Blog

media training advice from Comsteria.

Media training tip – the power of positive speech

In our media relations training, we always stress the importance of using positive speech and avoiding the temptation to give defensive or negative answers to questions from journalists. And contrary to some other media training specialists, we encourage our clients to tell the truth. We’ve been around long enough to know that any short term gain that might be associated with ‘dodging’ a question or ‘spinning your way out of trouble’ is almost always quickly Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago
Business woman shaking hands with two new colleagues.

Warmth before competence: the art of building empathy

“No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt’s words still stand as sound advice for powerful communication in the 21st century. If you what you say is to have any impact, you need to understand what your audience needs from you. A helpful starting point is the work of social psychologist Amy Cuddy in her book ‘Presence’. She writes that there are two fundamental questions Read more

By Emma Baker, ago

Brand storytelling that’s as simple as ABC

If you’re interested in powerful communication for your business, you’re probably aware that storytelling is a vital tool at your disposal. Whether you’re scripting a video, writing a social media post, or presenting to a live audience, stories help your message land with impact and build empathy with your audience. But where should you start when telling stories about your business? Well, it really is as simple as ABC. The ABC storytelling framework This simple Read more

By Emma Baker, ago

Is The MoonSwatch Killing Swatch?

What’s going on with one of our favourite brands? Watch giant Swatch seems to be treating its most devoted customers in a pretty shoddy way. The products and the advertising screams ‘fun’ but the atmosphere around their stores strikes me as ‘stay away’. What’s going on? And what can other brands learn from their mistakes? We take a look in our latest podcast. Listen now:

By Colin Kelly, ago
Introduction To The Metaverse

Introduction to the Metaverse – new webinar available now.

The internet is changing. It’s becoming more immersive, more realistic and consumers are no longer content passively reading information you choose to give them. Instead, they want an experience. They want to be able to do something. We see younger generations with a distrust for institutions and so called ‘professionals’. Instead, they’ll use technology and hyperconnectivity to create their own ways of doing things. And every so often we hear of a large brand, or Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago
Fitness club Instagram mistake.

The fitness club shouldn’t have put this on Instagram.

Some organisations get so sucked into social media, they end up putting things there and making material public that might be better suited to another platform. Comsteria’s Colin Kelly shares this example of a fitness club disabling the comments on an Instagram post, because they’d anticipated they’d end up getting criticism which they didn’t want to have to deal with. For more advice on social media for your organisation, why not join our next ‘Embrace Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago
Social media tip of the day

#powerfulcommunication isn’t you talking all the time.

Here’s a good example of social media use we’re highlighting in our social media training right now. It’s Cadbury making good use of User Generated Content. Sometimes, your organisation won’t be best placed to create the engaging, emotional content your audience really wants. But the audience themselves might have something to contribute if you give them the platform. Colin Kelly explains more in this quick video. Remember if your organisation needs help getting results from Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago
Why you shouldn't use your friends to deliver media training.

Why you shouldn’t use ‘friends’ of your organisation to deliver media training.

There’s a real advantage in bringing in an outsider to deliver media training for your organisation. And if you do have a ‘Head of Comms’ or someone similar already known to you, we’ll happily work alongside them when we’re delivering media training to your team. Here’s our MD and media trainer Colin Kelly to explain why your ‘friends’ might not be best placed to deliver media relations training on their own. Get in touch with Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago
podcast training

Get more listeners for your podcast

Some of the most enjoyable work we’ve done this year at Comsteria has involved helping organisations start their own podcasts. Podcasts enjoyed huge growth during lockdown and it seems to have continued with topics such as inclusion and diversity, wellbeing and the climate emergency among those many organisations want to talk about. For a while now, we’ve produced podcasts for our clients at gas distribution network SGN and National Grid. We’ve also worked with clients Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago
Media training tip

The Power Of Positive Speech

In our media training sessions, you’ll discover the tricks journalists use to make you say things you don’t mean to in order to make their stories look more interesting. A particular favourite is to force you into a defensive position, with a question such as ‘Isn’t this a shocking waste of money?’ Many of us, when faced with a question like this, go with our gut reaction and say ‘No, it isn’t a waste of Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago