Develop and Maintain Media Relationships

The media has always been a very transient profession; television, radio, print and online folks move around A LOT, and the moves might surprise you. This is another reason for you to continue doing interviews for small market media outlets; you never know when one of those folks is going to move up into a bigger, better position.
Here are a few examples; we’ve deleted the names to protect their anonymity.
-A local TV reporter we know who worked in the very small Panama City Florida market just last year is now a national correspondent for FOX NEWS CHANNEL
-A print reporter for the New Orleans Times Picayune now hosts a radio talk show in Mississippi
-A producer for left-leaning MSNBC has now crossed over to produce and book one of the top rated shows at conservative FOX NEWS
-One of Burke Allen’s former interns at CBS Radio Las Vegas is now a successful on-air host and radio station programmer in Memphis
Keep track of the contacts you make, because when they switch to a new outlet, that can mean fresh opportunities for you.

Live or Pre-Recorded?

If you’re ever given the choice of doing a media interview live or taped, always opt for live.  Although your instinct might tell you to go for the taped piece so you can have “do-overs” in case of mistakes, resist that temptation.  Here are three reasons why:
1)  Content control:  Recently, an Allen Media Strategies client did a pre-recorded appearance on ABC TV’s “Good Morning America”.  While the publicity was fantastic, the final piece that aired edited out one of the key points our client felt was really important, even though the show booker had promised that it would be included.
2)  Better chance to steer:  An pre-taped interview can be easily edited to eliminate references to your website, any product or service you’re plugging, etc.  That’s nearly impossible to do in a live interview setting.
3)  Less likely to be bumped:  Taped packages are often bumped from airing until weeks or months later (and sometimes, not at all).  If you’re live, you KNOW it’s going on the air!
One caveat to the above; if pre-recording is your only option, then try to take it.  Remember, this is free publicity…and a chance of it airing is far better than no chance at all.