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Most of you have written a book out of a passion to deliver a message. You want to shift public opinion, create an awareness
of an issue, or inspire readers to action. In order to motivate your audience, they must first hear about the issue, have
a personal link with the issue to cause them to care, and then have a path by which to take action.
Good publicity provides all these things. It conveys content in an emotionally compelling manner, and directs the audience
toward further action. Publicity can can impact your reputation and the issues that you care about – for good
or ill. It can build a professional reputation - or tear it down.
Attracting media attention is only the first step. By learning the care and feeding of your media contacts, and mastering
interviewing skills, you can help insure that your publicity is positive and furthers your cause. To help reporters help you
reach your audience, it pays to understand their roles, how they work, and how to give reporters what they need. The goal
is to balance getting your key messages delivered, with what the media needs to make a good story.
Working with Reporters:
The first tip is to understand what is 'news.' A common mistake for authors is to view the release of a book as 'news,'
when it is not. News is largely based in conflict or controversy. News can involve a lot of money, affect a large number
of people, be about a well known person, a first-time happening, a trend or relate to a global story. News is in the value
that you bring to solve the public's problems. Solving the public's problems builds an emotive bridge between you, your message,
and your audience.
It is a good strategy to issue a press release that is linked to a national event. For instance, one of my clients' books
is on conflict reduction. After Hurricane Katrina, she issued a press release with the hook 'Stop the Blame Game,' linking
governmental finger-pointing to an ongoing epidemic of anger in America, and quoting relevant bullet points from her book.
This strategy got her several calls from national reporters working on stories about public hostility and incivility. This
resulted in increased interest in her book. Of note: The press release focussed on the national issue, and presented quotes
from the book as expert suggestions for resolution of a public problem. The focus was not on the book. This strategy is covered
in more detail in another article.
Once You Have the Attention of the Media:
If you issue a press release, be prepared to be available to reporters who call for more information. They will want to
know the five standards: Who, what, when, where, why - as well as how. Have this information prepared ahead of time, and
remember - a reporter's prime, underlying question is always: 'Why should my readers care about this?'
Categories of Reporters:
There are four basic types of reporters, with different kinds of reportage:
1. General assignment reporters, who cover a wide range of stories,
2. Beat reporters who cover politics, telecommunications, business or charity - these are about the only columnists left
with working knowledge and expertise in a given topic.
3. Columnists, pundits, talkshow hosts - they have license to speak about what they want to. They are opinion givers,
not necessarily oriented toward factual delivery.
4. Editorial writers, who choose current topics and give opinions. Examples would be national columnists like Dowd and
Friedman.
What To Do When A Reporter Calls:
1. Ask the reporter's name, phone number and organization. Write these down.
2. Ask reporter what they want to know?
3. Who else are they talking to? What does the reporter need for the story?
4. Ask what the deadline for responding is.
5. Hang up. Get centered, focus on your key messages.
6. Then call back.
For the best possible presentation to your public, you do not want to respond off the cuff or in an unprepared fashion.
Again, you can take time to ask the questions above, hang up and center, think of key messages, then call back. That way
you have time to find necessary info and won't feel on the spot. If you're not prepared - ask to return the call, rather
than do the interview on the fly. However, reporters are usually in a hurry, on deadline, and need information for a story
NOW. This may mean calling back within the hour - and not three days later. ASK them when your deadline is.
When you do speak, resist the urge to tell reporters everything you know about your issue. They only need a few minutes
of information, enough to put together a story. Media contacts will appreciate an interview that is brief, concise, factual,
and presented as key points. If a reporter needs more detail, they will ask for further information.
The TV Interview:
When interviewing on TV, look at the reporter asking questions. Eyeballing people around you is interpreted as nervousness.
If it's 'live' and the conversation is staged as if you're 'looking at the TV anchor in the station,' then you look into the
camera, as if the camera was the anchor. Pick a site with visual interest and a connection to your key messages as the background
for the interview.
Preparing for the TV interview:
1. Collect your thoughts, gather information, and focus on the key messages. Have 2 to 5 key bullet points available,
with a short example or an anecdote for each.
2. Keep in mind that who you're really talking to is your audience, not the reporter.
3. Before the interview, have a handout, written materials, and a reference to the website as additional material for
the reporter and the station to work with. They may pull in that info on the show.
4. Have in mind your groundrules, the things you want to keep off limitsbefore the interview.
TV Interviewing Tips:
1. Practice and role play with a colleague beforehand
2. Make sure the reporter has your name and organization spelled right
3. Remember the 9 second sound bite rule: You get to speak three or four sound bites of about nine seconds each. Be
brief and concise. Edit your own remarks.
4. If the interviewer heads off in a direction you don't want to respond to, use a bridge from their question back to
the point you want to get out. Always head the interview back to the main points. 'That's a very good question, Don, and
we feel it is in line with our point A.'
5. If the reporter asks if there's more that they should know, take the opportunity to give a recap and land a definitive
point.
6. Be careful about using humor with reporters - it can appear in the media as flip or callous when aired out of context.
Use sensitivity.
7. DO have a strategy and objective for what you want out of the interview
8. DO keep answers short
9. DO reframe a question if reporter mischaracterizes or asks a question wrong. Restate the question the way you want
it.
10. DO be comfortable with silence - a reporter uses silence as a tactic to get you to say more than you want to. Stop
talking when you've said your key message.
11. DO say 'I don’'t know' when you don't have an answer. That's OK.
12. DO use natural gestures
13. DO reinforce messages with handouts.
14. DO be available for further questions
15. DO return calls, be truthful and accurate
Improving Delivery of Your Message to Your Audience:
1. Join groups like Toastmasters, the National Writers Union, or the National Speakers Bureau, where you can get free
or low cost training and assistance
2. Hire staff person trained in publicity
3. Tap into network of freelance consultants – to work with and train you, give you feed back on delivery of
your message
4. Recruit a friend or professional connection with expertise to assist you
5. Seek help of communications firm to assist on pro bono basis
Publicity as Strategy:
Declining to speak to the media is a choice. However, whoever gets media time first on a hot issue controls the framing
and is most likely to be able to shape public opinion. The first voice speaking to an issue gets the credibility. If you
choose not to speak to the media, someone else will, and the issue may be framed in a way you don’t want. You can’t
stop a media story, so work to get your perspective represented by an accurate story from your side of the issue.
Your goal is to make yourself comfortable with the media. Once you have mastered working with the media, consider a 'running
campaign' to get and keep getting your message out. This is an ongoing, integrated systems approach that involves your book,
workshops/seminars, collateral materials, and public appearances with issues-based Associations and Organizations. Work toward
successful media interviews, and you can deliver the message you want to deliver to your key audiences.
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