Post on 09-May-2015
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10 simple rules to ensure your message gets heard anywhere, by anyone, any time
© Inverted Pyramid Communications www.invertyourpyramid.blogspot.com
© Inverted Pyramid Communications
Ken Kerrigan is an award-winning, media-savvy, communications counselor who has been advising senior executives in multiple industries for more than 20 years
He has worked for some of the world’s most respected public relations agencies, and spent a decade as a director of communications at Big Four firm Ernst & Young
He learned to write on a typewriter in journalism school, where he first learned to invert his pyramid
© Inverted Pyramid Communications
An introduction
© Inverted Pyramid Communications
If you're a CEO - or someone who would like to be - you've likely read management books like "Who Moved My Cheese?" And if you are about to do your first media interview you could read a book on "media training." There are several. But to know how reporters think – and frankly how any audience thinks and receives messages - to ensure that your message is heard by anyone, anywhere, any time, regardless of the media "channel" - you first need to learn how to Invert Your Pyramid.
© Inverted Pyramid Communications
An inverted pyramid is the method in which journalist write stories◦ Today, it’s largely how we have been programmed
to receive messages Years ago editors would take a reporter’s
copy and draw an inverted pyramid over it, usually with a red marker◦ The who, what, why, where, when and how
needed to come up front◦ What followed – in the narrow part of the inverted
pyramid –was usually cut
© Inverted Pyramid Communications
In today’s new MeDia world communications has been turned upside down Everyone is MeDia – the local newspaper/TV/radio, a blogger
or your employees, friends and colleagues Your audience wants the information they need to
know… and fast… often on a handheld device Traditional communications channels that may have
helped convey your message in the past – like newspapers – may no longer exist or be as trusted
In business, or anywhere else, you have the right to speak, but you don’t have the right to expect your message to be heard or remembered Your message must be at the top of the inverted pyramid
© Inverted Pyramid Communications
News still mattersBut the sources have changed
It’s relevant Timely Game-changing Matters to me, my
friends, my family, my clients, my company
Comes from a trusted source
Something new and different
Something I need to know
Something that surprises me
Gets my attention Something I want to
share with others Not something I’ve
heard before
© Inverted Pyramid Communications
© Inverted Pyramid Communications
Can
be a
big
gam
ble
© Inverted Pyramid Communications
The ten simple rules
#1 Paint a picture◦ Allow your audience to really see your message
#2 Tell a MeDia story◦ The best place to start is hardly
ever at the beginning #3 Don’t do a Nixon
◦ Two negatives only make a positive in algebra
#4 Avoid traps◦ Think like a reporter
# 5 Lock up◦ Use aural triggers to avoid your
message getting lost
#6 Find the bridge◦ Always get back to your
message #7 Be prepared
◦ It’s not just a good motto for Boy Scouts
#8 Know your rights◦ You control what comes out of
your mouth and that’s it #9 Don’t forget to tango
◦ You have a job to do and so does the reporter
#10 Practice◦ Old habits die hard
© Inverted Pyramid Communications
Trainings are available in: Half or full-day sessions One-on-one or small groups of 3-5 people
Classroom style training is also available All trainings include 2 brief, mock print media
interviews recorded on tape and critiqued by instructor
Public relations counsel are welcome to attend Call for free rate quote (not including travel and
expenses)