The following is an article
that appeared in Gumas Advertising's June Issue of "Marketing
Smart", a publication we highly recommend that you
subscribe to.
Do You Know How
to Speak to the Press?
There's
no advertising exposure more credible than having a PR story
featuring your company or product in a magazine, local newspaper
or on television or radio.
Many times, our clients will ask us to help train them to
become better at the interview process. They ask us to teach
them that special interview "style" or how to best "perform"
for reporters. Here's the advice we've been giving our clients
for the last 19 years…
Many reporters will make immediate judgements about you
based on your body language, tone of voice and other small
nuances that determine your honesty, integrity and depth
of knowledge. So our advice is always the same: be yourself,
act naturally and come to the interview with a clear message
that will be interesting to the reporters’ audience. The
more you try to be someone you are not, the less credible
you appear in the eyes of professional reporters.
With that caveat, here are five tips to keep in mind the
next time the press is interviewing you:
1. Be prepared. Practice your
message until it sounds natural and unrehearsed. The best
way to do well in an interview is to know what you want
to say beforehand. Have your main message points written
down and in front of you so you can be sure to cover these
main topics.
2. Speak at a slower pace.
Most of us tend to speak faster when we're nervous, so be
sure to slow down.
3. Keep your answers informal,
conversational and try not to speak in techno-babble. You'll
come across as more believable.
4. If you get off-track from
what you intended to say or get hit with a difficult question,
answer it as briefly as possible and politely move the discussion
back to your key points. For example: "Yes, we've had layoffs,
but the good news for our company and our community is (insert
your key message here)."
5. Relax and be yourself.
PR coverage is a great tool
for any company. If you don't have an ongoing PR plan already,
be sure to develop one, and learn to speak to the press.
Then just watch your company grow.
Until next month…
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JG -
Every
year about this time, we get inquiries from readers of our online tabloids
asking us if there are any great online advertising deals. Yes, as a
matter of fact, several online media brokers recently contacted me to
let me know they were literally "giving away" advertising
to develop new clients during the Summer Months. Per our
editorial policy, we do not endorse sellers of ad space (though they
are welcome to advertise here), but if you'll 
MARKETING
SMART 
