It’s no secret that being media savvy is key for any business leader wanting to deliver consistent messaging to targeted audiences. Marx Layne, a Detroit-based public relations and reputation management firm, has a successful track record of conducting on-site media training and message development seminars for leading businesses and nonprofits, locally, nationally, and globally. Marx Layne has trained executives of multinational auto companies, pizza chains, international engineering firms, law firms and municipalities, to name a few. By drawing on our media training expertise, our comprehensive, hands-on sessions equip business leaders with the skills necessary to complete a successful interview, media appearance or speaking engagement.
Media training and message development experts
Before the pandemic, interviews were typically conducted by the media, camera crew in tow, on location to interview an executive. Executives may have also traveled to a TV station for an interview. Marx Layne modeled our media training and message development sessions similarly, with our media training team – comprised of former reporters and news editors in print and broadcast journalism – traveling to the client, just like a reporter would have. Our team would pack up equipment and either fly or drive to the client, conducting training sessions that could last anywhere from three hours to a full day.
These days, the nature of how the media conducts interviews has shifted due to changes instigated by both the pandemic and advances in communication technology. With live Zoom and Microsoft Teams interviews now commonplace and a large portion of reporting conducted remotely, Marx Layne, too, has adjusted its media training message development to match this evolving digital landscape.
Virtual media training on digital platforms
Marx Layne recently conducted virtual media training and message development sessions for a global engineering firm. The training was conducted with executives in cities in New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S. In the past, the Marx Layne media training team would have loaded up our equipment and set out to train the client in person. Here, instead, a dozen or so people opened Microsoft Teams, and from five different time zones and with many different accents, the media training and message development workshop proceeded virtually.
Mastering the Zoom interview
The training was highly successful. Unlike in-person training, where interviews would be played back and reviewed, participants in the recorded Teams meeting could immediately join the conversation on what was successful and what needed improvement. The session also doubled as training for a virtual broadcast interview, with the elements of the executive’s lighting, sound and background being subject to constructive critique by the team. Lastly, there was the cost-efficiency advantage of simply logging on to Microsoft Teams call than flying to Australia or New Zealand.
Marx Layne media team delivers consistent messaging to targeted audiences
The Marx Layne media team would like to talk to you about how your organization crafts and delivers its key messages to targeted audiences, including the news media, employees, donors, and others. To learn more about our media training message development, click here.