 | Ed Barks Jun 20 | There are many considerations when dealing with the press. Among them, the need to reach out to reporters in a professional, accessible way. Here's some advice on how you can become a media relations pro and gain the respect of the journalists who cover your company. - First and foremost, target your media opportunities carefully. Start by defining your target audience. Do you need to reach clients or prospects? Your Congressional delegation? Regulatory officials? People in a specific geographical area? Your workforce? Competitors? Determine which media outlets best reach your intended targets. The media is nothing more than a conduit that helps you reach out to your public. Reporters are not your ultimate audience.
- Forge professional relationships with reporters over time. Only then can you build the trust that makes you a reliable source. Admittedly, this is getting harder to do in the era of shrinking newsrooms. Many reporters don't have time to sit down and chat over coffee for a "getting to know you" session. This creates a challenge when trying to figure out how to reach the media. And never waste a reporter's time by sending them fluff news releases. Reach out only when you have real news. Eventually, they may learn to contact you when necessary.
- Supply the reporter with background information about your company and your issue ahead of time. This can include news releases, web links, fact sheets, speeches, digital media channels, and more. The more you furnish up front, the less time you'll need to waste during those precious interview minutes.
 - Send a list of frequently asked questions you want them to raise. They may or may not turn to your promptings every time, but you at least raise the odds that they will ask questions about those issues. And that's the goal of any media outreach effort, to raise your odds for success. No guarantees. But if I told you that I can raise your probability of success from zero to 75 percent, wouldn't you take that bet?
- Ask the reporter who else they have talked to for their story. It helps to know who else has provided context for them. Have they already interviewed your mortal enemy? Or have they focused on your allies? These insights give you valuable clues as to their attitude toward you and the type of questions they might ask – friendly, neutral, or hostile. They may or may not tell you. But if you can get this information from half of the reporters you deal with, you're raising your chances for victory.
- Approach each reporter with the notion that you have an opening to make a new professional acquaintance, not a buddy. Reporters seek you out as a source of information, not as a potential BFF. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with having reporters for friends. They are, by and large in my encounters, nice folks. Just remember that you are engaged in a business deal when they interview you for professional purposes, and that all the standard ground rules apply.
- Aim to understand what a reporter's day is like. Sources who make the journalist's job easier are likely to be turned to more often. Their routine is replete with unforgiving deadlines, so get a sense of their time constraints. Do they need to talk with you by close of business today or can it wait until next week? Today's newsrooms also face increasingly tight budgets. Also, correspondents may have to report to cranky editors and news directors, so give them a story that's going to make them look good to their superiors.
- Take into account the fact that reporters are always working. You remain on the record even during a seemingly casual chat. You do not have license to spill the beans about confidential or sensitive issues when you bump into a member of the media at a conference or reception (or in the neighborhood if you happen to live next door to one). It is their job to vacuum up juicy tidbits wherever and whenever they find them. Any time you are in the presence of a reporter, your radar should be pulsing at full intensity.
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