Some of the organisations and brands we have worked with:
What people say about us:
“I worked with Karen in preparation for a live TV interview slot on a global TV news channel. Our sessions together transformed me from looking unsure and sounding underwhelming, to an altogether more confident self, sure of my delivery and fully aware of what questions to expect. As a result, I went to the studio full of belief, and delivered a pitch-perfect performance to the world. Highly recommended!”
“We worked with Karen and the Shoot the Messenger team on media training for the CEO and other executives with one of our clients, a luxury brand. The brief was to hone their skills not only when speaking with the media, but when presenting their brand outside of the organisation, to various audiences - pulling out the key messages to focus on, do’s and don’ts when speaking about the brand and how to convey their USPs to set them apart from the competition.
Karen’s diligence in preparing the delegates for the actual training, was outstanding. The research, planning and organisation was faultless and meant that on the day, which was densely packed, the content was productive, on point and importantly, ran to time - which is key when you have delegates coming from overseas.
For us it was very important to have someone who knows our industry well. It meant that the nuances of our sector were familiar territory and role-play scenarios planned accordingly. The team have gone away more confident, with plenty of takeaways to ensure that they can build on what they have learnt.”
“As specialists in crisis PR our clients often need expert media training on a range of sensitive subjects. Karen and her team do this brilliantly. They consistently receive high praise for the incredibly skilled way they help people articulate complex messages in an accessible and media-friendly way. Clients always leave the training session feeling reassured, confident, and very well-equipped to face whatever difficult questions journalists may throw at them.”
“I really appreciated the time we had with you and found it so helpful to think through so many different angles - it was a fun, safe and very stimulating session. Your obvious preparation beforehand to make the training relevant for our organisation meant that all your examples and the exercises were spot-on and relatable. Thank you ”
“Karen worked strategically and efficiently with my public speaking worries and my draft speech. She reminded me to think about my objective, focus on the audience and make sure the speech would have something strong for the listeners to take away.
She turned my stats-heavy and over wordy copy from a summary of an annual review into something that would emote and resonate with my audience. The words instantly became easier to deliver and easier to listen to!
Karen gave me confidence and self belief. Her expertise hasn’t just helped with a key event but will improve my future talks and public appearances both internally to my team and externally to stakeholders. Invaluable, timely and expert.”
“It was such a pleasure working with Shoot the Messenger on this project. In a crowded and saturated landscape it is becoming more and more difficult to stand out and understand what will give your brand cut through. Karen was amazing at taking us through what is required and expected of us, refining our messages and ultimately making us feel more confident and empowered to tell our brand story in a considered and engaging way. With the explosion of social media, communication coaching should no longer be seen as a luxury, but as a critical business objective. ”
“Karen created a bespoke training session for four senior executives at Renovo, helping us understand how best to work with the media, and it was superb. She went through the full media process including what journalists look for in media interviews. She drew upon her own extensive experience and was able to cover so much across the three hour session.
The training was delivered remotely, however Karen kept it interactive, informative and overall extremely engaging. She had clearly done her research and gave specific examples aligned to the type of scenarios I would be working on. She introduced helpful techniques to improve communicating with the media which I have already started to use with confidence in other situations too.
I would highly recommend her services and wouldn’t hesitate to contact her again in the future!”
“We worked with Shoot The Messenger to undertake media training for core team members. Karen’s preparation and research into the company and category were excellent and ensured the session was fully customised to our needs and immediately practical, with results seen in mainstream press within weeks.
Karen’s extensive experience and above and beyond approach left the team fully prepared and cognisant of their objectives, required preparation and key tools to deliver optimised interviews. With a clear understanding that Karen can always be contacted to aid in last minute press requirements as well as structured training she provides a fantastic resource and aid to management.”
“Karen’s professionalism and in-depth knowledge of the media landscape is second to none. She always takes unique client requirements into account, and builds a tailored programme to perfectly suit the individual and the brand she is working with, ensuring the best possible results.”
“If someone had told me a few years back that I’d end up as one of the co-presenters on a terrestrial TV programme, I wouldn’t have believed them. Working as a Pro Make Up Artist with cosmetics brand Bobbi Brown, I was selected to attend a presentation workshop with Karen, and she picked me out as someone she felt had potential to become a brand ambassador for media opportunities. She worked with me to build my confidence and gave me loads of advice and techniques so I felt comfortable using my own voice to promote the brand on TV, doing print interviews and creating live and pre-recorded video content for our own and other media platforms.
Karen’s approach to coaching helps bring out the human side of a brand story and make it relatable to an audience. She is brilliant at nurturing the character of each spokesperson - my colleagues all received equally individual tips to amplify their personality, pin point their strengths and iron out weak points. I found the radio studio coaching particularly useful, as it gave me the tools to communicate a visual subject on an audio channel. We also did some specialist training to develop the specific skills to present Bobbi Brown’s QVC slots, selling product on high-pressure, live TV, while doing make-up demonstrations.
As a result of the tailored workshops I did with Karen, the nerves disappeared and she engendered a sense of self-belief. I really began to enjoy the experience of being a brand spokesperson - and the business saw the real impact, with very tangible retail and online sales spikes and increased traffic to our website and social channels directly after any appearance.
Today, as a freelance make-up artist and beauty influencer, I now have my own social media channels, hosting tutorials on YouTube and creating content for instagram, and have had the amazing opportunity to be one of the expert presenters on Channel 5’s ’10 years younger in 10 days’, and I would never have been empowered to pursue this path without Karen’s input. She has amazing interpersonal skills, an incredibly diverse media career that she can draw upon and a ‘magic touch’ that could imbue anyone with the power of presentation skills.”
“In my former role heading up the Communications Team at Bobbi Brown, Karen worked with our Pro Team of make-up artists, helping them develop a strong toolkit of skills for media interviews and on-camera techniques for practical demonstrations. She helped us understand how to create an engaging storytelling narrative, and truly empowered the artists to use their own language and personalities to convey our key messaging. Karen worked on honing those messages with collaborative communications coaching, and then delivered invaluable practical skills workshops in TV and radio studios to help the team fulfil their potential as brand ambassadors in a multitude of scenarios.
Those artists became powerful marketing assets for us, helping us develop the brand’s online presence with our own content and via their own social media channels, promoting new products and campaigns to key press and selling vast volumes of product on QVC. Her impact was measurable from a marketing budget perspective, and it goes without saying that I frequently recommend and endorse Karen’s training programmes.”
“In my time media training with Karen she was always alert to the client’s needs and ensured the sessions were engaging and interactive. Her background in media was invaluable in advising companies how to get their message across in language that would interest journalists and portray the company in the right way. Crucially, her coaching always gave the spokespeople new skills and left them confident in facing the media.”
“I can honestly say that your training gave me the confidence to go on camera and into interviews feeling like an expert, and that allowed me to deliver all my business objectives. Your training session helped me to understand how the real deal will go, covering everything from where the cameras could be and what difficult questions could be asked. You are a great coach, and I became a more confident and skilled presenter as a result. Thank you, Karen!”
“Thank you so much for the media training – it was super helpful. I felt so much more confident and empowered to talk authoritatively after your advice. I’ve already been recommending your services to others, including the leadership team of our holding company in Sri Lanka”