3 Media Interview Tips to Ace Your Next Interview
Preparing For a Media Interview
You’ve got the meeting on your calendar set, and you’re ready to talk about your brand. How do you prepare for a media interview when you’re not even sure what to say? What if you go on a tangent and forget the interviewer’s question? If you’re asking yourself these questions, you’ve come to the right place. Preparing for a media interview takes a little bit of research, knowledge and being your most authentic self. Check out these three media interview tips to help you ace your next media interview.
Media Interview Tip #1: Prepare Your Key Messages
Similar to an elevator pitch, you should prepare three points you want to get across in a media interview. These key messages will help you drive you back to your main message and serve as a reference to your brand’s call to action. What are three things you want people to know about your brand, company or story?
Sharing statistics to back your points up helps with credibility. Take some time to find numbers that help support your claim. Why should people care about this? How does your brand message affect audiences? You can write these numbers down on a cheat sheet if you’re doing a virtual interview, or you can try and find a statistic that is easy for you to recall.
Memorize your three brand messages. Rehearse how you communicate them by practicing in a mirror or recording yourself. Take note of any words that are causing tongue twisters. Change anything that’s not working for you. There is more than one way to communicate your point: use words you’re most comfortable with.
Media Interview Tip #2: Know Your Audience
Now that you have your key messages ready, how can you adapt them so they resonate with people you’re trying to reach? If the interview is for a business-related magazine, try and tweak your message to the audience of the media outlet or publication. How can they relate to or apply your key messages to their everyday lives? Understanding your audience means sharing relatable messages that inform, educate and inspire.
If it helps to create a consumer persona, ask yourself how you would explain your brand and message to that person. Adapting your key messages to that person will help you connect your brand or company’s message with your target audience.
Are there any resources or current events that can connect the dots between your message and where your audiences live, or what they do for a living? Does your message communicate a sense of inclusion? Remember, we are all human. Find a way to truly understand your audience and your message will become ten times stronger.
Media Interview Tip #3: Be Yourself
The best way to approach nerves before an interview is to remember who you are. You’ve come this far for a reason, and you have the experience and credibility to make a positive impression during your interview.
You belong here. Your voice is needed. While knowing your key messages and researching your audience are key, being your most authentic self in a media interview is the most important thing. Approach the situation with the tools you need to communicate your brand’s message, but always remember to have a conversation with the interviewer. Don’t let your bullet points mask your personality. People want to listen to someone they can relate to, and the best way to be relatable is to be yourself.
We’ll Help You Share Your Story with Conviction
Need help sharing your message with target audiences? We can help. Our public relations experts will help you and your company boost brand awareness and perception with impactful public relations strategies and media interview tips. Our PR team develops bulletproof public relations and media relations strategies to present brands like yours in the best light possible. For press release and media pitch strategy programs, check out our pricing packages page to see which plan works best for your goals.
About The Postcard Agency
The Postcard Agency connects businesses and nonprofit organizations with their target audiences through dynamic marketing and public relations strategies. Crafty and creative, the agency reinvigorates local and national brands with imaginative and results-driven campaigns. A winner of the Gold dotCOMM Award for website design, the digital marketing and public relations agency has also been named a Top Marketing Agency and a Top B2B Company and Marketing Agency by Clutch, an acclaimed ratings and reviews platform. Jonathan Ochart, CEO of The Postcard Agency, regularly shares marketing and public relations insights for business leaders with the media, including NBC, AARP, Texas CEO Magazine and Voyage Magazine.
