Your Role In PR

In talking to a client the other day, I was caught off guard by something he said. Since he said it, I can’t get it off my mind and thought it is worth writing about to clarify and shed some light on the issue.

This client said he was surprised that since he started the PR program with my agency that he was required to do some work in support of the program. He said he was surprised at the amount of work he had to do as part of the PR we’re doing for him. I asked him to clarify and he explained that he didn’t realize that a PR program would require any of his time.

As we met with him and were putting together the program I explained that my team and I would take care of things like writing and setting up interviews with the media. He took that very literally. As we set about executing on the PR strategy we created I set up some interviews and came back to him to get them on his calendar. We also wrote a couple of press releases and, as I customarily do, I asked him to review it to make sure I had represented everything accurately.

When I said I would take care of everything he thought it would all happen and he could just sit back and watch. While that’s true, it’s only true to a certain extent. I’ll take care of executing on the PR strategy but it will still require time from the client.

With this experience in mind, I’ve listed some of the things a client will need to be involved in when working with a PR firm. By no means is this everything, as your time commitment will differ based on goals and objectives, but these items are things that, in most instances, will require some of your time and commitment.

• Media Interviews: The wow factor of any PR program is the media coverage. In most instances, this is why businesses engage in PR. Media coverage helps build awareness, credibility and establish a company as an industry thought leader or an individual as an industry expert. For the most part, if a reporter is interested in talking to a company they want to talk to the CEO or an executive that can talk about the company, it’s products or services as well as the company’s vision, not the PR person. While your PR team will pitch and set up these opportunities and prepare you for the interview you will need to give the time to prepare and conduct the interview. Most interviews will last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Take these opportunities serious and, even more importantly, take the time necessary to prepare for these interviews so you can maximize the opportunity.
• Press releases and other written materials: Press releases are vital tools to educating the public or your target markets. It’s an opportunity for you to quickly share important news about your company, product or service. Writing a press release often requires the time to share the pertinent details and information with your PR team. Once the release is written you’ll need to set aside some time to review, edit and approve the press release. For one, you’ll want to make sure you’re aware of what the release says and that more importantly the information included is accurate. Once a press release is issued it’s hard to go back and correct the details and can lead to distrust or lack of confidence from your partners, clients and customers.
• Regular meetings with your PR team: The purpose of engaging in a PR campaign is to create awareness and build credibility for your brand. To do this you’ll need to meet with your PR team regularly to update them on progress, company initiatives and other activities so they can do their job effectively. These regular meetings can vary on frequency depending on goals and objectives, but they need to happen to maximize your investment in PR. I always tell clients to tell me everything and then I can tell them what is newsworthy or valuable to the PR campaign. You can keep these meetings short and to the point by creating an agenda and sharing it in advance of the actual meeting.

In my experience the more my team and I know the more effective we can be for our clients. Similarly, the more time the client is willing to spend engaged in the PR program the more success we can generate. I’ve had clients that have said they want to talk to the press, create awareness and credibility only to pass on the opportunities we create. In these instances they have minimal success. I’ve also had clients that are fully engaged in their PR program and are willing and eager to participate and leverage the opportunities we create for them. For those that are committed to PR success and give of their time they are more successful and are able to fully reap the benefits of their PR program.

I’m Running Late. Translation: “I Don’t Care About You or Your Time”

I don’t like to be late. In fact, you could even say I hate being late. So much so that to the irritation of my wife and family I leave early enough that I usually arrive 10-15 minutes early and end up waiting in the car until the actual start time of whatever event we’re attending. I’m the guy that takes the advice when traveling to show up at the airport early to ensure you’re not stuck in the security lines and end up reading a book or magazine for an hour or more while I wait to board my flight.

In my mind, I’d rather be early than late. I don’t want my brand to be such that everybody knows I’ll be late to any and every meeting. It seems like more and more I find myself wishing that others would share this same feeling. The other day I had a meeting with a person that is always late. It’s a chronic issue with this person, so much so that her brand is built upon her tardiness.

