News Media Interviews – 7 Tips to Prepare for News and Mainstream Media Interviews
Many business people today focus on social media, new media, and online media. While these efforts are important and necessary for marketing, traditional media is still important and can play a major role in the success of your business.
So the question is, «Will you be ready when Oprah or The Big Idea’s Donny Duetsch calls you?»
You will be if you prepare now. Here are 7 tips for conducting successful media interviews:
- Set your schedule: Decide what you want the audience to do. Buy your services? Attend your event? Support your cause?
- Know your story: To effectively promote your agenda, you must deliver your message confidently, calmly and concisely. You are the expert on your subject. Stay focused on your schedule during the interview.
- Develop key talking points with supporting evidence points: Prepare three key points that you want to make during the interview. Then, support each talking point with three points that offer hard evidence, including stories, case studies, and other examples.
- Know the interviewer and the medium: before accepting an interview, do your due diligence. Research the medium and the interviewer. A quick Google search will give you an idea of what to expect and how best to prepare for the interview.
- Prepare the interviewer: journalists are very busy and anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated. For this purpose, provide background information as well as sample questions on your topic. You will often find that they will use these exact questions.
- Anticipate questions and controversies: Your preparation is not complete without anticipating the questions and controversies that may arise during the interview. Create a list of all anticipated questions. Then answer each question. Be sure to include any that might be requested – remember; «if you dread it, you’ll probably get it.»
- Practice, practice, practice: nothing replaces practice. It alleviates panic before the interview and remorse after the interview. To refine message points and prepare for real-life interview questions, even the most polished spokespersons find there’s simply no substitute for practicing out loud. Better yet, role-play with a buddy or coach. Do your answers fall? Are they concise? Are they credible or do they need more support?
Follow these tips and you’ll master the mainstream media opportunities. And, who wouldn’t want to be interviewed on the Today Show?
