Okay, you're going to be interviewed for a print article or a tiny spot on a radio or TV program, and your employees are all fired up at all the new business they think the interview will generate. "Whoopie!", you say, "That and a buck and a half will get me a cup of coffee at the diner. The same thing happened last year, and we certainly didn't get any new business out of that, so why should this one be any different?"

Keep thinking like that and you'll be heading for the diner with that buck-fifty for sure. Any interview, whether it's print, audio or video is an oppor tunity to increase your business and positively affect your cash flow as well. Here's how.

GENERATE A MAILING
Use this wonderful publicity opportunity to generate a mailing to your prospects and customers. If the interview resulted in a print article, make a copy and use it as the feature piece for a direct mail campaign. Highlight the positive features spelled out in the article and tell how your firm is on the cutting edge of supplying goods and services.

Follow the rules of generating direct mailings. First, point out their need for a solution to a problem. Second, show them that your product or service will fulfill that need. Third, provide a testimonial (th e interview results). And finally, make it easy for them to obtain what you have; an 800 number or a response card.

If your interview results in a video, you are in even greater luck! Tape the interview from the TV and take it to a graphical design shop w here they can make still photos from the tape. Pick out several places in the interview where you and your company shine, have these made into graphical images that can be printed. Now quote the person talking about you and put this information along side the video still!

Wow! You didn't say it, he or she said it! This is powerful stuff, and can be used directly to stimulate new business.

PUBLIC SPEAKING
As soon as your mailing goes out, start on the speaking tour. Call the local organizations that meet weekly or monthly and ask if they need a speaker. Tell them of your recent interview. Design your talk around the interview, and make sure the information you present will benefit your audience. Use the print material you have generated from the interview as a handout.

TELEMARKET
Call the people to whom you have sent your interview material and ask them if they received it. Many will say, "No" even if you absolutely know it was sent and received, but that's all right. What you are doing is stimulating them into thinking about you and what you do. This would be a great time to ask them if they are thinking about using the product or service you provide, and say something like: "Maybe I could drop off some more detailed information. . . ?."

Telemarketing gets a bad name because of the many idiots who think you have nothing better to do than to answer their stupid question: "How are you today?" As a group, we business people have learned this phrase nearly always precedes the pitch, so our first answer is usually defensive, like: "I'm okay, what are you selling?"

To eliminate this response, try opening your conversation like this. " Hi Sam, this is Paul. What did you think of that article I sent you? The one the morning paper wrote about my company last Tuesday?" It doesn't matter whether Sam read the article or even received it, you have opened the door to a conversation. Now it's up to you to make it work.

OTHER IDEAS
Include your interview material with your standard presentation material. It doesn't matter whether you mailed a copy to a prospect or not, if you are going to make a more formal presentation, then include it again. If you don't already have a media kit (something you present to the media to tell them about you), this may be the place to start. The very fact that someone else thought you were newsworthy may tip the scales in your favor for still another bit of publicity.