I often begin my media training sessions by asking members of the audience to raise their hands if they’ve been interviewed by the media. Almost all of the hands in the room go up. I then ask them to keep their hands up if they’ve ever been misquoted. Not only do virtually all of the hands remain up, but the usually nod their heads vigorously, followed by laughter.

Being misquoted is one of the biggest plagues for any spokesperson. It can cause deep consternation for the interviewee, who has to sheepishly explain to her colleagues that she didn’t actually say what the reporter claimed she did.

A former colleague from California, a well-respected scientist, recently e-mailed me the following note about an article that appeared in one of the largest newspapers in the United States.

“Don’t know if you saw it, but the paper did a write up of our work last week. The body of the story was fine, but the writer attributed some quotes to me that never came from my mouth and had some horrific technical errors. So what do you do?”

There’s good news and bad news here. The bad news is that you can never guarantee that the reporter will get your quote perfectly right. Journalists, being subject to human flaws, will occasionally get it wrong. But the good news is that you have a lot more control than you think – and can exponentially increase the odds that the reporter will get your story right.

Here are four ways to reduce your risk of being misquoted:

1) Give Them the Facts: Let’s face it – the more you say, the more you stray. A lot of spokespeople get misquoted because they say too much. Instead of spending most of your interviews providing reporters with endless background, write a one or two page fact sheet which lays out the basic facts for them.

Providing a reporter with a written fact sheet accomplishes several things. Most importantly, it allows you to tell the reporter what the story means during your interview instead of telling him what the story is. By doing so, your quote will contain your interpretation of the facts instead of raw facts devoid of context.

It also saves you time, since you don’t have to explain the basics of the story to each reporter who calls. Finally, because you’ve said less and repeatedly emphasized the meaning of the story, you’ve given the reporter more opportunities not only to get your quote right, but to make it meaningful.

2) Click, Clack, Repeat: If you’re giving a phone interview, listen for the sound of typing on the other end – you’ll hear it when you say something that intrigues the reporter. That’s your cue to slow down, make sure the reporter has time to capture every word, and repeat what you’ve just said.

The same is true during an in-person interview when a reporter is scribbling notes in a notepad. When you see her scribbling, slow down and repeat!

3) Click, Clack, Send: Some reporters allow their interviewees to respond to questions over e-mail. If you’re fortunate enough to have a reporter agree to an e-mail interview, you will have total control of your words. Just be sure to have a colleague check your response for unintended meanings and phrases that can be taken out of context.

Although you can use e-mail interviews occasionally, you probably shouldn’t rely on them all the time. Your goal is to build long-term relationships with reporters – and that’s something better accomplished over the phone or in person.

4) Now, What Did I Just Say: Although reporters are under no obligation to read your quotes back to you, many of them will. If you don’t like the way you said something, they may not change it – but if you misspoke and said something factually inaccurate, they will. You should ask them to read back your quotes during the interview, not afterwards.

You can also offer to help the reporter fact check the finished story. If you don’t like the way the reporter framed the story, she will be unlikely to change it. But if she has objectively gotten a fact wrong, she will almost always correct it.

Brad Phillips is the founder and president of Phillips Media Relations. He was formerly a journalist for ABC News and CNN, and headed the media relations department for the second largest environmental group in the world.

For more information and to sign up for free monthly media relations and media training e-tips, visit http://www.PhillipsMediaRelations.com

Your boss just stopped by your office. He tells you that he has decided to put you in charge of a major upcoming news release. He wants you to reach the broadest possible audience. He explicitly tells you to leave no stone unturned.

You respond by promptly ignoring 38 million Americans.

According to New California Media, 13 percent of the U.S. population now turns primarily to ethnic media. If you only pitch publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and Time, you will leave out a huge chunk of your potential audience. More than ever, a complete media strategy requires reaching out to ethnic publications.

You might consider a publication such as Latina Magazine, with its 800,000 upscale Hispanic female readers.

Or Chinese Daily News, with its 720,000 Asian readers in California.