As I sat and waited, I got a text saying she was going to be late due to a traffic issue. As I received the text I saw the person getting out of her car carrying an empty McDonald’s bag and sucking down the last of her soda. I laughed but at the same time was thinking, “Typical. “

I was taught that being late was rude and an indication that you don’t care about the others involved in the activity. In essence, when you’re late you’re saying, “Whatever it is I was doing is far more important than what you’re doing.”

In the experience I shared above, the person has been branded by me and others she deals with as always being late. People that deal with her know that no matter the meeting or appointment she’ll be late. That’s a brand I never want to be saddled with.

Here are some tips to arriving on time and not being branded as the person that can’t ever show up on time.

• Prepare in advance. Take some time to think about how long it usually takes you to travel or get from one place to another. Think about the other tasks you have to accomplish and prioritize these activities. I start every day by creating a list of the things I need to accomplish. I prioritize those activities and start with the most urgent tasks. If something unexpected comes up, I know which activities I can postpone in favor of the unexpected emergencies that sometimes come up.
• Create a schedule. A schedule should give you a checklist to work from. In my experience, it’s nice to have a list to work from and to ensure that you’re not forgetting something. I travel once a quarter for onsite meetings with a client in another state. For these meetings I create a schedule to help ensure that when I arrive onsite for the meetings I have everything I need.
• Start early. My wife taught me this. When we have a vacation or event like a holiday to prepare and plan for she starts early. She creates a list of the things we need to do to be ready for the event. If the event is a vacation, her list includes things like arranging for mail to be held during the trip, cleaning the house, packing luggage and paying bills in advance. She even plans grocery shopping and charging camera batteries in advance. By doing this, we’re not waking up the day we leave for vacation trying to pack luggage in time to catch our flight.
• Plan for unexpected events. I set up an interview with one my clients the other day and on the way to the interview my client was involved in a fender bender. It wasn’t his fault, he was rear ended by another motorist. This was certainly something that was not expected but he had left early enough that even while waiting for the police to come and issue citations he was still able to get to the interview on time. Things like this happen all the time, but if you plan and leave early enough you can still keep and make appointments.

There are always exceptions to arriving on time and being late, but when it’s a chronic problem there are no excuses. An inability to arrive on time is a sign of laziness and demonstrates that you don’t care or that a meeting or commitment is unimportant. In the business world it can destroy your brand and reputation. By being prompt and keeping commitments you build trust and demonstrate your commitment to your career, your clients and the others you work with.

A Deadline’s A Deadline Is A Deadline

In public relations (PR), the most important thing to remember and master is the ability to meet a deadline. Deadlines get tossed about in every profession and rarely are taken that serious, but in PR, specifically when dealing with the media is not something to take lightly. Fortunately for me, I learned the value of meeting a deadline at a young age.

When I was in college I took a class on news reporting and the professor would give very specific deadlines for our assignments. She was a former newspaper photographer and took deadlines very seriously. I’ll never forget the first day of class she told us that if we miss a deadline we might as well not even show up for class that day because if we’re late, even by a second we wouldn’t get credit for the assignment.

It didn’t’ take long before this rule was put to the test and proven by the professor. One day, shortly after the start of term one of my classmates was a few minutes late. Our professor would stand at the door with a watch in hand keeping track of the official time. The deadline was set by that watch and she kept time using that watch for all assignments. True to her word, she did not accept the assignment. From that point on we knew she meant business and we all set our own watches by that watch.

One day I woke up and my wife told me that it had snowed overnight and that traffic was going to be slow due to the unexpected snow. I peered out the window and was shocked at the sheer amount of snow. The first thought that crossed my mind was my deadline for my news reporting class. I had worked hard to complete the assignment and was suddenly worried that I wasn’t going to make it on time and get credit for the assignment and all the hard work.

