• Know your key messages. Good spokespersons don’t just passively answer reporters’ questions; they seek to actively drive those conversations to advance their company’s interests. Every interview is an opportunity to tell your company’s story. So new spokespersons must learn and internalize the company’s messages, and be prepared to work them into every interview. If you go into an interview without key messages in mind, you are failing yourself and your company.

Probably the toughest skills for a new spokesperson to learn are how to transition from the question you are asked in a way that satisfies the reporter – known as bridging – to deliver your key messages in an engaging, easy-to-digest way – aka sound bites.

• Practice, practice, practice. For most people, bridging and speaking in sound bites are acquired skills. So is avoiding the deer-in-the-headlights moments every spokesperson dreads – an unexpected question at best, or by an ambush interview or a company crisis at worst. So you should regularly participate in media training to hone your skills and pare down your messages.  And plan out what you want to communicate for any and all scenarios you can reasonably expect to face, so that you are ready when that day arrives.

Even experienced spokespersons never stop learning and training. I’ve been at it for more than 20 years, and I still brush up regularly. For example, I just finished reading Brad “Mr. Media Training” Phillips’ The Media Training Bible, and highly recommend his soup-to-nuts coverage of the topic.

• Prepare. When a reporter contacts you, it is completely reasonable for you to: (1) ask the reporter to schedule an appointment to interview you (well within his/her deadline, of course!); and (2) ask for a list of questions, or at a minimum some specifics about the interview topic and the media outlet. (Phillips calls this “interviewing the interviewer”.) In both cases, your goal is to prepare for the interview. Credible reporters will typically respect that, and understand that they’ll get a better interview as a result. I literally sketch out my talking points on a notepad before every interview, and check them off as I deliver them. (I use a notepad rather than a computer because I don’t want to risk distraction.)

• Be strategic. I’ve previously written that PR professionals are strategists, not order takers or followers. That’s true of spokespersons as well, even if you don’t work in the PR department.  As I see it, one of the key responsibilities of any spokesperson is to help protect your company from bad news. Not by sweeping a situation under the rug or stonewalling about it, but by identifying a potential problem and encouraging company management to take steps to prevent or mitigate it in the first place.  Smart senior management will value you more for it.

Your turn: From your experience, what would you add to this list of basic “musts” for new spokespersons?

Before you put fingers to keyboard to create the plan itself, you’ll want to answer a few questions. And because my husband is threatening to build a house as I write this, construction analogies come to mind.

1. New home construction, addition or all-out reno? Is this your first-ever plan (new construction)? Are you building on current activities and existing capabilities (addition)? Or have you been at this a while, but want to redirect your activities (renovation)? Ultimately, your plan will need to capture and reflect this.

If you’re planning for the first time, then you’ll want to devote the extra time and attention needed to get off to the right start, and to ensure your team is with you. Once PR has become second nature, then you can move faster and more nimbly.

2. What’s your construction budget and build-out time frame? I’ve yet to meet a client who had unlimited funds to devote to PR. If you don’t either, then take a longer-term view and plan to spread your activities out over a few years. Prioritize your structural must-haves first (think: foundation, walls, roof), and then in subsequent years add on to that structure (think: fit, finishing and decoration). Bonus, you will find that taking a long-term view provides tremendous peace of mind (as does the mere act of planning).

Some of the PR plan components I consider must-haves: customer and consumer relations sub-plans (as your most important target audiences); a message platform; and an engaging, easy-to-navigate website. Then you can add on social media, media relations and issue/crisis communications and other sub-plans that support and enhance those must-haves.

By the way, there’s no formulaic “right” amount of money to spend on PR, each case is different. Be realistic; do not try to build your foundation on the cheap. For example, investing in responsive web design, with an easy-to-use content management system, may cost more up front but it will save and make you more money in the long run.

3. What should your plan look like? No homebuilder can work off a sketch on a cocktail napkin – professionally-designed house plans include plans for the structural foundation, exterior elevations, interior floor layouts, electrical and plumbing components, plus materials lists and timetables. Similarly, a basic PR plan should convey relevant background, document situation analysis such as SWOT or SCOPE, identify your target audiences, goals, objectives and strategies, and activity plans, timetables and budget to bring them to fruition.