Or Black Enterprise, with its more than one million professional African-American readers.

In fact, ethnic media is so hot, that categories such as “Black,” “Hispanic” and “Asian” may simply be too broad. According to The Washington Post, specialty magazines are being published for groups as specific as Indians in Silicon Valley and Arab American business leaders.

So how can you reach the ethnic media? Here are three ways:

1) Work With Your Ethnic Expert: Do you work at a law firm with an Arab attorney? Is a verdict about to come down in a high profile lawsuit the Arab community has been following closely? Contact an Arab news publication and let them know you have an Arab expert available to comment.

2) Use a Translator: Foreign language ethnic media means having to translate your story not only into another language, but to another culture. If you are having your story translated into Spanish, Arabic or Mandarin, for example, use a translator who can also point out any potential sensitivities you may have inadvertently included in your release.

3) Spot a Trend: Have African-American youth suddenly started buying your product? Have Hispanic women suddenly started volunteering for a particular cause in record numbers? Has a group of Korean men started taking ballroom dance lessons at your studio? These types of “trend” stories are likely to appeal to ethnic media.

Working with the ethnic press may take extra work. But with an audience of 38 million Americans who otherwise wouldn’t have seen your story, it just may be worth your time.

Brad Phillips is the founder and president of Phillips Media Relations. He was formerly a journalist for ABC News and CNN, and headed the media relations department for the second largest environmental group in the world.

For more information and to sign up for free monthly media relations and media training e-tips, visit http://www.PhillipsMediaRelations.com

Powerful is a strong word. But it fits here. As a business, non-profit or association manager, you create powerful advantage for yourself when you do something positive about the behaviors of those important outside audiences of yours that MOST affect your department, division or subsidiary.

That’s because you are using the fundamental premise of public relations to deliver the kind of external stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives.

And perhaps most powerfully, you do so by persuading many of those important outside folks to your way of thinking, then by moving them to take actions that help your unit succeed.

Yes, that’s powerful! Especially when it leads to advantages like these: membership applications on the rise; customers making repeat purchases; fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures in the inbox; community leaders seeking you out; welcome bounces in show room visits; prospects starting to do business with you; capital givers or specifying sources looking your way, and even politicians and legislators beginning to view you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.

You need two lucky breaks here: first, a PR blueprint you can rely on, say, like this one: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving- to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.,

And second, PR team members who understand that blueprint and commit themselves to its implementation, starting with key audience perception monitoring. Let’s face it, your PR people ARE in the perception and behavior business to begin with, so they should be of real use for this initial opinion monitoring project.

But remember that just because someone describes him/herself as a public relations person doesn’t guarantee they’ve bought the whole loaf. Make certain the public relations people assigned to your unit really believe – deep down — why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Make sure they accept the reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.

Discuss with them your plan for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Questions like these: how much do you know about our chief executive? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the interchange? How much do you know about our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

While, as noted, your PR people are in the perception and behavior business to begin with, professional survey firms are always available, but they can be very expensive. Nevertheless, whether it’s your people or a survey firm asking the questions, the objective remains the same: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

Your PR goal, of course, will be to do something about the most serious distortions you discovered during your key audience perception monitoring. Will it be to straighten out that dangerous misconception? Correct that gross inaccuracy? Or, stop that potentially fatal rumor dead in its tracks?

As it turns out, you won’t get there at all without the right strategy to tell you how to proceed. But remember that there are just three strategic options available when it comes to doing something about perception and opinion. Change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. The wrong strategy pick will taste like lemon sauce on your chocolate ice cream. So please be certain the new strategy fits comfortably with your new public relations goal. You wouldn’t want to select “change” when the facts dictate a “reinforce” strategy.

At this juncture, you must put together a superbly moving message and aim it at members of your target audience. Always a challenge to put together action-forcing language that will help persuade any audience to your way of thinking.

You need your first-string varsity writer for this one because s/he must create some very special, corrective language. Words that are not only compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if they are to shift perception/opinion towards your point of view and lead to the behaviors you have in mind.

