BizNews Advisers - Sample Article

An old joke goes, "You know it's going to be a bad day when you walk in and your secretary says, 'There's a crew from 60 Minutes in your office.'" That's a challenge few businesspeople will ever face. But talking to a reporter (or worse, a whole group of reporters) is something most businesspeople equate with root canal surgery without anesthesia. It shouldn't be like that. In fact, if you aren't seizing every opportunity to use the news media to further your business, you are wasting a powerfully valuable resource.

Any interaction you have with a reporter is an opportunity for you to explain what your firm is doing, and why, and how it's benefiting your industry and the community. It's an opportunity for you to inform and reassure your clients and make a low-pressure pitch to prospective clients. And it's an opportunity to foster good will with the civic and government agencies whose cooperation is essential to your continued success. And the best part is, it's free!

Most businesspeople are uneasy, if not genuinely fearful of talking with a reporter. But contact with the news media is not something to be feared, and here's why:

If the savviest and toughest business reporter on Earth is interviewing you, you still have an overwhelming advantage, because you know your business better than anyone in the media ever could. So what you can and should be doing is educating the people you want and need to reach to keep your business moving in the right direction. The reporter who's in front of you is performing a valuable function...for you. The reporter is going to take your message to the broader community, and the more clearly and helpfully you explain that message, the more you'll like what the reporter delivers on the evening news or in the morning paper.

An interview should never be a contentious affair. Forget about parrying the tough questions and thrusting back with "put 'em in their place" retorts. Teach. Explain with patience and an eye toward making sure you're being understood. Don't be afraid to ask, as you elucidate some point that's second nature to you but arcane to an outsider, "Is this making sense?" In other words, explain it to the reporter the way you'd explain it to a client. Think about it. How many times have you defused a potentially explosive encounter with an unhappy client by patiently clearing up the misunderstanding?

It's no different when you talk with a reporter who's trying to come on like Mike Wallace on a bad day. Just help the reporter understand what your firm is doing and why. Don't hide things that aren't proprietary. Don't shade the truth. Don't spin. Help the reporter get it right.

Don't Fear The Reporter