A good PR plan will give you the peace of mind that comes with having clear direction and a path forward. It will help you focus, prioritize, evaluate your results and even say no to those opportunities that just don’t fit your vision. A good PR plan can’t quite compete with a good house plan’s ability to ensure continued marital bliss, but both plans sure are great fun to create.

The last word: Don’t leave this post thinking that your PR activities must be poured in concrete or set in stone. Foundations can be added on to, walls can be moved, and kitchens can be remodeled. To commandeer a line from Pirates of the Caribbean, PR plans are more like what you’d call guidelines than actual rules. You should build some degree of flexibility in your plans, to (1) take advantage of unexpected opportunities, and (2) to respond to lessons you learn along the way.

Your turn: What do you want to build today?

(Background: In May 2012, a federal judge agreed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that POM Wonderful has engaged in deceptive advertising. Finding the company’s claims about the health benefits of its pomegranate products to be false and unsubstantiated, the judge ordered POM to halt all such claims.)

1. Refresher: Take advantage of what we can say about our foods. In addition to bringing us the now-ubiquitous Nutrition Facts boxes, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) laid out rules for making nutrient content claims and health claims. NLEA defined criteria for using terms such as “no”, “low”, “free”, “light”, “healthy” and even “fresh”. The act also authorized several preworded health claims, such as the link between low-fat foods and cancer prevention, for qualifying foods. (The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved additional claims since then.)

NLEA puts the fresh produce industry in an enviable position. Our naturally healthy profile means we qualify to make numerous claims about our nutrients and good health (though admittedly the approved health claims are wordy). If you aren’t already making the most of those claims, jump on that immediately.

You can access all of FDA’s online labeling and nutrition resources here. While technically NLEA applies to product labeling, FTC extends its rules to advertising, which can be construed to include online and other content.

2. Understand what it takes to say more. In the POM case, the judge ruled that the research evidence regarding pomegranates wasn’t sufficient to back up POM’s claims. FDA has defined the scientific agreement that it takes to earn a health claim, including “qualified” health claims that caveat the potential benefit. Human feeding studies are the research gold standard; animal and in vitro studies are considered background. Be advised, human studies are expensive and complex, and a single study isn’t going to be enough. Your best move is to vet findings with FDA.

Further, this post by food policy advocate Marion Nestle about the POM case demonstrates why our industry should make sure that studies we commission meet generally-accepted scientific standards.

3. Promote without overstepping. We can reasonably assume that POM captured FTC’s attention with its high profile actions. While awaiting gold-standard research, I advise Clarity clients to make the most of the approved nutrient content and health claims — we can get a lot of mileage out of them. When discussing potential health benefits, be clear that evidence is preliminary and further research is needed for surety.

It is indeed frustrating to watch other companies “get away with” claims you’re sure aren’t substantiated. The dietary supplements industry has so far managed to avoid the kind of claims regulation that foods face. However, the POM case demonstrates that long term, it doesn’t pay to bend the rules – with FDA, FTC or the consumers who want to establish a trusting relationship with us as providers of their food. At least our industry has the healthy high ground of being one of the only food groups that consumers should eat more of, not less.

Now it’s your turn. What did you learn from the POM case?

As a crisis communications consultant turned fresh produce industry spokesperson turned PR counselor and trainer, I now have the chance to pass on some of the lessons I’ve learned throughout my career to my clients. Here are four of the nuggets I can offer from my own experience, to join the advice already offered [on MrMediaTraining.com] by John Fitzpatrick, Philip Connolly, Starr Million Baker and Justin Cole:

1. Anyone can find herself in the bull’s eye. When I left that crisis management firm for the world of fresh produce industry associations, I remember thinking, “Great! Everyone loves fruit; this will be all good news.” I quickly learned that bad news could put even “white hat” businesses in the media bull’s eye. I spent a good portion of the next 15 years working one issue after another, including food borne illness, traceability, pesticide residues and product dumping. We were in the press time and again, mainstream and/or trade. (Fortunately, there were lots of good news stories, too!)

2. Preparation starts early and never ends. Effective spokespersons really know our businesses, and we practice our interview skills religiously. The required investment of time and attention can’t be short changed. I recently completed a third round of media training with a client, and we’re still finding messaging and delivery items to work on. Fortunately, we took time up front to define our key messages so that we can hit them early and often.