After bouncing it off your PR colleagues for impact and persuasiveness, it’s on to the next selection process — the communications tactics most likely to carry your message to the attention of your target audience. You can pick from dozens that are available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. Just be certain that the tactics you pick are known to reach folks like your audience members,

Since the credibility of the message is always at stake, you may wish to unveil it before smaller meetings and presentations rather than using higher-profile news releases.

Calls for progress reports will soon appear, which signals to you and your PR team to get busy on a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. You’ll want to use many of the same questions used in the first benchmark session. Difference this time is that you will be watching very carefully for signs that the bad news perception is being altered in your direction.

I’ve always considered ourselves fortunate that such matters usually can be accelerated simply by adding more communi- cations tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.

What you want the new PR plan to accomplish is to persuade your most important outside stakeholders to your way of thinking, then move them to behave in a way that leads to the success of your department, division or subsidiary.

Yes, powerful is a strong word but certainly not too strong when the people you deal with do, in fact, behave suspiciously like everyone else – they act upon their perceptions of the facts they hear about you and your operation. Leaving you little choice but to deal promptly and effectively with those perceptions by doing what is necessary to reach and move your key external audiences to actions you desire.

Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net. Word count is 1170 including guidelines and resource box.

Robert A. Kelly © 2004.

About The Author

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi- cations, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public rlations.

mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net

Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com

Maybe it played for Kevin Costner in “Field of Dreams,” but that paraphrased line – “Print it and they will come” – doesn’t necessarily work in real life.

There’s a lot to be said for the value of editorial side coverage, but you can’t count on people acting on what they read or even remembering it for long. The smarter bet is to find ways to leverage your coverage to enhance the odds of driving more prospects in. Here are some fairly easy ways to do it:

First, create a short synopsis of the article (making sure your part of it is front and center), including the headline, publication and publication date. Tease to the “hit” or placement on your home page and link it to the synopsis, which you should post to the Press section (or some informational equivalent) of your site.

If you’re among the many who are comfortable with e-mail marketing and are fairly nimble, you can devise a simple informational mailing that shares news of coverage and provides a link to the article on the publication’s website, if it’s available. Many publications allow public access to their content for a limited amount of time, so do this before that time expires.

Otherwise, you need to check out the availability of reprint rights and PDFs, well worth it for articles where you’re quoted expansively or that you’ve authored. For a price, you can secure a PDF (hard copies are usually extra) and guidelines for usage. Don’t make your own photocopies or PDFs because you risk violating the publication’s copyright.

Here’s how to use the PDF: o Create a link to the PDF from the synopsis of the article you’ve posted on your website. That way people will know they can access the complete piece. o Whether you have formal or informal outreach efforts to clients, customers and friends, incorporate a brief, FYI-type summary of the article and attach the PDF, if it’s an e-communique. And don’t forget to encourage the recipients to forward the piece to people they know who might find it of interest. o If you use snail mail outreach, things are a little dicier. If you’ve gotten a printable PDF and the mailing is fairly small, you may be safe printing and making copies to include as part of the mailing. Check the terms of your reprint permission. The problem is that PDFs are made to look good on the computer screen, but printouts don’t reproduce as well. o Make sure anyone in your organization who is involved in business development is equipped with the PDF, and encouraged to include it as an informational attachment when promoting the business to prospects and friends.

If it’s printed, they may come. If you promote what’s been printed, the odds go up exponentially!

Sally Saville Hodge is president of Hodge Communications, Inc., specializing in strategic public relations and marketing communications for businesses, entrepreneurs and professional associations. Formerly an award-winning financial journalist, she brings over 30 years experience to client engagements. Subscribe today to Communic@te! our free bimonthly e-newsletter and get a free special report: “Using Buzz To Create a Groundswell For Your Business.” Visit http://www.hodgecommunications.com

I got the latest issue of Internet Works in the post yesterday and was disappointed to find out that it’s going to be the last. As well as having the good taste to run a feature on me last year (!) Internet Works has been a great source of information and ideas for me for the last couple of years and it’s demise will leave a gap.

