August 5, 2010

Credit Union Management’s online-only “PR Insight” column runs the first Thursday of every month.

Getting the attention of media can be easy. It is difficult, however, to turn attention into media coverage. It is even more difficult to turn the occasional newspaper article or TV spot into consistent, positive stories about your credit union in media outlets that reach your members.

The key to your credit union’s media success is responsive and informative interviews. Many executives think that simply being an executive means they are prepared to speak with the media. An interview is different from presenting to the board or motivating managers.  Discussions with media take training, proper information and practice.  

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

Preparation is key to an interview that results in positive media coverage. Few of us are accustomed to meeting with the media, since interviews aren’t a day-to-day occurrence. Following some simple steps can help executives feel more at ease, ensure the right message is communicated and increase the likelihood it will end up in print or on air.   

1.    Become familiar with the journalist’s work and media outlet before sitting down with for the interview. Journalists will do their research on you and your credit union. Make sure you return the favor. It often impresses them that you have seen their work. Research also helps sculpt your answers, because you now know the type of information that journalist includes in their stories.  

2.    Speak to the reader or viewer, not just to the journalist. Reporters are gatekeepers to your members, so when responding to questions, imagine you are speaking directly to a potential member. What would you want to get across to them?

3.    Keep a file of good quotes and action photos. You never know when you might need them in a hurry. We live in the age of the sound bite and visual image, so to be effective you need to capture the attention of readers or listeners in the first few seconds.

4.    Use facts and figures, but do not get too technical. Remember, journalists may not know much about the topic of the interview, and they can often conduct interviews on their first day at a job, so use plain English and avoid jargon, credit union-specific terms and acronyms.

5.    If you plan to use props, such as your latest remote deposit capture product, make sure it works and that you can briefly and easily describe it. It is easy to overuse props, so keep it to one or two and move quickly through the description.

6.    Never try to fool a journalist or their audience. If you don’t know the answer to a question, say so and move on. With a newspaper reporter, ask if you can get the answer to the question before the deadline and be sure to do so! Nothing can turn a positive experience into a negative one faster than failing to provide promised information.

7.    Anticipate all the tough questions you may be asked and have short, clear responses ready. Move the conversation back to your message as quickly as possible and ALWAYS tell the truth.

8.    Always tell the truth.

9.    Do a dress rehearsal. The more times you answer a question, the more comfortable, natural and direct your response. Mock interviews are particularly important before live or on-air appearances.

Deliver Your Credit Union’s Message

Interviews are not conversations. Conversations are back and forth exchanges of information, opinion and emotion. News interviews are content-driven exchanges of information in which you state comments for use in a story for the benefit of an audience that does not come into personal contact with you. As a result, it is vitally important that you use that opportunity to deliver your credit union’s key messages. Below are a few tips on getting your message across to media.

• A successful interview is much more than merely answering questions. Take the initiative and tell your story. Don’t wait for the interviewer to get around to the right questions. You are the expert, and you can’t be passive. Bring up the things you think are important for readers or viewers.

• Set your own pace and give yourself time to think before speaking. Your role is to provide information, not to fill any silences as you would in a social situation. A long pause followed by a short appropriate answer will serve you better than an answer that is spontaneous.

• Don’t share information, such as an upcoming credit union product or service, unless it is approved and ready for release to media. Many times, one staff member may release premature information, and another staff member will contradict the statement in an interview. If there is any doubt about whether to release information, don’t.

• The reporter assumes everything you say, as well as everything he or she sees, is on the record. It’s all fair game for the story unless you ask for an exception in advance. If you feel you need protection from identification or direct quotation, you might be better off not doing the interview. You and your credit union are best served by taking the same stance as the reporter – everything is on-the-record.

• It is never appropriate to ask to see the story in advance. You can ask the reporter if they provide a “fact or quote check,” so you can make sure your specific contributions are accurately portrayed. This adds another step into the reporter’s process, so be aware that he or she may consider you a difficult source and opt for a competitor credit union or bank the next time a financial services comment is needed.

• Reporters attempt to verify facts during interviews. If a reporter asks questions based on misinformation, you have the right to steer him or her in the right direction and make corrections.

• Use anecdotes and illustrations. Reporters as well as your members are more likely to absorb and remember information if it is shared in an interesting and memorable way.  Instead of simply stating your credit union is offering a CD, provide readers or viewers with an idea of why they should save and how the CD’s rate can benefit them in a future purchase.

An Interview is a Ritual

A news interview is like a ritual. If you prepare for an interview the same way every time, it becomes systematic, it becomes natural, and it ensures success.

Elizabeth McMillan, APR, is an account director for William Mills Agency, the nation’s largest independent financial services and technology public relations firm. Follow William Mills Agency on Twitter as well as check out the FinTech Marketing blog.

Further Reading

PR for CUs: Public Relations Strategies for Credit Unions (free download)