Symbiosis with the Press

I just got off the phone with a journalist from Cosmopolitan.  (She was asking for some ideas and quotes for a story she is writing about why some women keep attracting the wrong man.)  Talking to journalists is one of the things I most enjoy about my work.  Each interview is like a power coaching session and I love the fact that, more often than not, the interviewer has ‘aha’ moments as well as going on to write a piece that will help others too.

It is sometimes a bit of a risk to have a spoken interview rather than send my thoughts in writing because I never really know what is going to be written.  I have had some experiences where the story that was written and the quotes that were attributed to me were so far from the reality of what I said that it is scary.

On the whole, however, I have not had that problem.  And I know, now, that if I have a good rapport with the journalist and they have that ‘aha’ moment for themselves, that the story is going to be great.

I also really appreciate it when a journalist takes the time to call and talk to me and do the old-fashioned thing of taking notes and writing them up into their own story.

More often than not these days when a journalist wants input on a story, they will email a list of questions and ask for my ideas and thoughts.  I am ambivalent about this approach; on the one hand I know it is a good opportunity for free marketing and exposure and for me to communicate my ideas exactly, but on the other hand it can be incredibly time-consuming and there are no guarantees that my pearls of wisdom will be used at all – or used appropriately.  What frequently happens is that my written responses are cut and pasted into the story, even if they don’t make sense or belong there.  An out of context quote can be very damaging, as I have discovered.

Having said that, however, it can also be an opportunity to be very precise about what I want to say and get my message across very clearly.

Both written and verbal interviews have pros and cons and it is advisable to be aware of the possible pitfalls, but also make good use of the opportunities.  My advice to others who are asked to provide comment on articles is the following:

• Be open to helping journalists – you can create a very symbiotic relationship with them; they gethelp for their stories and you get valuable (free) exposure.  I have about 10 journalists whom I help out whenever they ask and it works well for me and for them.
• If the article in question is not something you know about, don’t try to help.  It won’t serve you or the journalist.  Just say something like, ‘This is not my area of expertise so I won’t be able to help you with this story but would love to work on another one with you…’
• Have a conversation with the journalist and see what your instinct says about them.  If there are any alarm bells about their competence or integrity, say you can’t help.
• Ask to see the story before it goes to print.  Often news journalists will say they can’t send it to you because their editors don’t allow it (this is true of most newspapers) in which case ask them if they can give you an idea of what they are going to write so you can correct any misconceptions.
• Be sure to read the published version so that if you are not happy with how you and your ideas have been presented you can be sure to not work with that journalist again.
• Ask the journalist to send you a PDF of the article to upload to your website or put into a physical portfolio.
• Make sure you find out when the article will be published so that you can use your social media platforms to let people know you are being featured in a magazine/newspaper, etc.

Enjoy the exposure and the experience!

Tags: building relationships with journalists | coaching | exposure in magazines | getting exposure in the press | interviews | magazine articles | power-coaching

Subscribe to Real Life Coaching

For email notifications about new blogs I publish, click here.