Here's what to avoid doing in media interviews
Generally, I love to chat. But when it comes to interviews, I’ll go through some level of small talk before cracking on with the interview. I had a situation recently where I was joined by several people on an interview on Zoom (not my ideal situation and I didn’t know the community manager was joining along, I’m still not sure why). Obviously there was a few tech issues to start with, and then after explaining the story, I was about to start the interview when someone suggested everyone introduce themselves properly. By then it was already about 12 minutes into the 30-minute call. The first person spoke about her background, where she had worked before. The next person spoke, again for a few minutes, so when it came to me I said, "Actually we’ve only got 15 minutes left. Could we move on with the interview?" (I had said who I was at the start of the call and explained the nature of the piece over email and the phone). No, the next person also jumped in and shared their work history. Cue squeezing in a limited number of questions.
Another recent interview involved interviewing someone who wanted to share a lot of information on their backstory. Every time I jumped in to direct the interview back to where I needed it to flow, it went off in another direction. It was interesting but I spent about four times as long as I expected on that call. Now in this instant, she was a real life interview so I needed to build her trust and I could tell she wanted to explain more about background till she was happy to share the rest.
But it made me think it might be worth sharing a few pointers to help you/your client when it comes to media interviews:
Please be mindful of how much time you have. Spending 15 minutes on your backstory in a 30-minute interview is poor etiquette. Unless a journalist asks, don’t go overboard sharing your own backstory. Many a time I have dived into an interview and then the founder want to start at the beginning (none of which might have made the cut). "For example, so when I was 15 I did GCSEs in, and then…". Make it succinct. A journalist will certainly stop and ask you if they need more on your backstory but honestly, giving us the whole working history (unless asked for), isn't needed.
Don’t make your answers longwinded. Be succinct. Practice good soundbites.
Listen to a journalist. If they’re trying to bring you back in, listen to their question – don’t continually go off on a tangent.
Also, be wary of bringing facts too much into the discussion. I spoke to someone recently who kept pulling in statistics throughout the conversation. “Well, a recent survey of ours found 43% of customers.." and so on. We want anecdotes, not continual quotes with statistics thrown at us.
Hope that helps.
I have a brilliant media training session video named How to Win at Media Interviews with media trainer Guy Clapperton here for just £14.99 if you would like to bolster your skills.