You’ve got a media interview to prepare for and you don’t want to mess up such a great opportunity to free publicity and getting your message across. Here’s a quick guide on how to prep for handling print, radio and TV interviews.
I recently attended the State of Entrepreneurship Summit in Joburg and we were given an Entrepreneur Magazine which contained some very useful tips on how to generate free publicity. One of the articles dealt with handling the press so I thought of sharing some of it with you.
What to say
It really is vital to be fully prepared for an interview. If you’re not given the questions that are going to be asked before hand, you should focus even more on what message you want to get across. Most interviews want to get information from you or valuable content which will interest readers, viewers or listeners. Make sure the information you provide during an interview is relevant and topical.
Key messages
What are the key messages you want to get across about your company? Go back to your advertising, brochures and web content and identify the 3 primary themes or issues. Use them and work them into statements.
How to say it
It’s not embarrassing to rehearse and memorise content you wish to convey. In fact, this could help you even more. Never read from a piece of paper – keep it spontaneous and thoughtful. You can even have a rehearsal with a friend to get the feel of how it would be in the interview. Remember to also be concise, clear and confident when answering questions.
These tips are very useful and will reduce the nerves a bit. It helps to chat to your interviewee before hand to get acquainted so you’re more comfortable when the interview takes place. Good luck!
Read more posts by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg
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Rad article, and helpful – thanks Yolandi.
Also: don’t forget about hidden words – last time Louis went on CNBC he was supposed to sneak in the phrase ‘ice cream’ but he FAILED. unlike when I was on, and I had to say ‘Venezuela’ and i nailed it within the first sentence : )