What Donald Trump’s performance on X with Elon Musk tells us about Media interview skills.
It was certainly a memorable performance and an extraordinary interview – but did Donald Trump’s appearance on X with the company’s founder, Elon Musk, benefit his election campaign?
As the leading provider of Media Training for CEOs, we particularly wanted to analyse this interview to see what lessons senior spokespeople and Comms teams can take away from it.
Media Training for celebrities, political leaders and influencers.
We also provide Media Training for celebrities, political leaders and influencers – and there aren’t many people other than Donald Trump who tick all three of these boxes.
Here are three takeaways from the Republican nominee’s conversation with Elon Musk.
1. What should businesspeople do if journalists ask them about their political views?
In our Media Training courses for CEOs and business leaders, we will talk about politics. We put our course participants through realistic role-play interviews. These are carried out by our trainers who are experienced, working journalists operating under Non-Disclosure Agreements. This means that the CEOs we train, whether they’ve had media experience or not, get an authentic interview in safe, confidential environment. One of the tricky questions we will throw at the CEOs that we’re training is about their views on a current political controversy.
We advise most spokespeople to steer clear of any kind of politics but with a CEO or a business leader, it’s more likely that they will be expected to have an opinion on an important, topical political issue. This might be Britain’s relationships with Europe, potential legislation affecting workers’ rights or the future direction of interest rates. We work closely with the CEO’s PR teams and comms experts to help them to avoid getting drawn into political controversy – as Elon Musk has done so often recently – while enabling them to say something that is newsworthy and informative.
Not on that but we provide them with techniques which will enable them to maintain control of the conversation and get back onto their own agenda.
Elon Musk’s controversial political statements and his willingness to nail his colours to one political mast work for him given his unique position. However, this strategy (if that’s what it is) has certainly damaged X, formerly Twitter, in many people’s opinions, including those of a large number of its advertisers. Avoiding political controversy while saying something insightful and newsworthy is a skill. But it’s one that we help business leaders to master in our Media Training courses for CEOs.
2. Being clear on your message.
In our Media Training workshops for CEOs, we always say that “one interview equals one story, equals one headline”. This is because even if the journalist is carrying out a profile interview, they will still be looking for a headline. So often business leaders will do a general wide-ranging interview and then be furious when the journalist focuses on a particular story or a line that doesn’t suit them.
“Why did they quote me on that?” they will ask indignantly. “Because that was the most newsworthy thing you said in the journalist’s opinion,” comes answer. To which the riposte is “But I said all kinds of other things which I hoped that the journalist would use.” Again, working closely with the comms teams for the CEO we will help them to focus on one message.
This is something that works for them as the interviewee but will also be of interest to journalist. As we point out, this gives a CEO more control of the interview but also works for the journalist as they have a good idea of the story that they can take away and use. Again, our media trainers, as working journalists, will know how you can achieve this win-win situation.
Donald Trump thew out all kinds of story lines and headlines, some more shocking than others during his conversation with Elon Musk. But he left it very much up to the media to decide what they want to focus on. The fact that the interview went on for two hours is another red light for us. We recommend time limiting any media exposure for a CEO so that, again, you have more control over the interview and the final product.
3. Choose your medium carefully.
What Donald Trump’s performance on X with Elon Musk tells us about Media interview skills. The chosen media actually worked well for Trump and Musk, we would argue. X hit the former president’s target audience and meant that he could take his time during a very soft, supportive interview. After all, how many Trump supporters or potential voters watch CNN or read the Washington Post?
The audience and the medium that enable you to talk to your target audience is essential when planning a media interview. During our media training for CEOs, we work closely with their PR teams to help them to identify the most appropriate media outlet and to think about who they’re ultimately talking to.
As an industry leader you might be doing in interview for a trade publication, a general business outlet such as the FT or even a regional title. The messages that you put across, the language that you use and the examples and stories that you identify to explain and support those messages are all dependant on the audience.
What effect Donald Trump’s interview with Elon Musk has on his poll rating and the election in November remains to be seen. However, when it comes to media training courses for CEOs, it’s given use plenty to think about.
About our media training courses for CEOs.
These are intensive, one-to-one sessions in which we work with PR companies and in house Comms teams to prepare business leaders to do print, podcast and TV media interviews.
It might be because they’re new in their role or the company is going through important changes.
We help CEOs to:
- Put across their key messages effectively
- Raise their profiles as thought leaders
- Share their vision and ambitions for the company
- Speak to shareholders, employees, customers, local communities, politicians and regulators
- Use storytelling techniques in their communications
- Demonstrate their leaderships skills
- Maintain control of interviews
Media Training courses for celebrities, political leaders and influencers.
Our media training courses for CEOs teach techniques to control interviews and steer away from difficult topics. We create all of our media training for fashion brands and luxury houses from scratch to meet the client’s needs exactly. Come and talk to us. You can follow us on LinkedIn here.