I left immediately. The trip to campus took longer than I had anticipated and as I pulled in the parking lot I was the first car to approach the empty parking lot covered in a fresh blanket of about 15 inches of snow. I pulled into the parking lot and was immediately stuck due to the deep snow. I had about five minutes until my deadline so I abandoned my car and made a mad dash for the classroom.

I ran as hard and fast as I could and finally reached my classroom. As I entered I caught a glimpse of myself in the glass door and realized I was covered in a layer of snow. As I walked in, sure enough, my professor was standing there watching her watch. I handed her my assignment and she responded with, “Just in time. You’re the first and only student here and the only one that truly understands a deadline.” She proceeded to inform me that as of that moment the deadline had passed and nobody would be getting credit for that day’s assignment.

I felt a huge sense of relief and explained to her how I made it. She laughed and informed me that she didn’t care about the how, only that I made my deadline. She then dismissed me to go free my car.

As I left to return to the parking lot to try and free my car I remember thinking that I really did understand what it means to meet a deadline. With this experience in mind, I’ve listed below four tips consider to ensure that you successfully meet your deadlines.

• Prioritize: Some projects or assignments are more important that others. When you have more than one project you’re working on you should know which ones are more important than others. If you don’t ask your boss or supervisor. In the movie The Shawshank Redemption, one of the characters is stealing a TV. He’s got the TV rested on his shoulder when the police arrive and one of the officers points his gun at him and yells, “Freeze! Put your hands in the air.” The thief stands there and the cop asks him why he didn’t do what he was asked to do, and he responds, “Well which one is it? Freeze or put my hands in the air?”
• Communicate: If a boss or supervisor comes and gives you an assignment, don’t be afraid to tell him or her what other projects you’re currently working on. If they give you a new assignment with an aggressive deadline and you’re already working under another tight deadline with this boss, remind them of that fact. Provide them with a recommendation and strategy for how you’ll accomplish both but emphasis that it may require a delay in one of the deadlines. By talking to them and communicating these issues they can agree to your strategy or provide other input. Either way, they’ll be aware and you’ll have their buy off.
• Set milestones: I believe that milestones play a critical role in accomplishing and meeting any deadline. In the first bullet point I described my son’s book report assignments. When my son tells us about these assignments, my wife and I (usually more my wife than me) sit down with him and set goals and milestones for accomplishing the book report. We start by setting a date to have identified a book for him to read. The next step is setting a goal for reading the book followed by a target date for writing the report. If one of these milestones is not accomplished we can sit down and review why it wasn’t met and identify what we need to do to still meet the deadline.
• Plan for the unexpected: In the experience I shared above, the snowstorm was unexpected. That didn’t matter to my professor though. I didn’t’ necessarily plan for this and there was really no way that I could have, but I acted immediately upon learning of the snowstorm. I didn’t waste time but rather made the most of the time I had. I’ve learned since then to allow for and plan to give myself plenty of time so even if I get a flat tire I can still be on time and meet my deadline. At times my insistence on leaving early drives my wife crazy but I’d rather be a little early and end up waiting in the car than be late and miss a deadline.

Deadlines are critical to a successful working relationship with the press. An ability to meet a deadline will help you build long-lasting relationships of trust with the media and will help you accomplish your goals and secure the desired coverage for your business or clients. By following these tips, you’ll have a significant leg up on understanding and meeting critical deadlines.

How Much Is Too Much?

Sometimes you don’t know how much you know until you are asked to tell somebody. I run into this all the time as I deal with clients, specifically when we first start our client/consultant relationship. It’s often when I start digging and asking a lot of questions that the full story starts coming out. When this happens its usually surprising at just how much information or knowledge the client has that could be useful to me doing my PR job.

In these instances I typically ask why they didn’t share this info before and the response is usually a blank stare followed by simple shrug or a, “I don’t know.”

Sometimes the fault is mine. In those instances, I explain to the client that the more information they can share with me the better. This explanation is usually followed with a variation of the question, “How much information is too much?”

The question is fair enough considering that most people don’t realize just how much knowledge or information they know. With that question in mind, here are five tips for knowing which information you should share with your PR team.

