The Conor McGregor School of Media Relations

As PR Experts we can spot when someone is a natural with the media and can point out the lessons they teach us

MMA is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and to say I was a massive fan would be an understatement. So what does that have to do with it giving even a hardened team of PR experts like Holyrood PR advice?

I’ve followed the sport and other martial arts from a young age, films that made use of martial arts had me hooked and it was only natural that as the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) became available to me that I would become a big fan of that too.

In recent times, one of the biggest stars to ever venture on to the MMA scene is Conor McGregor. A Dublin based fighter, his charisma and personality has seen him become the most successful star that the UFC has had on its roster, with record breaking sales of tickets and Pay Per View. He’s attracted so much limelight pretty much anything he says or does becomes a media story.

How does he do it?

How does he do it though? He doesn’t have a team of PR people looking to make him a huge success, but he is savvy enough to manage his reputation, image and outreach to fans in a co-ordinated way.

I’d like to teach you how you could emulate Conor McGregor’s approach to the media – without the need to step into a cage and fight for it; in three easy steps.

Hard Work

McGregor undoubtedly puts in the work to achieve his goals – he went through long periods of financial instability and worked in jobs he wasn’t too sure about to reach the heady heights he’s at today. You don’t have to hit the punchbag though – you just need to make sure you put the hard work in for your business.

To put the hard work in you’ve got to follow these steps:

Know your business inside out. It’s key that you understand every area of your business – you never know when being an expert will get you news coverage.
Look for stories. It’s vital that you get to know your staff, events within your business and understand that news stories may be everywhere in your organisation.
Get to know the media. The media is diverse and wide ranging, if you know which journalists cover your area of business – get to know them!

Check out how we put in the hard work required and got some great coverage for our client, Surgeons Hall. One of many examples of the hard work we do on a daily basis.

Know your audience

Conor McGregor knows his audience. He can choose his language based on who he is speaking to, whether it is UFC fans, the mainstream media or children. They all require a distinctly different approach and he achieves this. A well known example of this can be seen here in this clip from his recent UFC Press Conference where he taps into the large Irish American audience by proclaiming that, “The Irish, we built this town,…now we’re coming back to claim what’s ours.”

https://youtu.be/lSMBYkLfZ_4?t=30

In business this is equally important. You need to look at who you want to engage with, how they like to be engaged with and what you’re aiming for by engaging with them.

We recently worked with the Perth and Kinross Council to target businesses in the run up to the TravelExpo. Discover how we successfully targeted these people

Win or Learn

John Kavanagh, McGregor’s esteemed coach has recently released a book by the name of “Win or Learn”. This book seeks to tell the story of his career and of Conor McGregor while passing on the lesson that you can either win or learn.

This is an excellent way to approach business, in that you can be successful in achieving your goals, whether they be financial or in media coverage – but when you don’t you can learn how to improve for next time.

We use a similar approach in our business, which is why we’ve continuously developed our approach to training our staff. In fact, we issue new staff members and interns with a book that we’ve branded, The Intern Bible. This explains the reasoning behind everything we do, everything we seek to achieve and more. It’s something all businesses should consider, when an employee knows how their part in the business affects the grand scheme of all things to be considered in a business.

We also understand that as a team we’ve got to work together to help each other improve. Alongside this attitude and continuous training in courses provided by the CIPR and the PRCA we look to learn every single day.