Pick your fights carefully. Preferably ones you’ll win. Opinions, they say, are like assholes. Everybody has one. Doesn’t make them right. But people are seldom eager to back down. Sometimes it’s pride…
Tag: media (page 7)
Pandora’s Jar
Don’t like the media question? Answer the one you want. After all the evil had escaped, the legend goes, all that remained in the jar was hope — and mankind has never…
Give a Fish, Teach to Fish
Chief lesson for clients: Once burned. Twice shy. “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” It’s one of those…
Druthers
Beating media at its own game is no game for amateurs. You hear it every day. If I had my druthers, I wouldn’t have been so careless. I wouldn’t have gotten in…
Fast Is Good
Q: What is your best strategy? A: What sells to the media/public. Fast-acting isn’t beneficial only for Alka-Seltzer, Advil, and diet plans. It’s also a basic rule for Crisis & Reputation…
Jibber-Jabber
How to control media herd? Turn around the lead steer. You’re inundated by it every day. A flood of words, empty of meaning but designed to arouse emotions. Think of talking…
The Buck Stops
The first job is fixing the problem — not finding a scapegoat. Mary Barra got it right. Barely two months into her job as General Motors’ CEO, she seized control of quality…
Gullible
Knowing what sells to the media gives you a fighting chance. Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never is, but always to be, blest. ~ Alexander Pope, 18th century English…
Battle of the Anecdotes
Facts are facts. Deal with ’em. Your only job is to win. Anecdotes are an effective way to tell a story. We all use them every day, some better than others. Politicians.…
Beyond Belief
As the world changes, we adapt. If we fail, clients pay the price. Long ago in a classroom far away, an instructor gave an assignment to a group of fresh-eyed journalism students:…