Media Interview Success
The first thing you should do when asked to do a radio or television interview is say, yes, then control the panic that may set in.
A lot of people unfamiliar with doing an on-air interview are daunted by the prospect and get very nervous. This fear can stop us moving ahead and saying no to the chance of promoting our businesses. You need to put this fear into its right perspective – what is the worst thing that is going to happen to you?
You might think you are going to die or pass out and faint once a microphone is put in front of you but it is highly unlikely. The knocking knees and shaky voice you might think will give you away but generally nerves are pretty normal and not noticed so much by other people even though you may be feeling it strongly.
Nerves can be used as a source of enthusiasm to show your commitment to the subject you are talking about. So let’s look at how we might eliminate unnecessary fears from an interview situation.
Prepare
You only have one chance to get it right with live radio or television. You know your subject better than anyone else so think about some possible questions they may ask and prepare your answers. Ask your partner or a friend to ask you a few questions and have a rehearsal – practice. Find out as much as you can about the program on which you’re being asked to appear – is it live or pre-recorded? What angle are they taking? What are they expecting from you – what are the question areas? Is the audience completely general, or is targeted at housewives or business people? Think about the points you could make which are most interesting, useful and relevant to the appropriate audience.
Stick to the Point
What’s really useful is to prepare three or four main points which you wish to convey. Write them down on a sticky note and refer to it. Most radio interviews are less than four minutes long so always keep to the point and avoid being drawn into side issues. Always try and take control and use every opportunity to get your message across. Don’t wait to be asked the appropriate question.
Give Yourself Time To Think About It
The phone rings, and out of the blue a journalist is on the line asking you some tricky questions about your company’s activities. How do you handle it? Your company’s reputation may depend on the answers you give. Don’t be afraid to call the journalist back rather than talking straight away off the top of your head – but find out when their deadline is and don’t leave it too late. Use the time to think through what you should be putting across, particularly in response to any controversial issues that are likely to be raised.
Have Something To Say
If there are controversial issues in your area of expertise, work out where you stand, and what you should say. It is better to respond rather than say “no comment”. Don’t be afraid to put your point of view across.
Make It Interesting and Relevant
Make your message more memorable by using real stories and examples. Use word pictures. Cut through the clutter with words that paint a picture in the mind of the listener. When you have facts and specifics to back yourself up, you will come over as more authoritative. Remember to stress the points that are likely to interest the listeners or viewers rather than just your own internal messages.
Make it Personable
Use the interviewer’s name to make it more personable when answering questions. If you’re doing an interview face-to-face use eye contact and try and interest the interviewer in what you’re talking about rather than thinking – do I sound OK – do I look alright on TV. If your eyes flicker around during a TV interview, you look uncomfortable, and possibly a bit shifty. If you keep your eye-line focused on the interviewer, you will come over as being in command of your subject. Focus on getting those main points across.
Be Buoyant & Enthusiastic
Be bright and buoyant in your answers – boring answers will probably be edited out and boring interviews will be dropped altogether. You need to be slightly more animated and larger than life. Pep up your delivery so that it is bright and enthusiastic, rather than dull and low-key. Remember broadcasting is a performance! If you do not hold the audience’s attention, there are plenty of rival channels people can switch over to.
Mind Your Language
Think about the way you talk in your work life – is your conversation peppered with abbreviations, technical terms and other jargon? For the outside world, this will just not do. Imagine instead that you are chatting to someone who is perfectly intelligent, but who simply doesn’t know anything about the subject. People often make the mistake of addressing their remarks to the interviewer (who may be well informed) rather than the audience.
Keep Your Comments Concise
Catchy short answers work best in the media especially for television news. They’re known as “grabs” and can be slotted in to a news story. If you watch the news, or listen to radio news, you’ll notice that the grabs or “sound bites” are about 5-7 seconds long. If you don’t give enough information the journalist will simply ask a follow-up question.
