Be a Media Darling

by Marcia Rhodes

One of the greatest pleasures of my job is conducting media training, and then watching as spokespeople blossom into “Media Darlings”.

A media darling is someone who knows how to engage the media by delivering pithy sound bites that reporters love and audiences remember. Being engaging not only helps build your brand, it keeps you high on a reporter’s list of go-to sources as well.

Here is an example of how being quotable got our client, Chris Bowen, chief privacy and security officer at ClearDATA, mentioned in USA Today. In the article, It’s East vs West in Healthcare, Chris said, “Sometimes it’s not as comfortable as you think, straddling a barbed-wire fence like that.”

Here’s a tip: Before your next scheduled media interview, write down the key message you want to convey. Then go the extra step of formulating a sound bite. You can do this with metaphors, analogy, bold action words, etc. Following are a few examples.

Analogy: “It’s like crossing the bridge with an elephant, you can make a big noise but you might get trampled.”

Metaphors: “For long-term care providers, the EMR is Cinderella’s glass slipper, the shiny new thing that many confuse as the actual solution. It is connectivity, with or without an EMR that will make you the belle of the ball.”

Bold words: “We operate in a zero-trust environment.”

Emotion: “That’s my mom we’re talking about!”

Pop culture references: “We’re so focused on cybercriminals and hackers that we forget about threats from the inside. Think Edward Snowden.”

Clich’s (with a twist): “You can’t see the bamboo steamers for the Ginzu knives.”

Oppositional quotes: “America’s healthcare system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system.”

Coined words: Health information exchanges rely on “coopetion.”

If creating sound bites does not come naturally to you, then tell a story, but make it short and simple. Remember, facts tell but stories sell.