But it is also just another reminder that publications come and go, and their staff do too. But, with new publications emerging, and other titles closing, how do you keep up to date with all the PR opportunities out there?

Here are our Do Your Own PR tips to help you do just that.

1. It sounds basic but do set up a separate contact system for journalists – even if you’ve only got two names for your database at the moment.

2. If you’re really organised then you can divide this into warm contacts (journalists you’d be happy to call and chat to) and cold contacts – those you haven’t built a relationship with yet. You can then gauge your success as you watch names move from the cold to the warm list.

3. Keep in touch with your media list on a regular basis. That way if emails get bounced or you receive a reply saying “Bilbo Baggins no longer works with Hobbit Publications” you can update your list immediately.

4. If someone does move don’t cancel them off with one touch of the delete button. Give their old office a call and find out where they have moved to – chances are they’ve moved onto bigger and better things and you can keep in touch. Even if they’ve suddenly moved over to Pigeon Fanciers Weekly and you know they aren’t going to be able to do anything for you at the moment a nice “wish you well” email helps keep that door open for the future.

5. Ask your existing contacts if they can recommend any other journalists that might be good contacts (and that way you can sneakily drop in the referrer’s name to warm up your contact).

6. Pay particular attention if journalists contact you. If someone calls from The Express don’t assume that you’ll be able to get hold of them by calling the Express. Many writers are freelancers whose contact details are guarded fiercely. If you get hold of their contact info treat it with the respect it deserves.

7. I’ve come across many clients who dealt with press in a former job but now dismiss their past contacts as being “old” or “not in the same area”. How do you know until you ask? That freelancer you used to speak to about racing cars might also write about parenting issues – or, more probably, might know someone else who does. Don’t just write off old contacts as dead ones.

Finally, a client recently told me about http://www.worldwidefreelance.com/markets.htm

Although it’s aimed at freelancers looking for outlets to sell their work, it’s also a great resource and inspiration for publications that may be PR opportunities.

Paula Gardner http://www.doyourownpr.com

Paula Gardner is the author of Get Noticed! How to Boost Your Small Business Profile in 30 Days or Less available from http://www.bookshaker.com/product_info.php?products_id=37

How can media training help you create a successful Hispanic market campaign? There are plenty of examples of Hispanic market campaigns with a broad range of results. Many of you have heard of the infamous airline that invited travelers to fly ‘naked’. In the same way, the slogan for pork as “the other white meat” which was successful in the general market was meaningless to U.S. Hispanics.

To promote their new business class leather seats, an airline invited passengers to fly “en cuero.” It was not until they had launched the campaign that airline executives realized “en cuero” means naked in colloquial Spanish. Better to prepare than to do damage control after the fact.

When providing Hispanic market sensitive media training, trainers should explain to the spokesperson, regardless of his or her cultural background, the importance and role media play, how the training can benefit them personally and professionally. If necessary discuss media specifics such as types of media and media stories. America’s diverse population makes it almost mandatory for interviewees to consider the impact of their message, the way they convey it and the audience. During media training it is important to match the messenger, the medium and the target audience using a culturally sensitive message.

Public relations practitioners should explain to their clients what is expected of them; and what they should expect during the interview process. A spokesperson should be aware of culturally sensitive issues regardless of the media outlet and language.

Another way to make the spokesperson aware of what to expect is to examine media types including online, broadcast, and print media. Describing interview formats (e.g. news, entertainment, and talk-show) and their characteristics expands the expert’s understanding and equips him or her to respond appropriately to the situation.

How is Hispanic media training different? Sometimes the differences are subtle and other times they are easy to spot. How can Hispanic media training support your efforts to create a successful Hispanic market campaign? Understanding the unique aspects of language and culture of this desirable market, can help your Hispanic market spokesperson be more effective and your campaign be more successful.

Beyond Language

Hispanic media issues are about much more than language. Some Latino programs and publications are in English or bilingual. Even though some of the programs may be in English, successful interactions with Hispanic media require an understanding of and sensitivity to the Latino audience they reach.