3. Sincerity is a necessity. Being a spokesperson can’t just be a day job, or we forfeit our credibility as spokespersons. During my tours as produce spokesperson, I considered it my mission to defend growers against misperceptions being propagated through the media. I couldn’t learn enough about our work, looking for those original nuggets to share with reporters. That sincerity earned me a spot as a regular contact in many reporters’ address books. An that wasn’t lost on my bosses or our volunteer leaders.

4. Everything is connected. Forget six degrees of separation; many business issues are directly connected if not one or two steps off from each other. What spokespersons say on one topic or issue has to ring true on others too, or here again we lose our credibility. As strategic counselors, it’s our responsibility to point out inconsistencies in policies and positions, and to advocate for greater equilibrium.

Seasoned spokespersons understand that working with the media offers both opportunity and challenge. Being purposeful, preparing, positioning offensively, watching our prose and taking basic precautions — the five Ps I now teach my clients — are the keys to making the most of any media situation.

Here’s a four-step guide to help bring clarity (love that word!) to your PR efforts. These turn-by-turn directions will help you get where you want to go.

1.   Determine your destination. You can’t drive off without knowing where you want to end up, right? So first off, huddle with your PR counsel to identify your goals and objectives – that is, stake out your destination. Then you can consider how PR can help you get there. Skipping this first step is akin to driving aimlessly, at night, without headlights –you’ll have have no chance of getting where you want to go.

(Sidebar: Let’s take a moment to define terms, as goals and objectives are often confused. Goals are general statements about where you want to end up long term; think of them as “whats.” Objectives define the “hows” to achieve those “whats,” establishing specifics that can be measured. For example, your goal may be to be your region’s top purveyor of specialty fruit varieties. A supporting objective may be to gain as customers the Northeast’s top five specialty grocery chains, defined by the good folks at Supermarket News.)

2. Plot your course. Now that you know where you want to go, you and your PR counsel can work together to identify related communications strategies, tactics and activities. These are the many routes and modes of transportation that you’re going to use to reach your destination.

(Another sidebar, to define more terms: Strategies define how you plan to achieve an objective. Tactics add on another level of detail to the strategies. Activities are the step-by-step how-tos to execute the strategy.)

For example, if one of your marketing objectives is to increase visibility with mom consumers then one of your strategies could be build trust with moms by employing social media. Facebook would be a must-have tactic for executing that strategy. Your activity plan will outline how you’ll decide what components to include in your Facebook page, stipulates that you’ll develop a social media policy to guide your Facebook team, and lays out an editorial calendar to ensure you’re posting fresh content regular to keep moms engaged.

3.  Draw up your map. By this mile marker, you can now document your goals, objectives, strategies, tactics and activities in a written plan. This will also help you identify the resources you’ll need, and to establish a realistic execution schedule.

Your plan should also identify the communications tools you’ll need to get the defined job done. The first tool I urge my clients to develop is a message platform (aka key messages, talking points, message map, etc.). Writing down and prioritizing the messages you want to convey will bring focus to your work that is worth its weight in gold, as I’ve previously blogged here.

4.  Check your progress mid-course. Any journey can be beset by bumps in the road, travel delays or outright road closures; the key is to identify them as soon as possible so you can change course if you need to. You and your PR counsel should conduct periodic course checks to alter the map as needed to ensure you can still reach at your destination.

For example, if you’re foraying into social media for the first time, you’ll want to closely analyze your data. Don’t be satisfied with just tracking Facebook likes or Twitter followers, also delve into the content and tone of posts. If you’re engaging in trade media relations, are traditional press releases in fact generating coverage – better yet, is that coverage catching the attention of your customers? (Hint: Share coverage with your customers, to ensure they saw it.) Or do you need to take a different route, such as pitching exclusive content to a leading media outlet?

Disciplined PR planning and execution helps you focus limited communications resources where you can get the highest ROI – just as preplanning your travel itinerary does. (Hint: You don’t necessarily need or might not be able to afford a Cadillac of a program, sometimes a well-designed Volkwagen will do.) Your PR counsel should work with you to design a program to achieve maximum results for your budget. Think of us as your expert, outsource travel agents, dedicated to helping you reach your destination – and to enjoy the trip.

