Tag Archives: Public relations

You landed your first TV interview!
Now what?
Five tips for positive coverage

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Houston, TX., 9/10/2005 -- Media conduct inter...
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You finally nailed it – a local TV reporter you’ve been calling and emailing for weeks wants to interview you for the business, community or social issue that you’ve been promoting. Excited, you call your friends to alert them about your upcoming TV news appearance. Now what?

That’s the question I posed to my friend Kathy, who was thrilled about her upcoming WGN-TV interview about her community’s opposition to a giant new sports complex.

Landing the big interview to generate awareness for her cause was a great reward for her media outreach efforts. She quickly recognized though that the prize – accurate reporting of her position – only comes with preparation.

Looking at a reporter, talking to into a microphone, searching for a profound  comment while a video camera rolls is not a skill most of us possess. As my colleague Neil Parker advises his clients “An interview is no time for original thought.” Your comments and how you present them should be prepared and practiced far in advance!

These tried and true steps will arm you with the confidence you’ll need to turn that interview into and all your PR efforts into positive coverage. These apply to practically any media interview, whether you’re speaking on behalf of a community group, business, government or nonprofit organization:

Agree on a spokesperson

For businesses, governments or nonprofits, that’s an easy one. It’s usually the top executive. But if you’re a community group with many volunteers at work, you’ll need to agree in advance on who’s doing the interview. The stark reality is that it should be one person (or two at most) who will do the interview. If there are two of you, agree in advance who will discuss which topics, so you don’t repeat your key messages.

Turn your messages into sound bites

Since the news report is likely limited to two or three minutes, expect that just one or two of your sound bites – typically 10 to 20 seconds long– will be aired. Before the interview, jot down your key messages and shorten them. Repeat and put your messages in your own words to increase your comfort level and boost confidence.

Remember — COMFORT + CONFIDENCE = POSITIVE COVERAGE

Anticipate questions

Be prepared with answers by knowing the questions. It’s likely that as a business exec, government leader or a community activist, you’ve been asked hundreds of questions. Identify which questions are most likely to be asked. Put your topic in context of other news or trends. For example, the sports complex proposed for Kathy’s community comes as other similar facilities are failing and may require government help – a tax increase – to stay afloat. So her answers should refer to the experiences of other towns stuck with a white elephant that will require a bail out.

Practice

Rehearsing your answers is AS important as framing them. Ask a colleague to lead a mock interview. That experience will be just as weird and surreal as the real video-recorded interview, so why not get the hang of it beforehand! Practice a few times, and if you have a video camera or digital recorder, use it! Watching or hearing yourself for the first time is hard for anybody, but you’ll learn a valuable lesson and will sharpen your performance after seeing yourself in action.

Relax

Yes, you can still have nervous energy – it’s natural and provides the adrenaline rush that leads to great performances. However, the way to channel that energy into a compelling interview is by being prepared, knowing what to expect and facing your questions with confidence.

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Trying to Make Business News in the Political Clutter?

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Campaign Signs on the Corner of 6th and Morton
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We’re heading into the final stretch for the mid-term elections, with just four full days before voting day November 2nd. If you think  the media won’t latch on to your non-political story idea, change your way of thinking. I just pitched two Illinois reporters on a business story and asked if they’d be interested at this time and they both said YES.

A general assignment reporter for public radio said she might use my item for Tuesday, because typically radio stations have an election-day blackout on campaign mudslinging and candidate positioning. She needs non-campaign pieces for her hourly newscasts. Another newspaper business reporter says he’s always looking for business items he can localize and is also considering a client interview.

The message here, as with all media relations: Don’t enter a PR assignment with your own preconceived notions. If you don’t think reporters will be interested, ask them what they’re covering and what they’ll be needing, based on the calendar or everyday circumstances. Don’t think your business message will get drowned out just because we’re in the midst of fiercely contested political races. In fact, don’t think too hard about it at all…just call and talk!

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How Christine O’Donnell broke PR’s golden rule

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The new Christine O'Donnell Witch doll.

