If you want to discuss your product or service on the media, you need to remember how journalists work. They are always at or beyond a deadline, and want a quote or an interview from you as quickly as possible. That means you need to be both easy to find, and prepared to speak to them when they call. Although you can sometimes win a ten-minute delay, giving you time to prepare a pithy response, you can't call them back a few hours later and expect to be part of the story.
Here are a few tips to make sure you are ever-ready for a journalist's call:
- Keep your contact numbers up to date
- Make sure that your colleagues know where you are at all times
- If you aren't able to take a call, leave a holding quote back at the office
- Make sure you have something with you at all times (a pen and paper works well) to record contact details for a journalist
- If a story is breaking in your area of expertise, keep up-to-date on it
- If mobile reception is poor, call back on a land line in case your quote is recorded for broadcast
- If you can't call, send a quote by email, making it clear that it is for publication
- Make sure you have 24/7 media response by having a media number that is allocated to whoever is on media duty
A few simple preparatory steps will make sure that you never miss a media opportunity again.
Credit: This information was written by Alan Stevens, and originally appeared in "The MediaCoach", his free weekly ezine, available at www.mediacoach.co.uk
Sources: PHMC GPE LLC - Expand Your Knowledge - HO.us
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