By Jennifer Bushinger, Central West Coast Chapter
Heidi Schauer, with 20+ years of expertise in the PR arena, brought dozens of takeaways and loads of passion and knowledge to her presentation on “How To Win With Media”. As Senior Director of Global Communications and Customer Care at Wendy’s, she coached a packed room of hungry PR professionals to own our role in the driver seat.
“You all have information that media outlets want and it’s your job to package it properly with effective communication strategies in place.” said Schauer.
With crisis management her specialty, Schauer took us through the steps to control the narrative and direct the media’s attention—owning the way our story is told and how to essentially win with media.
“Put your plan on paper—literally write it down!” quipped Schauer to a room full of chuckles. In order to mitigate a crisis within our organizations, our team needs a roadmap to follow. Yes, we can pivot when necessary, but that plan is key to navigating through that crisis to come out better on the other side and most importantly, that we learned from it.
Today’s session spanned:
- Key planning questions;
- Managing media tips;
- Lifecycle of news stories;
- Crisis management and preparedness strategies.
For those who missed out on today’s breakout session, remember these three tips in order to win with media:
- Be genuine and transparent. Words matter! It’s impossible to retract the wrong message without losing credibility.
- Be visible in the community and to the media. In order to get your message across effectively, the key media figures need to know and/or care who you/your organization are.
- Plan! Plan more! Plan better!
All in all, the 81st Annual FPRA conference is packed with incredible powerhouses sharing inspirational tactics to better each of us as PR professionals, but Heidi Schauer truly gave us the keys to that success.