Understanding the media outlet is a first step. Knowing how to deal with and approach the producers and reporters is another. Even if you are successful so far, the message and the messenger have to fit the audience and the medium. That was the case with the pork example earlier. Before launching a translation of the English language campaign, the pork association representatives learned that Latinos were concerned about health related issues; they had no objections to dark meat.

Savvy public relations professionals and interviewees do their homework before addressing the public. There are often cultural, political, socio-demographic, historical, and linguistic issues worth considering. In the same way, Hispanic media training must take into account cultural and linguistic nuances to be effective.

What does that mean in practical terms? Different experts, media outlets and target audience combinations require different approaches. There are eight main possible scenarios; including the Cultural Sensitivity Model.

Under the Hispanic media training Cultural Sensitivity Model a non-Latino expert must be aware of cultural issues to ensure a successful interview, from a Hispanic market perspective, during a general market media opportunity. A non-Hispanic expert addressing a general audience with a general message can end up on the wrong side of an issue without meaning to, if he or she is insensitive to Latino hot buttons. Such was the case of a columnist who offended Latino readers who read her magazine. Several Latino leaders called for a boycott of the publication, causing it to lose credibility and Hispanic readers.

Each interview requires an understanding of the particular characteristics of the audience. As the diversification of America continues, it becomes increasingly difficult to create one message to reach everyone effectively. Among U.S. Latinos, this diversification is also a factor. The challenge is that because the market is made up of a number of small groups rather than one single Latino group, there is no one approach or cookie cutter formula. When in doubt, consult a Latino market expert, preferably one specializing in Hispanic media training.

No single media training, regardless of the language, can address all potential situations and solve all possible problems. It can communicate some of the critical concerns and challenges to the spokesperson improving their effectiveness and making them sensitive to Hispanic market issues. This can facilitate the success of your Hispanic market campaign.

Elena del Valle is a 20-year marketing and communications veteran. Part of this article was derived from Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations (Poyeen Publishing $49.95). Additional information is available at http://www.hispanicmpr.com/?page_id=25

Although media relations is not all there is to PR, it is a darned good, low cost way to spread the word. So here are a few media contacts to help you out.

Tom Weber is the editor of The Wall Street Journal’s Pursuits section. It covers entertainment, food, fashion, and travel. Contact Weber at 212-416-2207.

While discussing the WSJ, it also has a new section called "Wealth Manager." If you have news story ideas on taxes, trust, charity, banking and investing, contact Robert Sabat, personal finance editor at WSJ, or reporter Rachel Silverman. They want email pitches. Email protocol at the Journal is firstname.lastname@wsj.com.

CNBC is a great place to book your business experts. Gloria McDonough-Taub is the chief booker, 201-735-2622.

Family friendly and aimed primarily at women, Doug Stephan’s syndicated radio show, "Good Day" offers authors and entertainment figures an opportunity to reach people in 450 markets. The show, which airs from 4:00 am to 10:00 am, also is interested in experts on politics, health, technology, sports, and investing. Producer Beth Brelje can be pitched via email at beth@dougstephan.com.

Another high-end men’s lifestyle magazine? Yes, it’s a quarterly called Vitals targeting 25 - 35 year olds. Products and services that help you look good, feel good and have fun are what Editor Joe Zee wants to hear about, 212-630-3539.

And, finally, city magazines are a great place for travel-related information, as well as local lifestyle pieces. The Washingtonian is edited by John Limpert. Here’s a full list of editorial contacts.

Spread the word.

Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Focus Four, Levolor, New World Mortgage, North Carolina Tourism, TeamHeidi, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX, and Verbatim.

Today’s issue of Lean Marketing Champions features tips on doing your own PR from one of our authors and PR goddess, Paula Gardner.

1. A Website.

Even if you think a website isn’t going to directly to contribute to sales, having a web presence makes it a lot easier for journalists to suss out a bit more about you before they commit themselves to getting in touch. And, once you’ve got your details and further information up there it’s not unknown for journalists to respond to a press release and write up their piece from your release and your website alone, without even getting in contact with you.