• Product related information. If the knowledge you have is related directly to your product, you should share it with your PR team. This doesn’t just apply to the benefits and features of your product but also to the weaknesses or faults in a product. Your PR team can help you identify the right messages for both situations and coach you on how to best communicate these to the media.
• Industry trends. The media loves to know trends and be up on the latest and greatest developments. If you have industry knowledge or expertise about a specific trend in the marketplace, by all means share that with your PR team. This information will allow your PR representative to help establish you as a thought leader and industry expert.
• Time sensitive information. Chances are, if something is time sensitive it’s important to share with your PR team. I once worked with a client that would plan events, including press conferences and fail to notify me until the last minute. Shortly before the press conference date I’d get a series of calls telling me the date of the press conference, venue and other important details. Sometimes I’d find these details out by reading the clients Facebook page.
• Milestones. Milestones and significant achievements are often newsworthy and can be used to show the media that the company is progressing and growing. Sometimes people don’t want to brag, but sharing this information is helpful and demonstrates progress.
• Product/company road map. Every business has or should have a roadmap for their company and or product. This is information that should definitely be shared with your PR team. A good PR person will use this to help shape the PR strategy moving forward and can tell you which elements are newsworthy and can be utilized to generate interviews and media coverage.

So often I see clients say something like, “I knew that” or see an article that applies to their industry and they try to or want to say, “Me too.” By this time it’s too late, unless you can add something that ‘s unique or different you’ll end up being that person that’s always saying, “Me too, me too.” By sharing your expertise and knowledge you can lead the way and have competitors or others in the marketplace saying, “Me too,” to the things you’re doing.

How Much Is Too Much Information?

A couple of recent events have struck a chord with me and reminded me of some key public relations (PR) best practices.

Ryne Sandberg, the Hall of Famer and current manager of the Philadelphia Phillies on a recent radio show shared that he used to eat cat food a lot as a kid. Sandberg said:

“I did that as a youngster, maybe 4 or 5 years old, maybe 6 years old. I don’t know. I guess I was hungry. I still remember the crunchiness of it was the biggest thing. This wasn’t a one-time thing either. This went on for about a year as a little snack.”

Not only did he say that he used to eat cat food, but he emphasized that it wasn’t a one-time thing and that it went on for several years.

In the second event, the White House accidentally revealed the name of the CIA’s top intelligence official in Afghanistan to some 6,000 journalists. The CIA is about secrecy and this error could cause serious security issues for this individual.

One of the things I advise my clients is that you’re always on the record and anything you share or say can and more than likely will be used. Listed below are five tips that will help you maximize an interview opportunity and avoid sharing information that could potentially be embarrassing or damaging.

• If you don’t want somebody to know something, don’t tell them. Just because you know or have certain information doesn’t mean you have to tell people. Everybody doesn’t need to know every detail of your life or your business.
• Be careful who you tell things to. With social media anybody can really be a reporter. If somebody overhears you talking and sharing sensitive or private information in a hotel, restaurant or airport they don’t need to ask your permission to share it on Twitter or Facebook. Additionally, a reporter isn’t required or may not always introduce themselves as a member of the media and if they hear you say something they can use it for their own purposes.
• Be prepared in an interview situation. If a topic you don’t want to talk about or isn’t relevant to the topic don’t be afraid to tell the reporter you’re not going to answer or respond to that line of questioning. Hopefully you’ll have your PR team with you and they can and should step in and do that on your behalf.
• Consider the effects your comments could have on others. In the case of the White House, the effects of disclosing the CIA agents name could result in serious security risks and could require him to be removed from his current position. In another example, a recent article shared information about a woman and her entrance into the United States. The way she entered actually broke federal laws that if the United States Government wanted to, or found out about, could cause this individual serious issues.
• If your mom would be embarrassed by what you say, then don’t say it. A good friend of mine taught me this principle. If your mom would be offended or embarrassed by what you say or do, then don’t say or do it.

