Client expectations and what not to say to a reporter

By on July 8th, 2010 In Best Practices

I learned a little lesson earlier this week when I tried to help a TV reporter find someone for a story they were working on. The person who I found and verified to be a good candidate for the reporter to interview didn’t realize that if they were selected, they would have to appear on TV. I was so used to my clients knowing what to expect when a reporter calls that I didn’t think to remind a random tweeter that this was something that would be on the 6pm news and they’d have to tidy up the house and let their spouse know this was happening. Luckily, things seemed to have worked out just fine once I explained how it all works.

This reminded me of about a year ago, when I came up with a list I titled “The Realities of Publicity” and now include it in any proposal to new clients. If they don’t agree to the information that is required of them as a client, they won’t be a client. I don’t want to ruin my reputation with the media by having a client who doesn’t understand their needs and mine.

Yesterday, I saw a few reporters tweet and retweet these tips about The Top Ten No-No’s when speaking to a reporter and was even forwarded the link in an email from another reporter who isn’t on Twitter. This list must hit home with a lot of them so I thought I would share. My favorite tweet that must of been inspired from seeing this list was from KPHO Anchor, Sean McLaughlin: “PR tweeps-always remind your clients-when the newspaper calls-it’s a story for tomorrow-when a tv station calls-it’s for a story TONIGHT”

I encourage you to always educate clients and their customers/clients on the expectations of the media before pitching them. Makes life a whole lot easier for all of us.

Comments

Rob Perez Says:
July 8th, 2010 at 1:43 pm

What a great revisit to your piece “The Realities of Publicity” and a good tweet to remember from Sean McLaughlin.

Nancy Neff Says:
July 8th, 2010 at 2:17 pm

Whether TV or print, it’s always good to ask the reporter when the story is expected to air/publish. Not all TV news is “breaking,” so stories don’t always run “tonight” and sometimes print stories are online well before they appear in the newspaper.

Derek Says:
July 16th, 2010 at 11:41 pm

Haha! That person was I! I’m sorry I couldn’t help out as fast as efficiently as the next guy. I originally thought that the “article” you refered me to was HIS article, and so the followup would be another article or maybe a phone conversation. I didn’t realize that his “story” was gonna be a TV takeoff of the print (web) article. And I when I heard FOX, I knew right away it would be a TV spot.

I’m am a stay-at-home dad, and I trying to find work and run my two kids to their daily activities. That in it self is a major undertaking since I live in North Peoria, some schools are in Scottsdale, and other places are in Mesa, Glendale, and Phoenix. So, trying to schedule a TV crew out to the house to film me and my kids was going to be difficult at best.

After clearing the designs with my wife, I then realized that it wasn’t gonna quickly work out, ’cause my kids and I aren’t home at the same time (IE: school, therapy). And if my kids WERE at home, I’d need to give them a LOT of attention (my son has autism), thus making the on camera interview difficult.

So, even though I really REALLY wanted to help and use exposure, and I think the TV biz moves very rapidly from one thing to the next, the stars just didn’t align for this to happen.

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