There's a lot more to handling the media than sending out releases and answering queries.

The company that succeeds best is the company that takes the trouble to understand them, their pressures and their demands. That means getting to know what they want and do not want, how to make contact and the best time to do so, how to build productive relationships, and how to exploit opportunities for coverage - to your benefit and theirs.

To do all this well isn't easy. It means gaining "insider knowledge" - and the journalists on the Mercury team can give it you straight from the horse's mouth.

We can also show you how to prepare for and handle interviews - even the prickly Jeremy Paxman sort - how to turn the negative into the positive, and how to ensure you always get your message across. We can even show you how to write your own stories, if that's what you want.

We've some neat tips and techniques, too, for appearing on radio and TV. What you can be sure of when you've undergone Mercury media training is that the media will straightaway spot the professional touch - which means they'll not only be impressed, but will be far more receptive.