This week's strategy: Know thy subject matter (especially if
your subject matter is PR). All too often lately we've asked
relatively simple questions of fairly senior-level PR executives,
only to be told, "I'll get back to you on that one," or, "Let me
think about it and shoot you an email." The worst: "Let me check
with some of my junior staffers. They're really on the front lines,
so they'll know the answers."
Our colleagues covering other beats are experiencing the same
uncomfortable situation.
As a PR professional, you've probably coached management on the
same issues: Understand your company strategy, your products, your
business situation. Be prepared for interviews, and ask questions
up-front that will help you to understand what kinds of information
the reporter will be after. Then have that information at your
fingertips and be ready with thoughts and anecdotes.
Of course, if a reporter does ask for specific numbers or other
data, you may not be able to answer immediately. So promise to
follow up at a specific time with the information.
We can't tell you how many times we've been promised an email
with budget numbers or a return phone call with statistics from a
survey, only to end up waiting days for the information or calling
back over and over in order to procure it - sometimes even
returning to the junior staff member who arranged the original
interview.
In fact, we were bowled over the other day when we asked one
communications director for numbers from a study she didn't have in
front of her. When she promised to email them to us, we mentally
prepped ourselves for an uphill battle. Instead, less than 20
minutes later, the information popped into our in-box, scoring her
serious points with us.
As always, it boils down to the basics: Being responsive and
well-prepared is key to building the relationships you need with
the press.
And for a senior PR exec to fumble through an interview and even
refer a reporter to her junior colleagues "since they're on the
front lines" is not only frustrating, but inexcusable.
An executive so far removed from what her staff is doing on a
daily basis that she can't answer basic questions about strategy
should refrain from taking interviews and defer them to the junior
team members who are in-the-know.