When called upon to be an expert in your field, the first thing to remember is not to feel intimidated talking to a journalist.
The journalist is there to ask you questions and to learn as much as she or he can about your area of expertise so they can accurately convey that information to their audience.
Remember you are the expert – that’s why you are being interviewed. The best guide is simply to be yourself. Understand your area and speak with authority.
Aim to break through and become one of the inner circle of experts that key journalists regularly go to for comment by working hard to show they need you and offering perspective on trending issues. Once in the circle, you need to keep offering key issues and thought leadership on industry matters.
Best results seem to come from picking a niche from your expertise that is most topical and building a relationship with the writer through that. Other areas can then be explored based on the established niche.
Building positive media coverage
Working successfully with the media can create positive media coverage on services, activities and future direction which helps build your brand.
Prepare for a media interview in the same way you prepare for a presentation or a job interview:
- Decide on three key points that you want to convey in the interview and write them out. These points need to be clearly stated and quotable;
- Wrap up these three points into a single theme/issue for the interview;
- Develop several short, topical quotes that encapsulate the key issue;
- Use simple, direct language, free of technical jargon and slang;
- Anticipate questions and their answers in a clear, concise, organised fashion;
- Anticipate negative themes and prepare answers;
- Ask the journalist what their approach is for the story. This assists in tailoring your remarks to suit both the journalist’s and your own needs;
- During the interview, mention the firm unobtrusively: “At xxx, we believe …”;
- Avoid saying “No comment” to the media as it sounds like you are trying to cover something up;
- If you are unable to comment on a particular situation, explain why;
- Journalists will be much more sympathetic if they understand why you are withholding the information and when it will be available;
- If you need time to collect your thoughts when a journalist unexpectedly phones you for an interview, tell them you are tied up but you will get back to them within the hour. Always ask the journalist what their deadline is to allow you enough time to respond appropriately;
- Nothing you say is ‘off the record’. If you don’t want to see your comments published, then don’t say it.
Handling sticky questions
“Box up” the question by:
- referring back to what has been covered;
- finishing the point you were originally making;
- taking a part of its intent and answering that part; and
- stating that it is not part of interview because …
Press interviews
Most interviews with the print media will take place over the telephone. However, you may have the opportunity to conduct a more in-depth interview with a journalist in your office or over a lunch.
Be prepared
- Review the publication to get a feel for the tone and subject matter;
- Do you understand why you are being interviewed?
- Who is your audience and what message do you want to send them?
- Have you anticipated questions – constructive and negative? … and prepared concise answers?
- Do you have a few key facts to back up these answers?
- Do you have positive answers for these questions?
- Where possible, include company name in your comments
We can help
If you need an expert to turn you into an expert give Chris Hocking Strategies a call on 0418 603 694, or flick us an email and we’ll get you sorted.
We specialise in Communications Strategy, Personal and Corporate Reputation Management, Crisis Communication, Media Relations, Media Training, Writing and Editing media material (speeches, presentations, white papers, blogs, articles, internal communications), as well as Digital Marketing Strategies.