In some cases, I’m given a company email address, phone line, business cards, the whole nine yards. In other cases, I identify myself as Clarity working “on behalf of” the client’s organization. The client and I discuss and agree on this up front.

Does working in the PR profession make me a PR hack, as a consumer I recently corresponded with for a client called me? Quite the contrary:

• I won’t work for just anybody. If I can’t believe fully in what I’m doing, then I won’t take the work.
• I stick to my principles. I’ll quit before I’ll do something at a client’s request that I personally don’t believe in.
• I’ll take on the difficult projects others don’t want. One look at my LinkedIn profile makes that clear.

These principles apply to Clarity’s associates, too. If one of my associates can’t fully support a client’s work, then he/she doesn’t make the client’s team. It’s never a job for any of us.

P.S. Humorously, that consumer also decided I must be using a pseudonym – apparently Julia “sounds like something a public relations firm would cook up.” My apologies to my great-grandma Julia.

Photo from our 2009 Race for the Cure; that's my cousin Sharon's back, she and her mom my Aunt Maud are breast cancer survivors. Her "Aunt Ruthie," Maud's sister, was my mother Ruth Stewart.

First thing: I’m going to stick to public relations, not politics, in this post. There, now the men and you folks who oppose women’s reproductive rights can continue reading. Until the last paragraph.

In case you’ve been on a desert island, this week the Susan G. Komen Foundation has been soundly blasted – or resoundingly praised, depending upon how you look at it – for a decision to pull funding for breast cancer screenings from Planned Parenthood. Critics of the decision have blasted Komen for what they say was a politically motivated decision. The Komen folks claim they had no choice but to enforce a new policy preventing them from funding organizations under investigation. Lacking a crystal ball or membership on the Komen board, I won’t comment further.

So, what are a few of the lessons we PR folks can learn from this week’s goings on?

1. Timing of an announcement is important. Planned Parenthood has been in the news over the referenced ongoing investigation, not to mention a political football in this year’s Republican presidential primaries. Komen’s PR folks should have known that making this announcement during primary season would earn extra attention. Takeaway: Consider the environment in which your announcement will be made. If you might be co-opted in ways you don’t care for, reconsider your timing.

2. Transparency is important. Komen could have defused the reactive tsunami by being more up front, out front, with its reasoning for the defunding decision. Takeaway: When you fail to tell your own story, others will tell it for you – and you won’t like the picture they paint. So tell your own story, early and often. P.S. Even when you get out front, extremists are still going to paint you badly. Ain’t nuttin’ you can do about them; so debunk their messaging, but don’t bother trying to change their minds.

3. Relationships are important. According to news reports, Komen notified Planned Parenthood of the decision by a rather abrupt phone call. Really, Mrs. Brinker, is that how you treat a long-time ally and partner? Takeaway: Be human in your business dealings and communications. Apply the golden rule (and suggest joint talking points to use moving forward).

4. Perception is important. Regardless of why Komen decided to defund Planned Parenthood, the perception – from both sides, mind you – is that their decision was political. Komen missed an opportunity to dispel that perception if in fact it isn’t true, for example by explaining the conditions under which Planned Parenthood could be refunded. Takeaway: In our line of work, we know perception is reality, so plan your communications activities and messaging accordingly.

Those are just a few of my thoughts on the matter. Can you add any other lessons learned to the list?

Personally, I’m saddened to see Komen make such a gaffe – though it looks like Planned Parenthood may in fact come out stronger for it. I won’t stop supporting Komen, not with my strong family history of breast cancer, but I am now also supporting Planned Parenthood.

About two years ago — or maybe even three, I tend to lose track of time — new friends gave me what turned out to be one of those great gifts of my life.

When I first received the little bottle of vanilla extract, it wasn’t at all obvious that it was going to touch me deeply. Outwardly, its packaging was unassuming — a plain glass flask with a hermetic stopper seal, the kind that would have been in my great-grandmother Julia’s pantry back in the day.

But one whiff of the caramel gold inside and it was obvious that this was the real deal, not that imitation stuff that you find on the average grocery store’s shelf today.

According to the givers, the liquid had been extracted quite some time ago, perhaps decades, perhaps by a grandfather. I’ve lost the details of its story to time now, though the impression has remained with me that its creation was a labor of love.