Being interviewed by the media is fun and highly advantageous for your career and your business. However, a poorly conducted interview that doesn’t help you accomplish your goals can be equally devastating.

 

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

There’s No “I” In Team

Over the course of my career I’ve been fortunate to work with a number of successful projects and companies. One of the things that never fails to maze me is how once a successful project is over how quickly people are to take credit for its success.

I worked for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic Winter Games of 2002 (SLOC). After the Games, I’d run into people in various capacities and was impressed at times and surprised at others with how well they had leveraged their Olympic experience to further their careers. In some instances the career advancements were deserved. In others they were totally bogus.

About a year after the Olympics I was working at a public relations (PR) firm in Utah and the firm was looking to hire some new employees. After one interview, my boss came to me and said she had just finished interviewing one of my colleagues from the Olympics. I naturally asked who it was and when she told me his name I had no idea who she was talking about. It was somebody I had never met or even heard of.

She went on to explain some of the things he claimed to have done for SLOC. I knew for a fact that he had not done some of the things he claimed. It was obvious to my boss that he had embellished as well.

Recently, with another client, my team and I completed a highly successful event. At the completion of the project one of the clients team members left to take a new job. After she left somebody directed us to her LinkedIn account where we discovered that she had taken credit for not only her responsibilities but those of the entire marketing, PR and events teams accomplishments. Without a doubt, these claims helped her secure her ne position.

From a PR perspective this practice is fraught with potential pitfalls. My best advice in these situations is to be honest. Honesty is always the best policy. If you start embellishing or lying about your contribution to a project or business it becomes difficult to remember what lies you’ve told and to who you told them to.

The media is always looking for facts. Their job is dependent on building trust with their audience and the way to do that is by providing the facts and being honest. If you lie to them, they’ll catch you. You may get away with it once or twice, but when you get caught in a lie the results can be devastating.

Former United States President Richard Nixon lied to the country and to the press. Rather than own up to his lies he essentially challenged the media to catch him in a lie. Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein did just that. The two reporters uncovered information suggesting that knowledge of a break-in at the Watergate hotel, and attempts to cover it up, led deeply into the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and the White House ultimately costing Nixon the Presidency.

In the late 1970’s FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone went undercover as Donnie Brasco. His undercover work was designed to infiltrate the Mafia n New York City. Pistone worked undercover for six years infiltrating the Bonanno crime family and the Colombo crime family, two of the Five Families on the mafia in New York City.

During these six years, Pistone’s story was challenged many times and he was consistent in his cover story. After his undercover operation ended, Pistone credited his success to not lying or embellishing unnecessarily. He stuck to his cover story and never deviated making it easy to keep track of the facts and be consistent even under the intense pressure of working with the Mob.

In the examples I gave above of former colleagues, neither lasted very long in these next positions. They had taken so much credit and lied so extensively about their qualifications, abilities and overall contributions to the successful projects that expectations were off the charts and so high that it was only a matter of time before their new employers discovered that they weren’t capable of actually doing what they said the could and had already done.

If you lie to the media, it won’t take long for them to catch on either. Once they do uncover the truth your credibility will be destroyed and they won’t want to have anything to do with you. If you stick to the facts and are honest you’ll build successful, long-term relationships of trust that will benefit you for years to come and will do more to help build your brand as a trusted source than any lie could ever do.

 

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

Five Writing Tips That Will Make You Stand Out

The ability to effectively communicate is critical to success in any endeavor. In public relations (PR) it’s even more important because despite what many people think, that’s what PR is. Contrary to what some may call “spin”, “spin doctoring,” “sorcery” or “dark magic” PR is all about effective communication to help educate others on what your business does, the products or services you offer and what differentiates you and your company from the competition.

Writing is an essential part of any public relations (PR) strategy. It’s also one skill that when done well can differentiate you and set you apart from others. Writing is also very subjective and open to criticism based on individual writing styles and preferences.

