Making the most of the spotlight: Advice from Today Show presenter Jessica Ridley

“Media networks are running on the smell of an oily rag – they really are. So there's actually an opportunity there for PRs and for spokespersons to guide and influence the direction of the story.” –Jessica Ridley, Today Show Presenter + BTW Media Founder

This episode of It’s PR Darlings, Jo Stone and Greer Quinn chat with journalist Jessica Ridley whose voice – and face – you’d recognise from national TV reporting roles, news-reading gigs and live crosses.

It’s PR Darlings invited Jess on the podcast for two reasons – one is her years of experience in TV and her insights into post-covid television newsrooms in particular, but also because of her experience in media and presentation training, which is a specialised training that all PR, communications and marketing managers should be doing regularly with clients who have to front the media.

From taking sips of water and regulating your breathing to small-talk before an interview, Jessica provides the media interview tips and tricks that’ll see you invited back.

“Visualise that one person sitting at home, eating their dinner, watching the 6:00 pm news – that's the person you're talking to,” Jessica says.

A chance to hold the microphone on national television presents a rare moment of influence, but talent sometimes falls short through poor preparation or mindset.

“If you get that chance for a couple of minutes on national television, those opportunities are far and few between,” Jessica says.

“I definitely see a lot of people that could have done with just a little bit of preparation, you know, some key messages prep as well, so that they're going in and they're really clear about what they want to say and their position on the issue.”

During Season Four, It’s PR Darlings is providing insight into some journalistic tools to help you hack the newsworthy algorithm to create content the media want to publish and follow. A cornerstone to that is news values, which journalists use every day to measure newsworthiness. This episode’s news value is a journo favourite – it’s “unusual” or “bizarre”.

It’s PR Darlings is produced by Jo Stone from Sticks and Stones PR and Greer Quinn from Forward Communications. Jessica will be joining Jo and Greer on stage during Mumbrella 360 in July. Please get in touch for tickets and guest discounts.

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