Because our company is known to the media as a resource, we continually receive calls from print and electronic media looking for story ideas. These calls usually come when the media is on a deadline and need something – now! In those situations, the appropriate client has to be ready to move in a flash, which means he or she has to be prepared and ready to go. Although media placement usually takes some time, there are also those instances that a press release immediately hits the jackpot. We have emailed a press release on a client at 9 a.m. and have had that client doing a live TV interview at noon that same day. You have to be ready. Remember; don't unleash the power of the media until you're prepared to control it. Public relations can be tricky because you have to be both patient and prepared. If you're not prepared to do an interview, it could turn out to be a dismal experience. You can end up feeling depressed and embarrassed, the media will feel cheated, and you will have wasted an incredible opportunity.
So prepare. Review the image you want to convey - small town and friendly, authoritative, professional, humorous, avant-garde, formal and business-like - whatever. But make sure that your image matches your personality. If you are basically shy and retiring, don't try to come off like a rock star. It ain't gonna work. You may have to learn to project more and become a bit more forceful with your responses, but those are simply tools you learn to utilize when needed. Keep your voice modulated. Be dynamic, but not frenzied. Your mission here is not to alter your personality, but to enhance it. Have both your information and your delivery ready to go. That way, when the media does respond, you'll be ready.
Copyright © Anthony Mora 2008
The Media Mantra: Prepare, Prepare, Prepare - To learn more about this author, visit Anthony Mora's Website.
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Anthony Mora
(Visit Anthony's Website)
Anthony Mora Communications, Inc. is a Los
Angeles-based public relations firm that
focuses in the areas of media relations,
image development and media training.
Anthony Mora Communications regularly
places clients in major media outlets,
including Time, Newsweek, Oprah, the New
York Times, CNN, the Today Show, the Wall
Street Journal and hundreds of other media
outlets. Through media placement, you are
not presented within the context of an ad
or commercial. You're not positioned as
an ad but as the news.
President and CEO, Anthony Mora, has been
featured in: USA Today, Newsweek, The New
York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The
Wall Street Journal, The BBC, CNN, E!
Entertainment Television, Entrepreneur,
Fox News, MSNBC, and other media. He has
written three books, the most the most
recent, a how-to on PR called Spin to
Win.
For further information visit:
www.AnthonyMor
a.com
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