2. A Brand.

Having your brand defined, at least in your head, helps you market yourself boldly, strongly, and even provocatively if necessary. Think about what you represent. You don’t just sell financial products; you offer security and trustworthiness. You don’t only own a hair salon and cut hair; you offer a fresh new image, a time to change the way you look and feel about yourself. Think about mobile phone adverts – very few of them actually have a mobile phone in them but hint at aspirational lifestyle statements! It’s a technique that works.

3. A Thick Skin.

There will be those times when you call a journalist in the middle of press day and they grunt at you down the phone. Don’t take it personally. Just shrug it off and move on.

4. A Spring in your Step and a Smile on Your Face.

Most of us, journalists too, prefer to talk to someone who is optimist and cheerful. So, stand tall and put a smile on your face (even when you’re on the phone, it does work).

I’m wondering if… You Know Other People who should be reading this too? So do us all a favour (they get 2 free books - we get a new subscriber - you get to look good) when you Pass On This link… http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk

5. Persistence.

Putting regular time in really makes a difference. So, get out your diary and schedule in some PR appointments with yourself for the next few months.

6. Help.

Whether it’s a VA, a colleague, a PR or media student, a willing friend in business or a PR Buddy, having someone who is not afraid to say “That press release is just too boring” is really worth finding.

7. Knowledge of the Press.

I often get clients who don’t read, never make the time to listen to the radio and are proud of the fact. I do empathise with them, but really, to have any success in PR you’ve got to know who you’re talking to. So, sit down and choose your target publications, list them and tick them off as you read them. Regularly.

A good resource that you but cheaply is the Writers and Artists Yearbook, available from Amazon. The Writers and Artists Yearbook 2005 will cover a good deal of publications (both newspaper and magazine in the UK). The Guardian Media Directory moves up a step in seriousness, covering the addresses, phone numbers, websites and key personnel for companies in every section of the media, from digital television to magazines, regional newspapers to publishing houses, think tanks to charities. The site www.mediauk.com is also a great top up resource.

8. A Fail Safe Method of Contact.

If you know that you’re not going to be around for long periods, whether it’s away at meetings or doing your day job, make sure there is someone who can at least take a message and hunt you down when the press come knocking. Because, unlike The Postman, they rarely knock twice.

===================================
Get Noticed! The Do Your Own
PR Handbook by Paula Gardner.
Buy It At www.BookShaker.com
====================================

Paula really knows her stuff on PR so why not get in touch at her website… www.doyourownpr.com

‘Dangerous’ Debbie Jenkins
debs@debbiejenkins.com

(c) Copyright 2005 www.BookShaker.com

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Effective Media Relations Tips - What To Do After The Media Interviews You! By Thomas Murrell MBA CSP, International Business Speaker You’ve done all the hard work - prepared a media kit, engaged with a reporter and they’ve listened to your message and asked questions.

What now?

Well, effective media relations doesn’t just stop once you have been interviewed.

There are many ways to leverage your media experiences to help build your brand, reputation and image management skills.

Here are five tips on what to do after the media has interviewed you.

1. Implement a Professional Media Monitoring Service How will you know what media coverage you are getting if you don’t monitor it?

Media monitoring collecting and evaluating all press featuring your company or industry. The media however can involve print press, radio, websites, TV and even blogs and it is wise to enlist a professional media monitoring service. These services use keywords to search all media outlets and email summaries immediately to the company with links to the full articles. Often media monitors can break down searches to specific geographical areas. These services provide a far more precise and detailed evaluation of your company’s media with less chance of missing something that has been published.

2. Analyse Your Quotes

After the story has been run analyse which quotes the reporter has used. Often a one-hour interview may result in just one or two key quotes being selected by the journalist. This offers an insight on the way the media operates and what journalists look for in interviews. The more you understand how the media works, the more you can customise your message to what they want and the greater the chance of success in your comments being used by the media.