I write a lot in my job. I write blogs like this, press releases, case studies, contributed articles and a number of other pieces. For me, the more I write the easier it becomes. I can easily take a blank Word document and within a short period of time draft a press release or a 1200 – 1500 word blog entry or contributed article. I know some people that see a blank Word document and struggle to fill half the page.

Over the years, I’ve discovered a few writing tips that have helped me successfully tackle the myriad of writing projects I’ve encountered during my career. I’ve listed these tips below.

• Have a topic. I find it easier to write the more I write. I also find that the more I write the more aware I am of potential topics to write about. Without a topic that blank sheet of paper or Word document can be overwhelming.   As I think of potential topics I’ll write them down for future use. As I think about these topics and when other thoughts come to mind I’ll write them down as part of an overall outline of the topic.
• Draft an outline. Writing sounds easy until you sit down and are staring at a blank page. It can be intimidating. However, if you draft an outline of the topic you want to write about it will be less intimidating and provide the context of an article that you can simply begin building on.
• Be willing to share. There are so many opportunities to contribute content and share your expertise. However, if you’re not willing to share you’ll never be able to take advantage of these opportunities. To be a thought leader people need to know what you think or what your expertise is.
• Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS). I’ve written about this in the past, but I learned this phrase from my high school newspaper advisor. The key is to try not to complicate things or try to sound to smart or use big, complicated words.   It’s not about dazzling readers with your command of the English language or your extensive vocabulary. The key is to share and engage your readers and make it as simple as possible for them to understand your message. Simplicity will go further than dropping big words that nobody understands.
• Read what you write out loud. A former editor shared this tip with me years ago. If you write something it may sound one way or the way you want it to in your head but entirely different when you read it out loud. If you read it out loud you’ll hear what it sounds like to your audience. This editor told the story of being in a newsroom interviewing a potential new editor. She said as they toured the newsroom the candidate told her he could identify her best writers without even talking to or meeting them. She took him up on this offer and to her astonishment he was right. He identified her best writers without knowing or having met them before. She asked him how he did that and he said, “It was easy, I just watched for the ones reading their articles out loud.” I tried it and was surprised myself to see how effective it was at making my writing more concise. Try it yourself the next time you write something, you’ll be surprised at how effective it is.

These tips have served me well in my career. Writing is subjective and by following these tips you’ll be able to identify your own voice and develop your own writing style. You’ll also be able to communicate more effectively and utilize writing to differentiate yourself and the way you communicate from others in your industry.

 

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

Four PR Tips To Be Relevant

Recently while sitting in a meeting a question came up and the answer caught me totally off guard. The response had absolutely no relevance to what the question.

In public relations (PR) being relevant is a critical component to any interview or interaction with the press, partners, clients and employees. Yet, it seems like more and more I see people respond in ways that continue to amaze me with their lack of relevance to the subject at hand.

I’ve written about it in the past, but the key in any media interview is to prepare. I offer clients media training in an effort to help them maximize their opportunity to meet with and interview with the press. This isn’t an exercise in scripting how an interview should go or the response they should give, but rather an opportunity to sit down and remind people of best interviewing practices.

The Internet is full of videos of people making fools of themselves for things they said that made no sense or weren’t relevant. A couple years ago a Mrs. America contestant had her 15 minutes of fame when she responded to an interview question during the pageant and her answer had nothing to do with the question. Not only that, nobody knew what she was talking about or what question she could possibly be asking.

For the purposes of this blog entry and being relevant in an interview, I’ve listed four tips below to help ensure that you’re relevant and don’t make a fool of yourself.