“I am not a witch!” Tea Party Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell held a news conference this week to introduce her “I am not a witch” campaign ads. She admitted that she dabbled in witchcraft at a younger age, and now her critics are taking advantage of the admission. Her response is a PR person’s worst nightmare.

Why, oh why would she create a political ad to promote this message, and why would her manager allow her to do it? By sending out this message – and giving it a campaign priority, O’Donnell has broken one of the top rules of PR — never repeat a negative. Richard Nixon broke the rule: “I am not a crook.” Mayor Richard M. Daley did it: “I am not a wimp.” And now O’Donnell. Responding to a negative question with a negative answer only reinforces in the mind of the listener that you really  ARE what you say you AREN’T! The negative sticks to you.

By putting out this ad, and making it her message, her problem didn’t go away. It just got worse. I, like many people, didn’t pay attention to the details of her background. I was amused by her candidacy, but I wouldn’t have cared, because I’m not voting for her.

Now, she’s allowed her campaign to become even more of a circus act than it already was. I’ll follow her now, just for the entertainment value of witnessing her next PR blunder.

How might she have responded to questions about her past interest in witchcraft? She could have responded “I’ve already answered questions about that, and it’s not relavent today, when so many other challenges are facing our country.” Or she might have said, “I’m sure all of us regret some of our youthful indiscretions, and my campaign is about finding answers to our problems, and not looking back.”

Is that a sincere answer? Probably not, but it would have saved her from the damaging headlines and the lingering story. Heck, just as she announced “I am not a witch,” a new doll manufacturer came out with the Christine O’Donnell action figure, and guess what, she’s dressed as a witch!

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The Magic of a Thank You

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Thank you *
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My family returned from a fabulous weekend trip at a friend’s lakeside country cottage this weekend in Galena, where we swam, boated, fished, swam some more, gazed at wild turkeys, cooked great meals, race walked, antique shopped, read books from an incredible home library and relaxed in a wonderfully comfortable setting. Since returning, I have considered many ways to show my appreciation…and the first and simplest action came from a suggestion in my inbox this morning! I subscribe to GasPedal from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

We’re convinced that if more people sent thank you notes, the world would be a better place. In about two minutes — for the cost of a postage stamp — you can create a personalized, memorable experience for a customer that they’ll tell the world about. This simple trick alone is one of the big reasons Zappos sold a billion dollars in shoes last year.

I’m embarrased to admit that my stash of thank you notes is about two years old. They should have been sent to many generous and kind friends and colleagues many moons ago. I’ve resolved this summer to use all of my thank you notes by September. Perhaps I’ll strengthen a friendship, surprise a prospective marketing and PR client,  warm the heart of my mom, husband and sisters, and put on a written display of thoughtfulness.

That means I’ll have to send about one a week. Do you have someone you know who deserves your handwritten thank you in a nice card? Do you think they’ll like/love you even more when they see how thoughtful and gracious and grateful you are? Do you think your business partners might have fonder thoughts about you upon receiving your note? Don’t you think the world would be a better place if we all wrote thank you notes and muzzled that “I just don’t have the time” excuse?

Give it a try, and let me know how it makes you feel! I feel like  a better human being just placing a stamp on the envelope and walking it to the mailbox a few minutes ago.



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Scrap the Obituary, the Elevator Pitch is Alive and Well

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Elevator
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That was the question that sparked my interest today, as I read my Inc.com Today’s Small Business Newsletter. It was a post by venture capital blogger Mark Peter Davis who claimed that the all-important elevator pitch, relied upon by business start ups seeking investment bankers’ money, is kaput. Here’s a link to his post.

Entrepreneurs, The Elevator Pitch is Dead

I am not in the VC funding business. I work with entrepreneurs and well-established business people who want to get their messages placed succinctly online and in the media. Before I write any copy, make one phone call or send one email about my clients, I work with them to polish their key messages, and yes, that includes helping them with an elevator pitch. So I had a strong opinion today when I left this comment on Davis’ blog post:

Mark, as someone who spends a lot of time helping clients improve their messaging, I disagree that the elevator pitch is dead. My guess is it’s still alive in the VC industry too. No matter what business you’re in, a business person needs a strong pitch that captures folks’ attention and that’s what an elevator pitch does. It’s also a conversation starter and a way to get a dialogue going by teasing someone to ask further questions.

