Although business executives and subject matter experts have extensive knowledge about their particular companies and subjects, they may not be skilled at answering journalists’ or analysts’ questions in interviews. While media interviews can substantially improve the value of a news story, they intimidate even experienced public relations practitioners.
These tips from communications experts can help business executives give stellar media interviews.
Do your homework. Look into the publication and its audience to grasp their views, challenges, and the reporter’s goals. Check out the reporter’s social media profiles and read their past articles. Doing thorough research can help you predict the questions reporters might ask. This lets you get ready with answers and help executives practice those responses. Make sure to spend time rehearsing those answers.
Ask about the interview. Ask reporters for background information about the interview. For instance:
- Will the interview be live or pre-recorded? If your spokesperson has confidence, a live interview provides a better opportunity to get your key message across and control the content, advises MediaFirst, a media trainer in the U.K. A prerecorded interview may be cut to a short clip.
- Who else will be interviewed? If you know that a competitor, unhappy customer or representative of a pressure group will be interviewed, you can research their likely comments and prepare a response.
- What’s the story about? This may seem pretty obvious, but it’s always worth checking what angle the journalist is taking. They may intend to compare you to a competitor or relate your product to other news.
- Where will the interview take place? This question is important for logistical and reputational issues. If reporters visit your offices, consider who else they might meet and what they might see. Make sure your organization’s logo is not in the background if it is a negative story.
Practice sessions. Answer the anticipated questions in a practice session. Record the practice interview on a camera, Rob Maurin, vice president, communications, at Wave, tells Forbes. Executives who view themselves on camera will better understand how they’re perceived.
Stay on message. It’s important to keep the brand’s message in mind. Interview topics can easily stray off course, especially in a crisis, making it tough to refocus. “By steering the conversation back to your mission, regardless of the question, you maintain your brand messaging,” says Jennifer Mellon, president of Trustify.
Emphasize brevity. Long-winded responses typically fail to deliver the key message and annoy reporters, especially if they don’t answer the question. Prepare a single piece of paper with a bulleted list to reference during the interview, advises PR pro Jenna Cason. The list can include concise company facts and brief responses to expected questions.
Time yourself. Time your responses to a question during a practice session with a stop watch (or a stop watch app). Ask them to guess the length of their responses. In general, try to respond to questions within 30 to 45 seconds, Cason says.
No overcoaching. Public relations professionals should avoid telling spokespeople exactly how to respond to a question. Instead, they should encourage them to be succinct without taking away elements that make them unique and natural. Most of all, executives should understand that an interview is a conversation between two people.
Don’t repeat a negative phrase or word that a reporter uses in a question. Even if you disagree with a negative description, repeating it encourages journalists to include it their headline or article. Instead, answer the question with positive language.
Avoid saying “no comment.” Journalists hate it and invariably write the story anyway with someone else’s potentially damaging comments. Sometimes spokespeople cannot answer a reporter’s question even if they know the answer due to legal, regulatory or privacy issues. For those situations, learn ways to avoid saying “no comment.”
Don’t say anything off the record. Some reporters request information off the record then publish the information anyway. Sometimes remarks are reported by mistake if the interviewer, interviewee or both misunderstand when the off-the-record portion ends. Respond with a simple, “I won’t go off the record.” Consider everything, even post-interview banter, as on-the-record. Also warn executives about other sneaky interview tricks journalists use like pregnant pauses.
Bonus tip: To gauge the success of media interviews, employ a media monitoring and measurement service. Media monitoring and measurement will gather essential information such as the number of key messages included in interviews and other news articles, the number of competitors mentioned and the sentiment of news articles. By tracking key metrics, media monitoring and measurement will prove the value of your media training and overall PR efforts.
Bottom Line: Research and preparation is central to successful media interviews. Understanding the perspective of the news source and its audience can help you anticipate questions and develop responses. Questioning the interviewer in advance about the purpose of the story can also provide guidance on potential questions.
This post was first published on the Glean.info blog.
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