• Listen. This doesn’t mean you’re simply hearing noise. I know somebody that when you talk to them will sit at their computer typing, acting as if they’re listening. When you stop talking there is an awkward pause before the person stops typing, looks up from their computer and gives you a blank stare. It’s obvious that the person hasn’t listened to a word you’d said and you end up having to repeat yourself. Occasionally, the person will attempt to respond as if they’ve heard the question or conversation but it quickly becomes obvious to all involved they weren’t listening. The responses are typically off topic and have no relevance.
• If you don’t understand a question as for clarification. There is nothing wrong with asking for clarification to ensure you understand the question or conversation. I’d rather ask for clarification that wing it and give a response that makes no sense. A reporter will also appreciate you asking for clarification, especially in a live interview situation.
• If you’re giving an example make sure it’s topical to the question. Siting an example or sharing a story to illustrate your point is a good practice. It helps the person your talking to understand your point while creating the scene in their mind. The key is to share a story that clearly illustrates the point you’re making. For example, if you’re talking to a younger person that has never used a typewriter or phone booth don’t use examples that ingrate those things into your story. Similarly, talking about the good old days or how things were when you were young are not good examples. Try to share examples that are relatable. If somebody doesn’t like sports or doesn’t know industry jargon then don’t draw on those things as examples.
• Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS). I learned this in my high school writing class and it’s served me well for more than 20 years. Big words aren’t going to impress people if they don’t understand what they mean. On the contrary, if people can’t understand you they’re not going to listen to you.

By paying attention to the conversation of question and making sure you understand a question, you’ll increase your odds of being able to respond intelligently and be relevant to the conversation. By being relevant you’ll be viewed as a thought leader and somebody that knows what they’re talking about.

 

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

Off The Record

I’ve written about being off the record before, but the topic has come up a number of times over the last couple weeks and I believe the topic and the questions that accompany it bear repeating.

Over the course of an interview the person being interviewed is often asked a question they can easily answer, but for various reasons can’t or shouldn’t divulge certain information.  Most of the time this is the result of an agreement or deal that is not yet finalized and, as a result, can’t be shared or announced.  However, in the excitement of the moment and of being interviewed it doesn’t stop people from divulging the information anyway.

Usually what happens is the person blurts out or shares confidential information and then follows it up with, “That’s off the record, by the way.”

Well, guess what?  It really isn’t off the record if you’ve told a reporter the information without prior agreement that it’s off the record.  If you tell a reporter, or anybody else for that matter, something without a prior agreement or understanding that it’s off the record, it’s not off the record. Most of the time a reporter will agree to keep this information out of their report, but they don’t have to.

I advise my clients to avoid a scenario like this.  It’s bad practice and one, that while most reporters will still honor the request even though no prior agreement was in place, only takes one time to muddle up even the best-laid plans.  The most important thing to remember in any situation is that you’re always on the record.  Even things you think aren’t related to an actual interview can be used or included in a media report.  This includes materials sitting on your desk, photos on your office or your Facebook page, product or company strategy written on a white board and of course things you say to a reporter or others while the reporter is with you.

If a situation arises where you want to go off the record, coordinate this sharing of information in advance. As a PR person, I always recommend that you include your PR person in any interview.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a phone interview, face-to-face interview or a broadcast interview.  This allows you to have a second person or witness in the room to vouch for what was or was not said.  It also allows the PR person to be the bad guy and get, or keep, the interview on track in the event that the reporter takes the interview in an improper or wayward direction.

Additionally, if you want to go off the record to be able to provide background or context to what you’re saying, your PR person is the best person to handle this properly. If the situation arises, here’s the best way to handle it:

• Tell your PR person you have something you want or need to share that needs to be off the record.
• From here, your PR representative should tell the reporter, “We’ve got something we want to share but it needs to be off the record.  Do you agree to that?
• If the reporter says yes, then you can proceed to share the information.
• Once you’ve shared the information and answered questions related to that topic, your PR representative should then tell the reporter something along the lines of, “Ok, we’re back on the record,” and the interview can continue.

Once you agree with the reporter that you’re back on the record, everything from that point on is fair game for inclusion in any reporting that occurs as a result of the interview. In most instances, I recommend you avoid going off the record.  If you have something that is off the record or can’t be shared at that particular moment, it gives you a reason to go back to the reporter at a later date for a separate interview or coverage opportunity.