Also, if you work with the media — bloggers and/or reporters/editors who write for traditional newspapers, magazines, tv or radio — you’ll always need an elevator pitch. The media especially (and the social media crowd as a whole, in my opinion) need that one strong sentence that captures the essence of what you do, how you serve your customers and why it’s important in the first place. In fact, I believe anyone looking for a job should also have an elevator pitch that summarizes their strengths and skills. The elevator pitch should answer questions and get a conversation going.

Something else to consider — this is the era of short attention spans. We’re all multi-tasking as we communicate, so crafting an attention-grabbing elevator pitch about your business or yourself is one of the best ways to get remembered.
What do you think? Do you use an elevator pitch in your daily working life? What would your business be without one? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Four Ts to Being A Tip-Top Manager

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In my years in business, government and the media I’ve come to admire the great managers who’ve led my past organizations and have learned some lessons from the mediocre managers.

Now that I’m in business for myself, I have learned that you can easily measure a manager by the guidelines that just happen to neatly begin with the letter T.

Time – How well does he/she manage their time? Do they meet their deadlines, follow up in a timeline manner, act promptly on the task items before them?  Time is a constant — Everyone must follow its rules, from the lowly intern to the omnipotent CEO. If you fail to meet your time commitments or deadlines, you’ll instill doubt among those with whom you do business or at worst you’ll lose respect of everyone.

Tone – Here I mean your attitude and treatment of others. Are you following the Golden Rule? In this era of social media, helping others is the mantra – provide helpful tips to your followers and fans and they will show their gratitude with greater word of mouth and/or sales.  So ask yourself: “What’s my tone? How do I treat those around me? If you rule by intimidation, you set a horrible work environment for those around you. While a negative, pessimistic attitude will only bring your team down and diminish confidence and motivation.  What’s the tone you’ve set for your work and personal life?

Talking – Raise your hand if you’ve ever sat through a meeting trying to interject, but that one person monopolized the conversation, droning on and on and impeding anyone else’s input. There’s at least one in every group. There are those among us who repeat the same thoughts for impact, unaware that it’s a waste of everyone’s time. In your daily conversation with those you’re closest with, it might be helpful to ask others if you are one of those repeaters. I’m lucky, I have a pre-teen daughter who tells me I drive her nuts when I say the same thing over and over again! She’s taught me a lesson I apply at work: Say it once, maybe twice and others will listen. Say it again and again and they’ll tune you out.

Tasks – This is about deadlines. A real measure of how well you know yourself is how you commit to a deadline. How long will it take to get that spread sheet to the boss? After collecting research, will you really turn around that case study in one day?  As a former radio news reporter, I’ve been on deadlines since college. If I didn’t meet them, I’d leave pockets of dead air on the radio stations for which I worked. So I treat deadlines as ironclad. Whether it’s in work or life, I get this unnerved, anxiety-ridden feeling if a deadline approaches and I fear I can’t meet it (it’s healthy f for me, because it keeps me on track and I almost always meet them).  How about you? Do you respect your deadlines? Do you stick to them or not? What does that do to the relationships with your co-workers or the teams you lead?  I think failing to keep a deadline chips away at your credibility. I don’t ever want to risk that. My credibility is my name and my name is my brand. If I don’t keep those strong, I won’t have a strong business or a strong relationship with my friends, family and associates.

So, those are my Four Ts for being a tip-top manager.  After looking them over, I realize that these Four Ts apply to living a good life as well!  What about you? Do you have some others that you live by?  I would love to hear what you think. Send me comments here or at michelledamico (at) comcast.net!

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PR uses of Twitter in Government

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Great story in the Wall Street Journal today about tools for PR folks using Twitter. Since I spoke yesterday at a Social Media for Government Conference, I thought those who could or couldn’t attend might be interested in these Twitter tools.

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