I had just met these longtime dear friends of my then-beau-now-husband (I prefer “beau” to “boyfriend,” the latter sounds silly to me when referring to a grown man). They’d learned of my love of baking and other sweets making, and gifted the vanilla to me in that blush of new friendship.

Since then, that little bottle of vanilla has been omnipresent at most of the meaningful times in my life. I’m the designated dessert provider, so that vanilla has woven its way into family birthdays, desserts and gifted goodies for the regular supper club gatherings with my college girlfriends, the oodles of Christmas goodies I make yearly. I believe it was there for the last Thanksgiving with my mother, and I know it was there for the wrenching first one without her. I’ve had to hide it whilst in holiday kitchens with my sisters-in-law, whom I adore despite their threats to abscond with my vanilla.

The only big event that vanilla has missed was our wedding this spring, when for once someone else made the cake.

In loaves-and-fishes fashion, that little bottle seemed to last much longer than it naturally should have. I wish I knew how many decadent cakes, cheesecakes, pies, cookies, pans of fudge, Thanksgiving sweet potato casseroles (not the kind with marshmallows!) and Irish coffee or Southern whiskey balls it has made — the list seems endless.

With only about a quarter-inch remaining in the bottom of the bottle, I’m now jealously reserving it for only the most special occasions.

So this year, I’m giving vanilla to loved ones and friends who cook (and even some who don’t — yet). This vanilla will also come in unassuming bottles, the real stuff, delivered with this story of my own little bottle — and with the wish that over time theirs will generate as many good memories as mine has.

Thank you, Mark and Shayna, for such a magical, artful gift.

This past week brought another illustration of the power of LTOs, and one that I get to puff my chest out about a bit by familial association. The new SweeTango apple is ballyhooed both in The New Yorker and NPR’s All Things Considered. Congratulations to my husband, apple grower and marketer Dennis Courtier, for recognizing “her” potential so many years ago. A new variety that’s still in short supply (though she’ll always be an LTO), SweeTangos are now off the shelves for the year — but already building plenty of pent-up demand for her return next fall. Just read her Facebook page.

The produce industry is by nature an LTO business. Every season offers something new — or at least renewed — and exciting. Personally, I don’t think we leverage our products as LTOs well enough, and conversely, providing year-round supply further commoditizes our products. If your goal is to dominate a market, you may feel forced to deliver fresh produce widgets year-round. But if your goal is instead to build a fan base that’s so passionate about your differentiated product that they are willing to pay more for it, breaking the commodity mold, then LTO marketing is for you.

This past weekend I was reminded of the real-world consequences when our industry doesn’t tell our story — or worse, when we let others control how our industry is depicted.

My fiance and I had stumbled quite accidentally on a small tapas restaurant in Chicago, and were absolutely delighting in incredible dish after dish prepared right in front of us. (We’d opted to sit at the bar, which as luck would have it also turned out to double as the finishing line in this small store.) It was immediately clear to us that the menu had been prepared with love and ingredients chosen with care, and we foodies were in absolute heaven to be so surprised and delighted. So being a writer at heart, I simply had to find out this place’s story. Fortunately the assistant manager and sous chef was working right in front of us, and was quite happy to recount how the stars had aligned to allow the opening only two months ago of what turned out to be a second location of the owner and chef.

As the evening progressed, we queried her about ingredients. What was this leafy green? What kind of apples were these, and from where? (My fiance is an apple grower and marketer.) As she educated us, we also learned a lot about her perceptions about produce — and her misperceptions. While she was well educated about food and health in general, a knowledge likely driven by her own celiac disease, she had bought into Dirty Dozen-type reports. She also thought that “organic” meant pesticide-free. This was a woman who works in the food industry, and has the ability to impact the dietary habits of easily thousands of people in an average year.

Simply put, we must do a better job of telling our story, folks — and at a minimum, not letting other folks tell our stories for us (often to our detriment). If you don’t already know this, telling our story has many benefits — both intangible, such as building goodwill that can help in times of potential industry crisis, as I recently saw Earthbound Farms do artfully — and intangible, by helping us overcome misperceptions that limit our markets. And PMA can help you; your PMA staff includes several public relations experts who can help you, so just give us a call, we are at your service. …

And if you want to know where to get really good tapas in Chicago, just let me know, I’ll be glad to share [the restaurant's] contact information.

Check out Field to Fork here. Read the original post in its entirety here.