.)
Tags: Interviews, Journalism, On message, PR, Public relations
I couldn’t agree more. Spokespersons who are, and appear to be, honest, human, forthright, engaging, and direct (even when explaining why they can’t comment on something) are much more likely to succeed in their role in this era than the slick, over-rehearsed, automatons repeatedly spouting canned messages verbatim. Great post and thanks for listening to Inside PR…
Well said. It’ll take some time because it’s such a crutch for both PR people and corporate spokespersons. You may win the battle by “staying on message,” but you ultimately lose the war.
Terry and David:
Thanks for your comments, and welcome to the new blog! I’ve always enjoyed Inside PR, partly because you talk about public relations as it’s applied, and not just as it applies to social media.
OK…have Terry and David just demonstrated the value of ego searches, or whatever the term is that alerts you when someone in the blogosphere mentions your name or your blog? Or your company name, for that matter? They both showed up pretty fast, didn’t they?
I had a similar thing happen when I wrote about David Pogue’s column in the New York Times in which he talked about OpenDNS. Within minutes of the post, both David and the John Roberts from OpenDNS had commented on the item. Impressive.
That’s another aspect of media relations in a world where social media are pervasive. You need to know what’s going on so that your spokespeople aren’t caught off-guard. When you’re blind-sided is when you’re most vulnerable to making that comment you’ll regret.
I think when it’s someone else doing it, you call it an ego search. When it you, it’s called “effective brand monitoring for reputation management.” ;-)
Allow me to disagree — not with the insight, but with the application.
I’ve always trained my clients that a “key message” was not a statement. It is a principle, or core value. No one will remember the exact text of what you say, but they will remember what they thought you were trying to say.
The biggest practical application of the Key Message is not that it’s a mantra worth repeating in every answer. Rather, it’s the final thing you say. MOST interviews end with a simple question: “Is there anything I failed to ask that I should have?”
Work in the core value from your Key Message, and in many circumstances, that’s the soundbite that will air. Teevee types under deadline are VERY prone to backing up the tape just far enough to the first usable soundbite. (And I am in a position to know that is true.)
Let me echo what Ike is saying about the key message, I am a big fan of basing messaging on values. Of course, Ike and I have the same training through teh Red Cross, which focuses on this kind of messaging, to very good effect, I might add. The “formula” is Claim + Fact + Example, but the claim should be rooted in the values of the organization.
If the employees of a company are conversant with the values, anyone can easily construct a flexible “key message” that fits the situation and sounds natural, while clearly communicating the corporate/oraganizational values.
I agree and disagree.
I think that a fake, contrived, canned “key message” is dangerous and should be outlawed.
But I don’t see that as a key message. I see that as spin. A key message, to me, is when a company knows what they do, what they stand for, and why the can do the best job. Then, they communicate that through a human, in a human voice.
To me a key message is, as others are saying, values based. It is the north star for a company so that they can be sure that all their communications, and – for that matter – business practices, are driven by that one, core value or key message.
Ike, Kami and Kevin: Yes, there’s that moment when a reporter gives you the chance to say whatever you want, and you can deliver an important message using natural language. Even better, if the reporter asks a question that your messages speak directly to.
You’re right, the key message isn’t dead. It just feels like we should shoot it in the head, so it doesn’t continue to get misused as a way to avoid answering valid questions.
Thanks for your comments and examples. That gives me an idea for another post.