I’ve seen it too many times where a client has divulged confidential information and tried to go back and say, “that was off the record, by the way.”  In most instances the reporters were fine with that and agreed to keep the information of the record, but there have been plenty of times where the reporter has not agreed to that and used the information as part of their report.  Clients were upset by this and felt like they had been burned, but the reporter did nothing wrong.

The best policy is to remember you’re always on the record. If you don’t want something to be reported, don’t tell a reporter.

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

Are You Asking Me A Question?

I heard a radio interview the other day with one of my favorite book authors, John Feinstein.  Feinstein was being interviewed about his latest book, Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life In The Minor Leagues of Baseball.  As the interview started, the radio show host made a statement and then paused.  There was a moment of awkward silence before Feinstein asked, “Are you asking me a question?”

Feinstein and the radio show host have been friends for a long time and in fact have done similar interviews for each of the 22 previous books he’s authored.  Feinstein’s question back to the host was more about giving his long-time friend a hard time than it was about being a jerk, but it provided a valuable example of how to handle this type of situation.

The exchange brings up an interesting dilemma and one that I see regularly in public relations (PR).  What do you do when a reporter says something that isn’t a question but looks at you and is clearly waiting for an answer?

In my part time job/hobby with the Utah Jazz I see a lot of this.  After the game during locker room interviews with players, it’s common to hear reporters say things like, that was some game or you guys really hung in there.  Neither example is a question but players respond to them as if they are.

In one of my favorite Rick Reilly columns in Sports Illustrated, Reilly raged over this very concept.  In his column, Reilly writes about things that bother him about Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls … “For that matter, I’m sick of NBC’s Ahmad Rashad, too. I’ve waited seven years for him to ask Jordan a question, and I’m pretty sure it’s not coming. You guys sure hung in there, Michael is not a question. That was some game, Michael is not a question. When is your contract up, Ahmad? is a question. Are you expecting a real question from a man who sleeps at Jordan’s house, drives with him to games and appears in Jordan’s ads? I just hope and pray that when Jordan finally stops, he doesn’t do it too suddenly. Rashad’s nose could break off.”

When these types of non questions come up with my clients, here are four tips I share and advise them to follow when being interviewed.

• Make sure you understand the question.  If you didn’t catch the question, understand it, hear it or realize a question was being asked, confirm what the question is.  Similar to Feinstein in the example above, don’t be afraid to say, “are you asking me a question?” Or, restate the question and wait for the reporter to confirm the question before answering, “So you’re asking…?”  Upon conformation then you can proceed to answer the question.  If you think the question was one thing and answer it in a way that makes no sense to the reporter you run the risk of sounding foolish or in giving away information you didn’t want to or shouldn’t have given.
• Take your time answering the question. It’s okay to think about the question and gather your thoughts before responding. Don’ take too much time but you don’t have to respond as soon as the question is asked.  A pause of more than a few seconds is to long and may make the reporter think you’re trying to hide something or are about to lie, but a few seconds to gather your thoughts is acceptable.
• Don’t guess.  It’s okay to not know al the answers.  If you’re unsure or simply do not know the answer be honest.  If you can get the information for the reporter, tell them as much but then be sure to follow up with them as promised.  Doing this builds confidence and trust. Guessing because you don’t want to admit you don’t know the answer will more often than not just get you into trouble or make you look foolish.
• Don’t answer questions unrelated to the topic.  Occasionally during the course of an interview you may have a question come up that has nothing to do with the topic at hand.  In these instances I recommend avoiding the temptation to respond.  Just because a question is asked doesn’t mean you have to answer it.  If it’s a question about a social topic that has nothing to do with your business or the expertise you’re being interviewed about, it will be reported as if you’re opinion on the topic is the view of the company you represent.  If that is at odds with customers, partners or clients it can cause serious problems.  In most cases, keep your opinions to yourself.

I say this all the time, but it’s important to remember that you’re always on the record.  Anything you say can be reported or published.  If you don’t’ want something to be known, then don’t say it. If you want to share information there are great ways to do so, but if you’re being interviewed always make sure you know what the question is.

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+