In our media relations work at Sharon Merrill Associates, we spend considerable time training senior management on dealing with the media. To be sure, not all interviews are investigative reporters looking to break the next big scandal. Of course, reporters also are not being paid to write a glowing advertorial about your company either.
Treat every media interview request as an opportunity, not as a threat, and you will see increased positive coverage of your company. Not all of your coverage will be 100% positive, and there may be occasions where the facts in a story are not completely precise. But increased media coverage overall can have tremendous benefits to your sales, marketing, recruiting, investor relations and other critical corporate functions.
Still nervous about speaking to that reporter who called you out of the blue? Here is a checklist to make sure that you make the most of your media opportunities:
