How to have a successful media interview

A successful media interview is a great opportunity to tell your story, share your messages and raise your profile. Over the last year, the emphasis has shifted from face-to-face interviews to ‘down-the-line’ phone conversations and video calls.

Some may say that phone or Zoom media interviews are more relaxed than face-to-face or broadcast encounters.  And there’s some truth in that.  But the rules of engagement remain the same and if you want to nail your messages, keep on topic and secure your voice in the edited piece, you must plan, prepare and rehearse your approach as if you were going on camera.

Action excels at securing successful media interview opportunities for our clients and know how to pitch a story (some of our insight on this can be found here.)

However, to organise a successful media interview, we as PRs need to take a step back to let our clients shine. Where face-to-face interviews often enable a PR to shadow a client, down-the-line interviews are less easy for us to support in person.

Which is when a few ‘tricks of the trade’ come into play. Here are some of our top tips in having a successful media interview:

Be Prepared

Prepare notes in advance and have these to hand to remind you of the key messages and points you want to make. This should be a bullet point list – not chapter and verse.  You don’t want to be reading off a script – especially if you’re on a video call – as this won’t sound natural.  Plan well so that seeing the bullet point will be enough to trigger your answer. 

It’s a good idea to have all relevant research/reports/statistics to hand as well.  You CAN be seen to read these details off the page/screen to ensure accuracy. TV newsreaders do it to get their facts absolutely straight – so you can too!

Get your point across

Keep your key points short and simple as these are easier for a journalist to understand and use in their final piece.  A convoluted or rambling answer will be confusing which means either a) they’ll ditch it or b) they’ll edit it, running a high risk of it not being accurate or clear.

Plan your key messages/statements ahead of the interview and practice introducing these to the conversation. This will be especially helpful if the interview isn’t giving you a natural opportunity to state your case. Using a bridging tactic will help you make your point nicely.

Don’t blink first

Silence is golden – but it can also be scary. Hold your nerve and beware that interviewers may stay silent to encourage you to keep talking. This is exactly when you can go off topic and stray into unrehearsed territory.  When you’ve said your point and answered their question stop talking. Let the journalist break the silence!

If the conversation goes a bit sideways and off topic, be brave and take back control of the interview, again using one of the bridging techniques to steer things back to what you want to talk about and, ideally, introducing one of your key messages.

Be quotable

Your best chance of being quoted is to be quotable. In other words, look for ways to phrase things in an impactful, engaging or thought-provoking way.  Think in ‘bite sized’ comments. Prepare these in advance and include them in your notes: unless you’re a highly competent stand-up comedian, don’t trust the best ‘one liners’ to spring to mind on the spur of the moment!

 ‘Quotable quotes’ are short, pithy, focused and relatable.  They don’t include acronyms, industry jargon, technical explanations or research-based facts.

The best ones can even form the headline – thus shaping the piece – so it’s worth planning a few.

What are you like?

Rehearse a few predictable answers out loud: record these on your phone and play yourself back. (Painful to hear, we know!) Be critical – do you speak too fast? Are your words clear? Do you ‘um’ and ‘er’ a lot? Be honest with yourself and try to improve your delivery: most issues can be solved by simply slowing down as you talk and taking time to think before you speak.

Look relaxed – but stay ALERT

Journalists are past masters at making you feel relaxed. It’s in their best interests to put you at ease so that you’ll chatter away… BEWARE! If you get too comfortable, you’ll lose focus, lose your edge and maybe even lose the plot (aka your plan). Keep professional and stay alert. Sitting up straight – or standing up if possible – will help keep you on track.

Meanwhile, remember to smile as you speak to keep you sounding friendly and confident. (Drawing a little smiley face on your notes is a good way to remind yourself to do this ?)

If you need to brush up your interviewing skills, we can help: get in touch info@action-group.co.uk

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