The Public Relations Blog

Handle reporter calls and media interviews with tact and skill

Sometimes, a company might receive an unexpected call from individuals identifying themselves as news reporters. Organization spokespersons attend media interviews to represent their brand in the media. However, if the company representatives aren’t adequately trained for such situations, such engagement might end negatively.

Here’s how to successfully deal with reporter calls and handle media interviews.

A mobile-friendly website is key for success.

According to Statcounter, 56.5% of all global web traffic is done via mobile devices as of March 2022. This means the majority of people viewing your website are likely doing it via a mobile device. Because of that, you’ll need to make sure to give mobile users the best experience they can on your site. Thankfully, there are ways to make your site mobile-friendly and several ways to check how your website looks on mobile devices, making this less painful than it may seem.

'Do you post the same content on every social media platform? Read this to change your mind. 

Imagine you’re at a bar with your friends, and you’re having quite a fun night with them. Now, can you behave the same with your clients? No, right? It’s the same with social media: You can’t bulk-share the same message across every social media platform you use for your brand.

When you adapt every piece of content you create to a specific platform, you enhance the chances of a specific post going viral. So, how do you do that? Let’s talk “native to the platform.”

Ace an in-person news interview by following these PR pro tips

Whether you are doing a live, in-studio interview or an interview on Zoom or Skype, you must prepare for it. For in-person news interviews, these are the best ways to prepare before arrival and on the day of the interview.

Steve Boehler discusses what the CMO job consists of and what characteristics make a great CMO.

If you’re enjoying the vodcast, would you please share it with others and leave us a review?

Guest:

Our episode guest is Steve Boehler, Founder of Mercer Island Group. He’s worked with well-known brands such as Tide, Pringles and Jif.

Use punctuality to earn opportunities and build relationships

Being somewhere on time sounds simple, but it has a huge impact. Think of instances where you’ve been punctual in your personal life, such as going to a dinner reservation or a doctor’s visit. By being punctual, you prevented stress that would’ve happened if you were late. Being there on time helped make sure everything went smoothly.

Business is no exception. Punctuality can benefit not only you, but also your client and your relationship with them.

As you write content (blog posts, stories, and social media posts) with links to external websites, you don’t want long and awkward-looking URLs within your text. Those URLs don’t have to stick out like a sore thumb – you can replace them with anchor text, which is clickable text like this link to our homepage.

To determine which words to use for ultimate search-engine optimization, you need to make sure your anchor text is expressed briefly and clearly, relevant to the linked page, and specific. 

Why it’s important for a copy editor to review your content... Yes, a single grammar mistake cost one organization millions of dollars.

According to a New York Times article, drivers in Maine received $5 million because of a dispute over the Oxford comma. You may not think a single comma is important, but this case shows why a small mistake could be costly — and the importance of copy editing.

Meta descriptions offer insight into what your page offers without reading your story. Here’s how to leverage it. 

Meta descriptions are a direct search engine ranking page ranking signal. However, many writers and search engine optimization experts fail to give them the attention they deserve.

A properly optimized meta description plays a key role in attracting visitors from search engines to visit your website. They are summaries, almost like small ads, optimized to assure web surfers they are headed toward the right content, to drive more visitor action, and to increase your click-through rate. If you want your meta descriptions to act as a hook to drive user intent, you should first be aware of these three meta description optimization mistakes.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, a majority of TV interviews shifted to Zoom. The pandemic allowed TV stations and news producers to look at interviews in a new light. For a local station, the ability to conduct interviews on Zoom allows them to connect with experts in different areas without having to connect with an affiliate station to procure content for you. While you aren’t sitting face-to-face or knee-to-knee with an anchor, there are still tips and tricks you should utilize to make your Zoom interview a breeze.