“I’m from 60 minutes!”
Sunday, March 28th, 2010
This past week I got a phone call at 7am, waking me from a dead sleep, been a bit under the weather the last week and actually ha
d overslept for a 9am appointment, so waking me up was a good thing.
Half asleep, I find myself smack-dab in the middle of a reporter calling me about a show promotion were doing in a few days. She’s on deadline, and frankly if not then, then never, there (as usually is the case) no call backs, redo’s, or “Lets do lunch when I‘m awake”.
She began asking, of course about the show, me, but also the particulars about the date (one of several being promoted) itself. Just like a 24 hour fire fighter, you have to be instantly alert and have several interesting stories, while you shuffle for the info file, still half asleep.
The point is, you need to have this stuff as well rehearsed and embedded in your brain for instant access. No matter what business you are in, you need to be prepared with interesting “sound bites” that you can spit out without any thought what so ever. Having been in the entertainment business most all of my life, I can tell you from personal experience, It’s nothing to have a reporter walk up to you minutes before your starting your show or presentation… your mind is on the performance, not answering questions, yet the true pro can instantly go into interview mode and then walk out and entertain with no distractions.
If your in the insurance business lets say, and a reporter calls you asking about your view on a big insurance claim that’s in the news… do you have some quick answers, are you even aware of the breaking story? I know of a couple locale interviews that were done wanting auto repair “experts” thoughts on the recent Toyota recalls, frankly some were handled much better then others.
Have you positioned yourself as the “local industry expert”? If not it’s important for you and your business to do so.
Being prepared for that phone call or knock on the door, goes a long way to obtaining “expert” status with the media.
I have a friend and occasional client who is the CEO and president of a large well known non-profit. Over the years he has positioned himself as the, “go to guy”, the “expert” for his area and routinely gets calls from the media wanting his input on everything from the homeless situation, lead paint problems in the area, to the jobless situation. In fact he recently was interviewed by a German TV news program because of his “expert” positioning on the economy and how it is effecting US communities.
Good or bad you never know when the media may call or even come knocking on your door in “60 minutes” fashion… how are you going to react? Are you going to come across as the “expert” ready to answer any and all questions or are you going to come across as if your hiding something or worse yet just plan don’t know anything about your business or industry?
- Rick Allen
The PR & Marketing Expert
