In today’s episode, Michael is in conversation with Ann Wright of Rough House Media who has an interesting personal business story, and great information for other business owners.
Starting off in media
Ann began her working life as a journalist on a regional paper. Even at that early stage of her career, she chased down a big consumer story that went national. A series of career moves took her to the BBC where she ended up as a producer on some high-profile documentary and consumer shows. She and her husband originally founded Rough House Media as a side hustle, but after her son was born she took the decision to leave the BBC and concentrate on the business.
It was a steep learning curve, as she grappled with all the unaccustomed tasks that fall to every business owner. Not the least of her new challenges was sales. Although the business was already in existence, their client base was small, and she had to expand it to make the business viable. Early on, she discovered the power of saying “yes” to opportunity and then working out the next steps.
Since 2008 the business has gone from strength to strength, helping their clients prepare for media appearances. During that time the landscape has changed and developed significantly. Mainstream media is still there and is hugely influential but alongside that, the rise in social media has produced a different kind of impact. Posts can go viral within hours or even minutes—and not always for good reasons. There is a rise in podcast and YouTube channels, providing a fantastic array of opportunities to spread the word about your business.
If you want your business to develop and grow, then it is important to understand how you are perceived, whether that is on TV, on a podcast, or on a social media live interview. If you are unaware of how to present yourself and your information in the best way, then your brand may suffer from audience perception that you are ill-prepared, unprofessional or, even worse, a bit shady.
Rough House provides training in all aspects of media, and one of the most important elements of what they offer is preparing clients for how to deal with a crisis. Since March 2020 we’ve all had more than our fair share of crises, but even without a pandemic things sometimes go wrong in business. Social media has the power to make a small faux pas go viral in minutes. How would you cope if that happened to you?
With her background in the BBC Consumer’s Unit, Ann has seen time and time again what can happen to a business when things go wrong. She saw the hundreds of thousands of complaints that came into the unit from people who felt they had been treated unfairly or ripped off. She and her team investigated many of them.
Ann and her colleagues have a huge amount of combined experience in the media, covering events of all kinds, both celebrations and disasters. Who better to prepare you for the worst? Ann has some great tips and advice for dealing with crises. Her top tip is not to wait until it happens. Do you have any kind of risk assessment in your business?
