Delivering a memorable performance in a media interview makes all the difference to the amount of coverage you get and the way your key messages are published or broadcast. Too often people think a media interview is like any other conversation. It isn’t. Just as a champion runner would never run a race without intensive training, so too should business people train hard for media interviews.
What makes a good interview?
- Being really clear before you set off about your three key messages.
- Being able to express your messages in everyday language.
- Being engaging – light and shade in your voice, being sincere and authentic.
- Choosing great examples to bring the facts to life.
- Deciding on who you are focused on speaking to and targeting them in your tone and content.
- Looking the part – making sure your hair, clothes and overall presentation is suitable, especially for TV interviews.
What should you say in media interviews?
The key is to stick to your key messages. However, sometimes it’s about what you should not say. Every comment, even when an interview has not yet started or is technically over, can be included in a story and can even usurp the angle you are there to cover. Never tell a reporter what you don’t want to appear. You can almost guarantee the journalist will include a salacious comment about this in their story. Above all, never tell a journalist something is ‘off the record’. Anything you tell a journalist is on the record. All too often reporters will cut an interview short if they feel it is like getting blood from a stone. Always have your latest facts and figures, interesting anecdotes, metaphors or real-life case studies to hand to illustrate your points, even if you can’t name the actual people or companies involved for confidentiality reasons. When you practise before an interview, record yourself and listen back to help improve your performance. This will also reduce the risk of – despite knowing your stuff back to front – finding the interview process too nerve-racking to shine in front of the interviewer or losing your train of thought mid-sentence.
Remember: asking for an entire article a journalist has written to be sent for your approval before publication is not standard procedure. However, you can sometimes ask to have your quotes read back to you.
What happens if a journalist wants to talk about something you don’t want to talk about?
Solid media training and many follow-up role-plays will make you feel confident enough to confidently shift the focus of the interview away from the subject you don’t want to talk about and back to what you do want to focus on. In the Media Skills Network™ accreditation program, we teach clients how to not simply ignore or avoid a question (which is the approach many famous people and politicians use if they want to steer clear of an issue). Take a moment, then:
- find a way to acknowledge the question that has been asked; and
- always add on information to move the conversation back to your areas of expertise and reason you want to be there.
How can I control the direction?
Often the most open-ended questions happen at the start of any media interview, like ‘Tell me about your new handbag range?’ or ‘What does this new website allow customers to do?’, and this will allow you to take control of the direction of the interview — so use it or lose it. The first few questions generally allow you to set the scene and, believe me, if you have great material, a reporter will ignore their prepared question sheet and let you delve further into what you want to say – and enable your key messages to take shape. And finally, practice does make all the difference. Every interview is a learning experience and a chance to get your professional profile amplified. Nobody every mastered anything without practice.
