![\"Leili](\"https:\/\/www.publicityhound.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/leili_mckinley.jpg\" "\\"leili_mckinley\\"")
<\/a>That’s what\u00a0Leilie McKinley of Soaring-Phoenix.com, one of my business coaches, just called to ask.\u00a0<\/p>\nA reporter from a major online business magazine\u00a0found Leili’s blog post about how the credit crunch will affect\u00a0small business. The reporter wants to know if the ripple effect has reached Main Street America.\u00a0 Leili says it has,\u00a0and she has lots of great materials to share.\u00a0“But I’m not quite sure how to organize my ideas and keep everything straight,” she says.<\/p>\n
Here’s my advice, much of which you can follow if a reporter from any media outlet will be interviewing you:<\/p>\n
1. Research the reporter. 2<\/strong>. Prepare your key message.<\/strong> 3. Prepare your two or three sub-messages. 4. Offer other contacts. 5.\u00a0Use notes if you need them. 6. Offer information for a sidebar.<\/strong> 7.\u00a0Offer yourself for other stories. 8. Always offer the reporter your photo.<\/strong> Always end the interview with the question, “How else can I help you?” Few sources ever ask that question. And when you do, you’ll really stand out. That’s one of several magic phrases to use with the media.<\/a><\/p>\n What other ways do you prepare for interviews?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If a\u00a0reporter contacts you\u00a0unexpectedly\u00a0and asks for an\u00a0interview in the next few days, and you don’t feel entirely ready, how do you prepare? That’s what\u00a0Leilie McKinley of Soaring-Phoenix.com, one of my business coaches, just called to ask.\u00a0 A reporter from a major online business magazine\u00a0found Leili’s blog post about how the credit crunch will affect\u00a0small business.\u2026 Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":14,"wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[620,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-1829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-marketing","7":"tag-how-to-interview","8":"tag-media-relations","9":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joan Stewart","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/jstewart\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1829"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41487,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1829\/revisions\/41487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>If you don’t know the reporter personally, Google their name\u00a0and see what you find. If the reporter blogs, read the blog! It will provide valuable clues about issues\u00a0the reporter cares about. And the writing style might offer insight\u00a0regarding\u00a0the reporter’s demeanor and attitude: all-around nice guy or a pit bull?<\/p>\n
\nAlways identify the Number One message you want to get across to the reporter and make sure you weave it into your answers several times. You can even “flag” the reporter by prefacing one of your answers like this: “Sharon, the most important thing I have to say about that is…”\u00a0 Way too many Publicity Hounds have kicked themselves afterward for failing to\u00a0communicate their key message “because the reporter never asked about it.”<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Weave those into your answers, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Offer\u00a0contact information for several other people who would agree to be interviewed—sources who can round out the story. Be sure you have their permission ahead of time.\u00a0In Leili’s case, she had several clients whose loans were denied because of the credit crunch, and she started contacting them as soon as she hung up the phone after talking with me.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>If the interview is live, and you’re not on camera, it’s OK to refer to notes you’ve brought with you.\u00a0I’ve done phone interviews with reporters with lots of notes spread in front of me.<\/p>\n
\nA sidebar is a shorter story or list of facts that accompany the larger article. I told Leili she might offer a list of short tips for business owners who might be applying for loans. “That’s great,” she said. “One tip is to check the business credit of the bank where you’re applying for a loan.”<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>At the end of the interview, invite the reporter to call on you if she needs sources for other topics on which you’re an expert.<\/p>\n
\nReporters are mostly concerned about getting the story and sometimes forget about photos. Let reporters know where they can download your high-resolution photo. If you have good-quality environmental photos that show you at work,\u00a0offer those, too. \u00a0<\/p>\n