Chances are not many of us reading this post has had to do a media interview. On the other hand, there are some tips in this post that may be helpful for the lives we live every day.
In “10 crucial steps to great media interviews,” David B. Grinberg, a writer and strategic communications advisor who has worked with the White House, Congress, and national news media, offers up some effective tips for dealing with reporters. When I was briefly in PR, I remember one of the senior execs at Neale-May & Partners using them when he coached the CEOs of our client companies.
The first tip is to agree, in advance, on the focus of the interview. Do that during a pre-interview phone call with the reporter. Ask for a list of questions, though you may very likely not get them. As Mr. Grinberg puts it, “It never hurts to ask, because the more prepared you are, the more likely your interview will be successful.”
Here are four more of my favorite tips. (You’ll want to read the entire article. It’s worth the five minutes or so required.)
Anticipate the questions
That is, if the reporter doesn’t provide questions in advance, anticipate the likely questions and your responses. Kinda like the presidential debates, eh? Whatever you do, don’t wing it, unless you don’t care about the harm you can do to your organization and its brand image.
Create talking points (and proof points)
These are what you want to appear in the story. Don’t forget to talk to legal and the folks in corporate communications. Of course, you can use this technique in real life when you are explaining to your significant other or anyone else, for that matter, why you did what you did.
Establish rapport with the reporter
This is a really smart idea. Find out where the reporter went to school or where they may have worked before or notable stories they’ve reported. Mr. Grinberg adds, “Any sincere praise or recognition you can offer paves the way to smooth relations.” You’d certainly do this in the first five minutes or so of being introduced to someone you wanted to impress, right?
Take control of the interview
Not as Machiavellian as it sounds. Someone’s going to take control; it might as well be you. I think the best way to learn the art of deflection (of questions you don’t want to answer) and repetition (so that your interviewer gets your point) is practice. And the best way to do that is to practice with someone who will ask unfriendly questions. If you’re a parent, you may have this one down. Or not.
Perhaps the points in this article I found the most helpful were to avoid winging it and to practice. Without those two pieces of advice, pretty much everything will come to naught.
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