3. Understand What Quotes or Sound Bite Elements Were Used

Pay particular attention to exactly which quotes were used and how effective they were at relaying your message. This offers a personal insight into your own media techniques and can identify areas that require further attention and training. For example: simple, direct quotes are often favoured by the media. If a lot of the article has been paraphrased perhaps your messages were too long or confusing or weren’t articulated well.

By combining your understanding of the quotes used, identifying areas of weakness in the interview and examining the workings of the media you will have a greater understanding and chance of stronger media relations in future interviews.

4. If You Like Your Quotes Re-use Them

Good quotes are like diamonds. They are often formed under intense pressure. They are valuable, unique and when polished, cut and set can really make you shine. If you’ve made the diamond and had it set, why not show it off as many times as possible.

If your quotes communicate your message well, re-use them again and again. Not only are they effective in relaying more message but have been approved for use by the media, that is they identify with what the media views as a "good" quote. It is more important to communicate your message confidently, clearly and consistently than it is to be original.

5. Never Get Angry or Trash The Media

If you get interviewed but not quoted, resist the temptation of trashing the newspaper, magazine or reporter and getting angry. Instead, analyse the quotes that were used by others and try to improve your message delivery so they could have been better crafted and therefore more likely to be used. The quickest way to improve your knowledge in this important and growing area is to learn more about how to craft messages that even the most cynical reporter will want to use.

Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries. You can subscribe by visiting http://www.8mmedia.com. Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom’s blog at http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com/

You are a spokesperson for your company, representing it for public speaking and media interviews. You are going about your everyday affairs, granting media interviews on a new product or service your company launched or a timely topic of general interest. All is going well and a Hispanic media representative calls. What should you do?

Should you respond to the request as you do with other general market requests? If you are wondering about the reach and importance of Latino media and Latino audiences nationwide, note that Hispanic buying power is estimated at around $600 billion a year and increasing rapidly. At the risk of stereotyping, remember Latinos are loyal buyers, especially for high ticket items, spend more than mainstream and other minority market buyers on basic products and like to purchase the best they can afford.

Is there a significant Latino media presence? Yes! Familiarize yourself with major media outlets such as Univision, one the largest which includes TV, radio, cable and online coverage; Telemundo, the second largest TV network; El Nuevo Herald in Miami, the highest circulation Spanish language newspaper; and Terra.com, one of the Latino market web portals. A useful resource with detailed information on Hispanic media and Hispanic media training is Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations (Poyeen Publishing, $49.95).

Deciding whether to accept the media interview opportunity will depend on a number of factors including your goals, the type of product or service to be discussed during the interview, your media interviewing abilities and Spanish language proficiency (if the interview is in Spanish). Keep in mind that many Latinos are English dominant (their only or preferred language is English) and a number of Hispanic media are in English or bilingual. This means your interview could be in English. Should you prepare your interview responses as you do with general media interviews? What steps should you take to get ready for the interview?

As with any other media interview make sure to practice, prepare and rehearse; don’t “wing it.” The viewers can tell when you are prepared. Unprepared speakers often leave the audience with a disappointing impression. As part of your preparation, find out as much as you can about the media outlet and the audience of the interview.

To make the best impression consult a Hispanic market expert and/or a Latino media relations coach. He or she can help you position your product or service among Hispanics. Make sure you craft your message with the specific audience you are addressing in mind, review the information for the interview, and develop Hispanic relevant message points (a reminder of the key points you want to emphasize). Make sure your company is equipped and ready to respond to any Latino market responses resulting from the interview.

Following are links to some Hispanic media websites (in Spanish), to visit if you speak or read Spanish and want to learn more about Latino media:

http://www.univision.com/portal.jhtml
http://www.telemundo.com/index.html
http://www.terra.com/
http://www.miami.com/mld/elnuevo/

Elena del Valle is a 20-year marketing and communications veteran. She is editor and contributing author of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations (Poyeen Publishing $49.95). Additional information is available at http://www.hispanicmpr.com/?page_id=25