Why the Media Values Authenticity over Perfection

When an organisation or individual opts to start raising their profile and build credibility through media outreach, there’s a misconception that you need to put on some kind of perfect mask and learn the ‘right’ way to do it.

While media and interview training with a professional is absolutely recommended, it’s really about taking your skills and elevating them to the next level, and not fundamentally changing who you are as a company or a person.

In fact, many of the lessons we teach at Profile Media are those than can be found and applied in your everyday life.

As an example, I spent 13 weeks living in a caravan earlier this year.

The reasons behind it are a story for another day but carrying out my day-to-day life of full-time work with two young children, a big dog and a FIFO husband have reinforced some valuable lessons that are not only relevant to my current situation, but also to my clients who are looking to proactively engage with media.

• Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable: Whether it’s embarking on your first media interview or emptying the toilet cassette for the first time on your own, personal and professional growth happens when we step outside our comfort zones. Our family mantra at the moment is ‘we can do hard things’, and this is true for my clients also. Engaging with the media can feel daunting and uncomfortable, but with the correct preparation and support, you too can ‘do the hard thing’.
• Be Flexible: Be flexible, adapt, pivot, call it whatever you like, but it’s important to be open to the idea of changing plans if the current one goes awry. Sometimes the greatest opportunities come up at the worst possible moment (even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time!) but if you’re able to be flexible and see challenges as opportunities, you’re likely to see positive results.
• Focus on What You Can Control: I woke up one morning to find our caravan was sitting in the middle of a very large puddle, and yet I still had to get the kids to school and had work to do. I couldn’t control the water situation, but I could organise dry shoes for the kids and get myself to a dry space to work for the day, so that’s what I did. Similarly for media engagement – you might not be able to control the questions being asked, but you can control how you respond (calmly) and your key message/s, and that should be your focus.

And a lesson I continue to remind myself daily, it won’t always be perfect.

However, being your authentic, real self is always better than rehearsing answers to the point of sounding scripted, or worse, sounding like you’re not passionate about your industry.

Preparation is important, of course, but no one expects you to be perfect. An occasional um or ah, sharing a laugh or smile with a journalist when appropriate, and allowing that passion to shine through – those are the things that matter the most.