What’s the most important question you should ask a reporter before you grant an interview? I’ve been pitching and talking to reporters for what often feels like 100 years, but I finally learned that magic question this morning.
I bet you’ll say yes to all of these questions. I did, until today. It’s great to be featured in the media, right? It’s smart to be generous in sharing information with a reporter so she/he will think of you as a good source again in the future, right? Love me or hate me, but please don’t ignore me.
All of that is sage advice – provided you ask the magic question first. “Will you include the name of my company and a link to it in your article?”
Because, otherwise, what is the point? Do you think lots of people will Google your name to find out how to reach you? Think again!
It’s not only unfair to the interviewee, but as reporter Amy Gahran noted on Twitter, not linking to a source is not transparent to readers.
Nathan Eddy interviewed this morning for a story in eWeek “Six Tips to Build Your Brand” and when it came out, there was no link to my blog, and my neither consulting company, nor my new venture, Pawfun.com, were named. My fault. I didn’t ask the magic question.
But after the fact, in a what-the-hell moment, but not without trepidation, I looked a gift horse in the mouth, emailed him and said that I thought there should have been a link. He immediately wrote back, apologized, and added the link. Whew!
I won’t make that mistake again. Don’t you make it either. Remember the magic question.
The Most Important Question to Ask a Reporter BEFORE the Interview
BL Ochman | November 23, 2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (10) | TrackBack (
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Categories: Alternative Marketing, B.L. Ochman, Commentary, Media Relations
Tags: , Amy Gahran, B.L. Ochman, BL Ochman, eWeek, Media Relations, Nathan Eddy, Pawfun.com, social media marketing, Twitter, whatsnextonline.com
Tags: , Amy Gahran, B.L. Ochman, BL Ochman, eWeek, Media Relations, Nathan Eddy, Pawfun.com, social media marketing, Twitter, whatsnextonline.com
Great reminder. You were right to ask and that took courage. Thank you for sharing your learning experience with us all. I will remember this one.
Thanks for the advice! I’ve been interviewed a number of times and I’m almost embarrassed to say that I never asked that question. You can bet I’ll be asking that from now on though.
On another note, I’m looking forward to the launch of PawFun.com!
That is a great tip to remember. I’ll keep that in mind if I ever have an interview in the future.
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You can easily vote for JamsBio at http://blog.jamsbio.com/?p=1641 or using the widget that is posted on the left.
Thanks and Rock On,
Ryan
As a reporter, linking to someone’s name/website is something I’m generally happy to do. When I don’t, it’s usually more from deadline rush than anything. Very smart for sources to specifically request it.
I was interviewed yesterday for a TV news show to be aired next Wed night (Baltimore Channel 2) on the 11 pm news. The subject was about Black Friday shopping based on my book Smart Shopping Baltimore Washington. Unfortunately, there’s no cover art yet. However, I made up graphics for a size chart from the book, the cover of another book of mine (Temper Tantrum Common Sense Handbook) that I mentioned in the interivew, a list of shopping tips, and a list of URLs. The videographer took long shots of each as b-roll and I gave him the grahpics cards to take with him, “just in case.”
They may not use any of it, but I made sure it was available.
Amazing how many news stories run WITHOUT a link to the web sites… amazing how many interviewees never ask.
I’ve been on both sides of the media, as a journalist and as an interviewee. As a journalist, you are always “fighting” your copy editor to keep the links in. Links take up space, column inch space is precious.
In the early days of the Internet, a “web site” was a frivolous endeavor, not really “authoritative” like a newspaper is, so you had editors shying away from publishing links. Much of the staff from the Internet early days are still running newspapers and these people change slooowwwwwllllllyyyyyy.
And, thirdly, there is always the fear of yellow journalism if you published a link to a “for profit” site in a “legitimate” news story.
So, always ask and if you can’t get it linked, at least stay on top of the story when it publishes to the newspaper web site, have a blog post ready to publish and further flesh out those points that you made in the story that the reporter had to edit out.
Then, be sure to link back to the newspaper and Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter out.. etc… give back circulation to the publication as early and as generously as possible, even if they don’t directly link back or publish your URL.
Hi B.L.,
As a recovering technology journalist – I think you did a great service to remind folks that journalists are human too and it’s always good to politely ask about how the company, spokesperson and if the link will be featured in the story.
And always send a thank you after the story runs to the journalist. It’s surprising how many folks don’t do take the time to do this and what a difference it makes in a journalist’s day to day practice. Journalists love to know their stories were read and that the person(s) they used as sources actually took the time to read them.
I used to send handwritten thank you notes when I was a journalist and thank each person that was featured in my stories. Taking this extra step really helped long-term in being able to go back to folks as sources and I also wanted them to know that I valued the time they spent with me.
Refusing to talk to journalists because they won’t link to your website from their article could kill additional opportunities for interviews, visitors and perhaps even sales. And it could send journalists to your competitors who end up getting the publicity.
There are far better ways around the problem:
—During the interview, give the journalist a good reason to send people to your website. How about pointing out a quiz, tips, a free article, a 7-day free tutorial delivered by autoresponder, buzzword chart, case study, industry survey, reference guide, free “test drive,” White Paper, cheat sheet, optimizer, comparison chart or checklist? Journalists love to guide their audiences to helpful, free items. Sny one of the freebies mentioned above may convince them to link to you.
When I get an email or a tweet from somebody telling me to visit their website, I almost never bother, unless they’ve told me why visiting will be worth my time.
—When journalists ask for the name of your company, simply give them the URL of your website. BL would say “PawFun.com” instead of just PawFun. Chances are they won’t call you on it. And if they don’t link directly from PawFun.com to your site, readers will know where to find you.
If you’re mentioned in an article and your URL isn’t given, people will, indeed, Google your name if they want more information. I do this all the time and usually find the website I’m looking for.
joan – some good points in your comment, much appreciated.
Whether it’s worth giving an interview without a guaranteed link depends on a lot of factors, including the reach of the publication and the topic, and what’s in it for you.
I DID say Pawfun.com and I DID say What’s Next Blog when I spoke to him. And he did add a link when i asked him to, because he agreed, he should have included it to begin with.
I also pointed out several posts on the topics we were discussing that he could have linked to. So there is no one way to handle an interview.
however, i disagree completely when you say that most people will Google your name to find you if there is no link. You are far from typical – you ARE a journalist and a savvy marketer. Most people won’t bother.
Good point about me being a journalist and atypical.
I’m amazed at the number of people who email me with questions, and wait patiently for a reply, instead of just typing the question into Google and getting a variety of answers within just a second or two.