This informal CPD article “Are you taking the Elevator?” was provided by Brian Weatherley at B2B Media Training, an award-winning trade journalist, video presenter, business-to-business magazine editor and media trainer.
Try this simple exercise. In five seconds, say out loud what your company does.
“In five seconds? That’s impossible!” Really? Try it. You might be surprised how much information you can impart in just five short seconds.
The ability to communicate fully what your business does in a limited period is a skill that should be taught to every person who is likely to encounter the media in a professional capacity. It is what has become known as ‘The Elevator Pitch’ – not to be confused with what used to be called the ‘Mission Statement’.
Like a lot of business cliches the latter has faded from the business vocabulary, and not without good reason. All too-often mission statements became an end in-themselves – blah, blah, blah platitudes you struggled to remember, assuming you made the effort in the first place. The Elevator Pitch is, or should be, something entirely different. Why is it so important? Because journalists struggling to file copy for not only hard-copy publications, but also on-line news sites, social media, podcasts and blogs have little enough time to understand exactly what you do, and how you do it, even if they happen to be familiar with your broader industry.
What’s more, don’t assume a journalist already knows about your business. They frequently move from one industry ‘beat’ to another. Their skill lies in being quick learners, boiling down complicated issues into simple easy-to-assimilate stories and knowing who the best people are to talk to. So, the ability to quickly put your company into context for a reporter is an invaluable way to start any press encounter, and with luck, long-term relationship.
Whenever I ask media trainees to “Tell me what your company does in five seconds?” what I often get back is a load of gobbledygook: “We provide customer-focused tailored solutions in a pan-global environment” (4.84 seconds). To which my response is inevitably: “But you haven’t told me what you actually DO!”
Believe me, nothing says less about a business than that kind of mumbo-jumbo. What business doesn’t supply a ‘solution’ to a customer? I don’t blame them for using marketing-speak. In many cases it’s what they think they ought to be saying – only just don’t expect the average journalist to repeat it. Remember, your opening messages aren’t just for external consumption either. Everyone in your company should know them AND be capable of using them whether in a media encounter, client presentation, or talking to someone who just happened to walk onto your stand at a trade show.
Likewise, who hasn’t been in a meeting when someone mentions a particular company activity before asking the rest of the group: “Do you all know about this?” Spot the nervous glances that flash around the room. The moral being that good internal communications, sharing the knowledge and the same messages, are just as important as anything you say outside your front door.
But whatever your do, whoever you ask to front-up to the press make sure that whatever message they deliver is concise, easy to grasp and most-of-all memorable. Going up?
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