Preparing for a Media Interview

At some point in your career the phone will ring or you will get an email from a reporter requesting an interview for an upcoming article. Don't panic! This is a wonderful opportunity for you and your company.  Just remember to gather some information and this should be a positive experience.

Be sure to ask some questions of your own first. Find out who the reporter is and the topic and objective of the article. This will help you determine if this is a good fit for you.

Next, find out the type of story. Is this a product piece, an industry wrap-up or trend article. Try to think about how you can add value.  Does your company have the best product in the market to showcase in this article? Be objective here and use this time to help promote it and show how it relates to the market and trends.

This can be accomplished by developing some message points. In order to successfully deliver your message in the interview you need to determine what the message is. Think about what your product brings to the market and what you want people to know or remember of it. Condense this into two or three concise one to two sentence statements. These are your message points.

During the interview, weave these message points into your interview answers. You can use a technique called bridging. This is where you answer the given question and segue into your message point. An example is "yes that is true, but you should know..." This will help you to take control of the interview and make it worthwhile for you and the reporter. Be sure to support your message points with an interesting story or fact and you will have a terrific interview experience.

Last but not least, find out when the interview will air or appear. You will want to watch or see a copy of the article.

Website Development is Not Just Another Pretty Site

During the website development process keep search engine ranking in mind. It is important to incorporate appropriate triggers on your site, i.e. calls to action, lead capturing tools, online forms, professionally written content and customer engagement features such as blogs and social media integration.

Be sure to establish social media goals and articulate how they will align with your overall brand, marketing and public relations goals. Will this include content development such as blog posts, case studies, white papers, webinars, etc.? You need to decide what will drive prospects to your sales funnel. If you choose to go this route you will need to pay attention to SEO keywords to improve your search engine rankings. Your website will be raising brand awareness to increase brand recognition and online influence. Thus creating loyal website visitors and boosting community awareness and engagement.

Lastly, creating metrics to measure the goals by tracking URL shares, clicks and conversions that move through the various social media sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube) to your website is very important. It will drive brand awareness and increase prospects.

So while you are developing your new website remember search engine ranking. It is vital to the success of your company and brand.

Strategic Marketing Communications Professional with experience in B2B and B2C

Overview: 

 

I am a marketing communications professional that has experience in the B2B and B2C space. Within B2B, I have worked in Direct Marketing and Multi-Channel Digital Marketing. This includes browser and cart abandonment, marketing automation, lifecycle marketing (customer acquisition, conversion, relationship development, customer retention and reactivating the disengaged). Within B2C, I have worked in the banking and credit union industries and also hospitality and travel. Throughout my career, I have been able to transition between industries with ease and look forward to my next challenge.

 

What can I do for you?

·         Develop and execute a marketing plan that increases profits and market share

·         Develop external and social media marketing strategies to build brand awareness that includes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

·         Create integrated lead generation and cross promotional marketing activities to achieve revenue targets

·         Set the marketing priorities and create and manage the budget

·         Drive brand awareness and increase brand equity through innovative and strategic marketing and public relations programs that include blog posts, news releases, tradeshows, and media placement

 

Why you should work with me?

·        Strategic and creative thinker that can construct and preserve excellent relationships with clients

·         Excellent written and oral communication skills

·         Motivated, energetic and detail oriented

·         Can work individually or in collaboration with a team with great results

 

About Maria Alves-Schemetow

I have over two decades of experience in the marketing field. I pride myself on my ability to make order out of chaos with my excellent organizational and interpersonal skills. I am an award-winning professional, a strong writer and project manager that only delivers the best to my clients. I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from The William Paterson University of New Jersey and am a proud member of the American Marketing Association and eMarketing Association. If you choose to work with me you will get excellent service and turnaround time and a cost-effective solution to your needs.

 

Contact:

 

Maria Alves-Schemetow

Marketing Consultant

(P) 973-256-9009

Email: MSchemetow@gmail.com