Setting Up a Personal Interview

One great way to extend and expand your marketing and public relations efforts and to build credibility with the public is through personal interviews. Whether for a newspaper, magazine or print publication-or for radio or television (or even an "online chat") personal interviews generally take some effort, planning and finesse to set up. Additionally, you'll want to make the most of the opportunity to get your message out to a larger audience.

Within your business or organization, you should determine who the best "spokesperson" is and who will be the one giving and participating in personal interviews. It helps if you've identified this person in advance, but you may be caught off guard by a call from a reporter or editor who wants to interview someone from your organization in response to a story he is working on or a recent event. Choose someone who has authority within your organization, but also someone who is personable, eloquent, and articulate and feels comfortable talking about the organization in front of the public. This is your opportunity to create a public "face" for your company or agency and you'll want to make sure you're well represented.

Do you have a story to tell? News to share? An event to announce? You will need an angle to interest and attract the media in order to set up a personal interview. Once you've identified and created your "pitch," do some research as to what the available media options are in your community. You may want to create a press release as the first step and then follow up with reporters, broadcasters and editors to see if they have received the release and whether or not they would be interested in hosting an interview. In order to generate interest, you'll need a compelling angle and an interesting personality to put forth as an interview subject. Do not expect the media representative to do most of the legwork-you'll need to basically feed the story, the person for the interview, and any photos or images available to the reporter. This may include providing a place for the interview, transportation, etc. Be prepared to do the bulk of the work to make the interview happen.