Working Solo Minute: Delivering Powerful Print Interviews

It's the dream of many soloists: the email or phone call from a journalist interested in interviewing you about your business. Visions of free promotion dance through your head, sometimes followed by images of a cascade of orders, contracts, projects, or other work.

But when they contact you, will you be ready? Here are some tips from longtime PR expert, Dan Janal, President of PR Leads, a service that helps experts, authors, and speakers establish credibility and visibility through media exposure.

1. Return their call or email promptly.
Most journalists work on tight deadlines. "If you don't return their call immediately, they'll likely quote someone else," says Janal. In your return email or voice mail, offer your direct line and/or cell phone number so they can reach you easily.

2. Find out what the reporter is interested in writing about.
If possible, determine the focus of the article or story, and who the target reader is. "With this information in mind, you can create your key messages to fulfill their needs," Janal advises. Both parties win.

3. Know what you want to say and stick to it.
Limit yourself to a few keys points that you make with clarity. "That way you have at least a fighting chance of controlling your message," observes Janal. Even if you have a lot to say, don't meander.

4. Determine how you want to be identified.
As soloists, we all wear many hats. But identify only one for the reporter. Are you the president of XYZ Company, or the expert on "x"? It may seem counterintuitive, but Janal points out that "the less you say can often mean the more control you have over what appears in print."

5. Be a resource for the reporter.
Find out what other topics the reporter may be writing about in the future, and what other stories they can count on you as the expert. "You may have some related areas of expertise that can lead to future interviews," counsels Janal. "But unless you point this out, it will be an opportunity lost."

Want to see some of this in practice? Here's an article that arrived in my inbox yesterday, from an interview I did several weeks ago with Jon Bell, a writer for Oregon Business Magazine. Enjoy, and see you next week, when we talk about radio.

-- Terri Lonier
Founder, WorkingSolo.com