6 ways to prepare your staff for a reporter’s visit

It’s a crucial interview for your company, one that will affect your growth, your reputation, and your bottom line. You prepare carefully, huddling with your leadership team and crafting highly memorable media messages that will gain the audience’s attention—and trust. You may even conduct a mock interview session to ensure your comfort when answering challenging questions.

When the interview date arrives, you feel well prepared. But you forgot one essential truth, one that threatens to undermine all your efforts. Having a well-trained management team isn’t enough.

Journalists know that many executives and managers have received media training, so they occasionally circumvent the official chain of command to speak with a less trained (and more candid) junior staffer. With just a few careless words, those subordinates can undermine all your media training and carefully crafted communications strategy. As an example, check out the jaw-dropping words uttered by a young professional in this video: