Ten tips for getting the most from your PR dollar

If you just did interviews and left it at that, public relations would still be a wise marketing investment.  There are many ways to leverage your media interviews for your maximum advantage.  A completed media interview is a tool that can be used again and again.

The following 10 tips will show you how to turn your media interviews into multi-faceted marketing tools.

When you are conducting a radio interview over the phone, it’s a good idea to record them yourself.  Purchasing an inexpensive tape recorder that hooks into your phone will give you a quality copy of your interview without waiting for the station to send you one.

Before recording any telephone conversations, check your local laws.  Some states require you to inform the other person they are being recorded.

When you have an upcoming interview scheduled, tell people–don’t keep it a secret.

Positive media attention is a morale booster for any company, and employees may want to tune in or read the article. 

Have your sales staff call hot prospects, and send notes to other prospects to let them know when and where you will be interviewed.  Your prospects will learn more about your business and the media attention will impress them and further legitimize your business in their minds.

If you are doing a broadcast interview, it’s a good idea to obtain a written transcript or a tape, audio or video, of the interview. 

Interview transcripts are a great way to improve your interviewing techniques.  Be sure to review the tape or transcript of your interview, and ask yourself if you stated all your main points and if you mentioned your contact information. 

Quotes from media interviews make great additions to sales literature.  Pull excerpts from an article or interview, and use them as sidebars. 

List media outlets that have done stories on your company in your literature; a list of media appearances makes a powerful statement about the importance of your company. 

Your Web site should be a dynamic place for up-to-date information about your company.  To keep things current, include articles that have been written about your company by creating a section where Web surfers can read transcripts or hear audio versions of interviews.

When you are being interviewed by a TV reporter, take pictures while you are being interviewed while you are on the set of a show.  Pictures like this will convey celebrity status.

If you don’t want to be distracted by photos during your interview, reporters may pose with you afterward in a mock interview situation.

Media interviews can build a curriculum of your company’s spokesperson.  An impressive list of media interviews can help convince other media outlets that the person is an experienced and worthwhile spokesperson.  Your spokesperson’s credibility level can also be raised when they participate in speaking tours or are invited to lectures.

At a trade show, it helps to use a video that supports your product or message.  Running a taped media interview can draw attention in a more interesting format than the standard corporate video.

For visual impact, you can enlarge articles for people to read, make posters featuring a list of media interviews completed or use captured still frames from TV interviews and make posters from them.

Media interviews can be an integral part of investor relations.  A feature story can give a good overview of your company.  Additionally, it helps reassure investors that you are applying serious marketing support to your product.

Media clips can be shown at meetings with brokers or clients.

Using print media coverage in your annual reports is another good way to publicize your articles. 

Show articles and copies of TV appearances to prospective employees.  It will give them a better idea about what your company does, and make them excited to work for you.

Always remember that if you want to use radio, TV or print materials, you must follow certain guidelines.  Because of copyright laws, most newspapers, radio stations, magazines and TV networks own the rights of the material, and it’s illegal to use these materials without permission.