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Prepare for a Media Interview

By Alyssa Conrardy
Prepare for a media interview.
Photo by Danny Ayers

Your media outreach is going well and you’ve landed your first interview — congratulations!

But do you know how to prepare for an interview? You get nervous. Doubts begin to fill your mind. What if the interview goes off topic? What if you don’t know the answer to a question?  What if you forget important details, or realize afterwards that you never told the interviewer something you desperately want them to know?

Take a breath. Interviews don’t need to scare you. Think of them as just one more part of the strategic communications strategy your business is building.

So here’s a cheat sheet of best practices to prepare for a media interview.

  1. After you’ve focused your messaging, distill it into three to five key points. These are what you absolutely want to convey to your interviewer. That shouldn’t be difficult, because these points should be the core of your message, and your interviewer wants to know what your business is all about.
  2. While your core messaging should be similar throughout your communications, craft your approach to each specific outlet and interviewer. For example, if your business produces educational materials, you may speak technically to educator-focused outlets but in broader terms to parenting magazines.
  3. Practice, practice, practice. There’s no substitute for a mock Q&A. Run through a variety of possible questions with a colleague. Practice answering questions you expect, and have your partner throw in a few you may not expect.
  4. Send a fact sheet with your company’s details to the reporter. By sending a fact sheet, you can make sure your reporter has the nuts and bolts data about your company, while saving the interview time for things that the reporter can’t learn through your website or other materials.
  5. If you have a phone interview, keep your own “media vitals” sheet in front of you. This page should list key company information and stats. Make sure it’s easy to read so that you can skim it for information while on the call.
  6. If you’re going to be interviewed on television or radio, practice speaking slowly and clearly. This will help you fight the  tendency to speed up if you’re nervous, and generally help the audience understand you. For more advice on television interviews, check out this piece by Delia Lloyd of the BBC.

Remember, you’re in control of the conversation and the information you share. Always begin the interview by outlining the problem that your business addresses and giving a brief overview of your company and product or service. You can also share aspects of your personal background that contribute to your credibility.

Whether it’s your first or fiftieth time talking to a reporter, all of these steps can help you prepare for a media interview. And if your first one doesn’t go quite as you’d hope, view it as a learning experience. Ease will come with experience.

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Still looking for that first media hit? Review our do’s and don’ts of pitching.