ditor's note: This is another article in our series on incorporating public relations techniques into your business. When used with other promotional strategies, such as advertising and marketing, public relations is an information tool that can create awareness and understanding. Our last Inspiration piece, in the April 28, 2003 issue (03:04:02), covered how to write a press release.

You invested some time, wrote a press release about your latest product or program and e-mailed it to targeted outlets you knew would be interested. You sent background information to your local daily or weekly newspaper and invited the business editor to call you with questions regarding, say, credit card processing or identity theft. Now your phone is ringing. Congratulations!

What do you do when a reporter responds to your press release and calls to set up an interview? Just like the press release you wrote that caught the reporter's attention, there are a few pointers to follow that will help ensure the interview, as well as the resulting article or broadcast segment, will come out the way everyone wants.

First, remember this is the reason you sent out the release. Public relations means you're providing detailed information to the media - and their audiences - about yourself and your business. Here's your chance to give insight on financial services! Return that phone call as soon as possible.

The reporter most likely will contact you for a feature article. These are not hard-news stories. The idea is to give the audience a deeper understanding of issues in the news; features include human-interest stories and personality or company profiles.

Despite the opinion some people have about the media, the reporter's goal is to give an accurate portrayal. No reporter - or editor - wants to find out there are problems with a story after it's in print or on the Web or on the air. It should be your goal to give reporters all of the pertinent information, additional sources and good quotes you can to help them achieve their goal.

You can contribute to the successful outcome of the interview from the beginning of the process. During the initial phone conversation, clarify why the reporter is calling. Does the reporter understand the information in your press release? Is there someone else in your company, who might be more familiar with a certain area than you are, the reporter should contact? Do you have materials - in print or online - that would help familiarize the reporter with the subject matter? Make sure the information gets there before the scheduled interview.

After you have determined what type of story the reporter will be writing, prepare for the interview. Decide three important points you want to emphasize. These key "talking points" can help organize your thoughts and give focus to the interview. Have facts and figures ready; gather notes and materials to which you can refer.

During the interview, stay relaxed. While your interviewer probably will have specific questions that will take the conversation in a certain direction, remember your key talking points and come back to them often. Keep your remarks to the point. If you're asked a question you don't know the answer to, don't make something up - say you don't know but that you will find out. And then make sure you do.

Most important, while you're talking with a reporter, don't use words or phrases that you don't want to see in print or hear on the air. Think about the way you're describing your company and what you do. Think about the impression you want people to take away and the word picture you need to paint to make that happen. Use positive phrases, but don't expect a reporter to simply reprint clich‚s such as "leading provider" without asking for specifics.

Instead, think about what differentiates you from the competition. How does your experience separate you from other financial services providers? If your competitors are huge corporations with thousands of employees all over the globe and your company is smaller, emphasize that you offer the same level of service and can do so in a much more efficient way.

One of your talking points could focus on the fact that when customers call your toll-free phone number, they always reach a live person as opposed to disappearing into a maze of voice mail. Another might stress that you only do one thing and that you do it well, rather than spreading your resources thin and doing many things not so well.

After the interview, follow up by sending any materials or referrals the reporter requested. If you happen to find additional information that will help in writing up the story, send that, too.

Just like you, journalists are people trying to do their jobs. The interview is one step in the process of gathering information for a story. Anything you tell reporters may end up in their articles - that's what they've been trained to do. They don't know what you're supposed to say and what you're not. If you keep that in mind when you're talking with them, there shouldn't be any big surprises when their stories come out.