13. Interviewing Your Publicist Candidates

Now your homework leading up to the interview stage of hiring a publicist for your practice is complete.  With your publicity budget in place, you have received referrals and/or done your research to select and arrange meetings with your chosen candidates and have reviewed your own needs, abilities and goals in preparation.  You are ready to begin the actual interview process.

You will be seeking a candidate who has experience, good skills and a history of success in acquiring publicity for their clients.  Just as with anyone you would hire for your practice, they should be dressed appropriately and make a nice personal presentation.  As you speak with them and review their material, you should find them to be articulate both verbally and in their writing skills.  They should come across as friendly, creative and curious; showing a genuine interest in you, your practice and your goals, and asking intelligent questions: wanting to know more.  They should also display professionalism, energy and self-assurance.  Finally, they should be disciplined, honest and trustworthy.  Some of these traits will show themselves in the presentation materials they will bring for your review; some will be displayed in their interaction with you, the gut feeling you are left with.  Take note of each candidate’s presentation pieces and personality to find the mix that will work for you, your practice and the publicity goals you have in mind.

To make the foundation of your interviews more uniform and easy to evaluate, prepare a list of questions to go over with each candidate and take written notes on points you feel are important.  This will not only allow you to learn about them through their answers, it will provide an opportunity to get a feel for each candidate’s personality.

Using a prepared list of questions will aid you in retaining your own focus.  Without such a list, half of your brain will be searching for the questions you know you ought to ask while the other half tries to focus on responses and the conversation in general.  A written list will establish a control, resulting in answers which can be compared and evaluated between candidates and will free your mind to appreciate what is being said and to consider the varying personalities of the candidates.

Don’t expect a candidate to describe a detailed campaign or talk about specific creative publicity ideas for your practice at this meeting.  And don’t try to turn the conversation into a chat about pointers that you can use on your own.  Remember that you are interviewing your candidates regarding the skills and contributions they can bring to gaining publicity for your practice; don’t try to use them as tutors.  Throughout your meetings, be honest and specific about your publicity aims and goals.

What to Ask at the Interview

First, you will want to ask if the candidate has worked with clients in dental or other health-related areas.  The basis of a successful publicity program is for the publicist to understand the subject of their efforts.  If you particularly like a candidate who is bright and has had success for clients in other areas, you may be able to educate them sufficiently to understand your profession, your audience and your goals.  They don’t have to be experts in dental terminology or practice, but they do have to be sharp and able to grasp the essentials.

Someone who has produced successful results for those in dentistry or similar professions, especially someone who has been referred by a peer, usually has a leg up on those with no dental or health-related experience.  Ask about the types of publicity the publicist has gotten for clients in dentistry or health care.

Please note that while considering a publicist referred by a peer in a non-competitive area of practice is an excellent opportunity, it is unacceptable to utilize a publicist who is working with a doctor who is in any way your competition.  Ask your candidates whether they currently work for anyone who is in professional competition with you; describe to them the types of dentistry or dental practice that would include.  If you find any such intersection, thank them for their time and do not consider using them.  However, if they have done successful work for such a client in the past, you can benefit from the background of knowledge and the contacts they have developed because of it.

Also ask about the contacts they have in the types of media in which you are interested; local publications, local radio, television, whatever type of coverage you are hoping to receive.  A local publicist may have marvelous contacts with local newspapers, magazines, radio, and local cable television, but no experience whatsoever with larger regional or national outlets.  That is fine if it includes the media you want.  Just remember that you need someone with established contacts in the forms of coverage you are seeking.

Ask about the candidate’s contacts at any major media outlets whose coverage interests you; be specific in naming those you would like the publicist to pursue such as the New York Times, the Washington Post and the L.A. Times, or ABC, NBC, and CBS television news.  Again, if this is the type of big-time coverage you desire, you need a publicist with established contacts and a successful track record to make your investment worthwhile.

You can also ask about each candidate’s experience with online media coverage if that is of interest to you and about whether they feel it is important or appropriate to the type of publicity campaign you are trying to initiate.

If you are seeking interviews with the media and have concerns about your personal presentation, ask if the publicist can provide media coaching for you or is able to recommend a good media coach.

You can ask the publicist whether they would accompany you to the interviews which they set up for you.  If so, they may observe the interview and critique your appearance afterwards in order to improve your interview skills; ask if they do this.

And ask each publicist you are considering whether they utilize a clipping service.  If they don’t, and smaller ones often don’t, you may want to subscribe to such a service on your own, at least for a campaign with more than local coverage.  You will want to have copies of placements, both to frame and display in your practice for patients to see and for your own proof of the success of your publicist’s efforts on your behalf.

