The Colab Brief - 105: Just 🐝 Yourself: PR Lessons from the Mean Girls Media Tour

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Sometimes the best lessons turn up in the most unexpected places. 

And while you may not think that Mean Girls has anything to do with your growing business, think again. 

Read time: 3 minutes

One of the best qualities someone can have is knowing when to admit they were wrong. 

For the record, we weren’t wrong. 

We’re never wrong. 🙃

There’s just a little more to the story than we originally alluded to. 

Over the course of our careers, we’ve media-coached hundreds of executives 👵 And if you’ve been with us for a while, you know that we’ve even talked about the key pillars of a successful interview in a previous post. 

And while we still stand by everything we said back then, there’s one element that we forgot to cover (so silly, we know). And that is to be yourself. 🐝

Let me catch you up to speed. Musician and actor Reneé Rap has been making headlines recently. Not only for her role in the newly released Mean Girls remake but for the way that she’s been handling her press tour, securing headlines like I hope Renée Rapp never succumbs to media training from Business Insider And When Going Off Message Is the Message from The New York Times. 

Now if you’re in the B2B space don’t go clicking away. This pertains to you too. 

If you’ve watched any one of her interviews you’ll notice that Rapp is unapologetically genuine with the press.

She’s totally unscripted, off the cuff, and frankly all of the things that we, as publicists, have nightmares about. 

According to the New York Times: 

“She’s not staying within the established safe boundaries of what’s the right thing to say, and that’s why her fans are identifying with her and gravitating to her — it’s very refreshing,” said Bill McGowan, founder and chief executive of Clarity Media Group, who conducted the Kardashians’ first media training session. “I mean, think about it — in some ways unhinged has become the new authentic.”

To be fair, when you’re the CEO of a burgeoning tech company, it’s easy to think that there’s not as much room for this level of behavior. 

But if you really boil it down, there is. 

Every business out there is run by people, who are making decisions to partner with and spend money on other businesses, run by people. 

Now more than ever, people care about the people behind the curtain. Executives can’t just behave however they want, hiding behind the facade of a global brand. What they do and who they are, in and outside the office, matters. 

When interviewing, it's important to abide by traditional media tactics - don’t be too salesy, know that nothing is off the record, and make sure you know your stuff. All of those pillars still stand. But just within recent months, it’s also becoming more important to be truly genuine. 

People can see through a fake exterior. They know when you’re telling the truth, and when you’re telling them what they want to hear. They know when you’re reading from a script, and they especially know if you weren’t the one to write it.

When you’re practicing your interview, understand exactly what you want to say. But then reverse engineer it as if you were to say it to a friend or a family member - not a reporter. Learn how to talk about your company, product, and industry as they actually are - stripped of all the buzzwords like “unprecedented,” “game-changing,” and “moving the needle.” 

What does any of that even mean, anyway?

If you wouldn’t explain it to a high schooler like that, then stop explaining it to a reporter like that. 

Chances are, if you’re an executive at a growing company, what you’re doing matters. So stop trying to make it seem like it matters. Reporters are smart - they’ll be able to see the value you and your company are providing without all the superfluous lingo. 

See you next week!

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