If you are interviewing individuals from publicity firms, be sure to ask if they are the person who will be working with you on your campaign.  If not, ask to meet with the person who will be your representative.  Ask about their level of experience and ask to see their portfolio of work.  This will give you the opportunity not only to learn their level of experience and history of success but to evaluate the way their personality works with yours.  Often, a publicity firm will have a more experienced individual meet with you and “close the sale” but after you have signed your contract, you find that you have been assigned either a novice publicist or an individual whose personality would have crossed them off your list had you met with them to begin with.

In regard to the materials the publicist will be producing for you, ask if you will have the opportunity to approve the material before it is sent to the media and the length of time you will be given for your review.  You will want your review and approval to be a routine part of the working relationship you have with your publicist.

Ask whether the materials that are developed for you will be supplied to you electronically or only in written form.  There may be an added charge to receive this material electronically.

Learn if the publicist maintains a media log regarding their progress with the media outlets that are being targeted and how often you can expect to be able to review it.

Ask, based on the goals you have articulated, what publicity elements the candidate would recommend to achieve those goals.  This could include a wide variety of recommendations from building a media kit for you if you do not have one or producing other publicity materials, to the inclusion of media coaching if you are seeking interviews and are not confident in your presentation skills.

Ask what the candidate considers to be an approach that is important to a successful publicity campaign.  A good answer would include building strong and valuable media contacts, developing a focus for your campaign, and creating meaningful, persuasive approaches to gain coverage for your story rather than just naming individual publicity vehicles such as a media kit or press releases.

If you are interested in providing articles you have written for coverage in publications, you can ask whether the publicist sees that as a good contribution to your publicity program and whether they would provide assistance in writing such pieces, should you feel that was necessary.

You can also ask about the length of the press releases each candidate generally writes.  Whenever possible, a release should be held to one page.  If a publicist talks about writing releases totaling many pages, it should serve as a warning; editors are not interested in reading lengthy press releases for consideration nor do they usually publish them. 

Ask your candidates about the type of media kit they like to produce.  If they respond by describing something glossy and showy, they are talking about elements that will drive up the price of creating a vehicle that ought to be very down-to-earth and matter-of-fact in its presentation.  Your media kit should include very basic elements describing you and your practice in straightforward terms such as your practice brochure, copies of FAQ sheets, existing press releases, and descriptions of staff members of note, which can all be produced at a local copy center.

In fact, you can produce an online media kit.  Ask your candidates if they have experience in this area as well.

Ask to see media that the publicist has produced for other clients; if they have produced online kits, view them also.

Ask to see three pieces of work which they consider to best represent                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          their creativity.

You can ask candidates what they think about working on your publicity program and whether they have any reservations in regard to it.

Ask if there are particular clients that are not a good match for them to work with.  Answers to this question may be matter-of-fact and obvious (such as those in industries in which they lack experience or those who are not local) or may sometimes provide unexpected clues that indicate they are not a good match for you.

You will want to ask your candidates what measure will be used to determine the success of your campaign.  Be sure that you and the publicist agree on the determining factors and that they are included in your contract.  (The obvious is obtaining the print and/or broadcast coverage you desire, but you will want to include the results of that coverage as your ultimate proof of success – that you have gained more patients, that the news media now contacts you for comment as an expert in your field, etc.)

In order to accommodate communication with your publicist, ask the candidates whether they would like you to make contact by telephone or email; whether they will accept your calls at night and on weekends, holidays or vacations and whether they will provide you with their home and cell phone numbers.  And, if you are interviewing any individuals from a public relations firm, ask who will be assigned and how your projects will be covered if they are not available.

Ask what the publicist will expect from you while they are working with you and whether you can expect them to help you to understand the work that they are doing for you during the course of your program so that you can take over your own publicity work when they are through.

Don’t expect a publicist to give you their media contacts; these are contacts that have taken them years to develop and they are rightfully protective of them.

During each of your meetings, allow your candidates the time to make their presentation to you and to ask you any questions they may have.  Be sure that those who interest you supply their references and make it a point to call these references before you make your decision or sign a contract.

No matter how professional or accomplished their presentation, don’t ignore your own response to each candidate.  Be sure to choose someone who not only has the appropriate skills but also a personality that works with yours; not in terms of becoming best friends, but in terms of understanding your professional philosophy and your public relations goals.

Once you have determined the candidate or candidates who interest you, ask them to submit a written proposal to you.  You may do this at the end of your meeting with the particular publicist(s) or by contacting those in whom you are interested after you have completed all of your interviews.  Again, before making a final decision, always check your candidate’s references.

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