Be Available
Always make yourself available for radio interviews. Be available to go into the studio for better quality than over the phone. If you’re on talkback radio use a landline not a mobile phone and be aware of external noise. When you do radio interviews make sure the background is as quiet as possible.
Warm Up Your Voice
Always take time to warm up your voice so you sound more articulate, intelligent and authoritative. This will give you more confidence.
Call to Action
Most people will remember the opening and closing of a radio interview. Always have a strong closing with a call to action, something you want listeners to do i.e. attend the event or buy the product. And finally remember to smile – when you smile you feel and sound much friendlier – and enjoy it!
Article Source: ABC Article Directory
Sue Currie, the director of Shine Communications Consultancy and author of Apprentice to Business Ace – your inside-out guide to personal branding, is a business educator and speaker on personal branding through image and media. Sign up for free monthly tips on personal and professional PR at www.shinecomms.com.au/contactmanager/default.cfm and learn more about how you can achieve recognition, enhance your image and shine.
Top Tips For Business: Using Video
Are you thinking about having a film made for your business?
Here are some key questions you should ask yourself to ensure you get a video that works for you.
WHY DO YOU WANT TO MAKE A VIDEO?
Video is an excellent way to make an impact on your audience, to tell a story, to make them care about an issue, to empathize with a person or a cause, to make them aware of a product, or to show them something or how to do something, or even just to get them interested enough to find out about a subject in greater depth.
Video is NOT a a great way of presenting many facts and figures, a large amount of information or complicated arguments. Film and video evokes an emotional, rather than a rational response.
Do not try and shoehorn everything into a video. Use video in conjunction with other media to present your messages. Put up web pages or even micro sites where people can find out more about the issue or product having viewed the film.
WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE?
Film and video is about communicating. Too often in corporate films the message is lost because people try and put too much information into the film. Be realistic and think about what effect you want the film to have on your audience.
Think about your audience. Ask yourself what is the exact effect you want the film to have on the them? Do you want them to immediately go out and buy your product or to change their behavior in certain ways or do you just want to raise awareness of an issue or a service that is available?
When you know what effect you want the film to have you should be able to very clearly define the ‘message’ of the film.
If you are trying to convince people to do something you have to ask yourself what are the barriers to them taking this action, how can I overcome those barriers using video?
Try and be realistic about how many messages you want to get across. What is the most effective way of using those precious minutes when you have the attention of the audience? Ask yourself how much information did you retain from the last film you watched?
Be focused. If you are very clear about what you want to achieve then it will be easy to isolate the key messages of the film.
WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?
By clearly defining your message you will also clearly define who exactly you want to reach with that message. You may find that there are several messages and each has a different target audience. Maybe it is worth creating different films to reach those different audiences?
These days this it is easier, and cheaper, than ever before - and it is also easier to target different viewers with bespoke content via email with links to a web page where the viewer can watch the film.
Respect your audience. Do not tell them things they already know. If you are not telling them something new they are not your audience. Surprise them and entertain them and they will be much more likely to remember your message.
HOW WILL THEY WATCH THE FILM?
Once you know who your audience(s) is/are you can start to think about how you are going to get them to watch the film.
Are you going to organize screenings? Are you going to launch a viral marketing campaign to drive your audience to a website? Are you going to pay for an advertising slot?
There is no point in making a film if no one is going to get to see it!
You should think about the distribution process right from the beginning, so that the producer can help you devise a distribution strategy so that your audience will see your film.
WHEN IS MY DEADLINE?
Maybe it is a product launch, publication of new research, an annual meeting, a conference or an exhibition, there is probably an ideal time for you to show the finished video for the first time.
It helps everyone to have a realistic deadline to aim for, not just for completion of the film, but also for all the associated marketing.
Maybe you can coincide the launch of your film with some related news event that will spark interest in your product or service? This is also a good way of coordinating a multi-platform launch event with print, web, and DVD elements.
If there is a genuine news angle to your film then local newspapers news stations can be very receptive to well produced press packs (press releases and professional photos) and video news releases (basically footage from your film which they can use to make into a feature).
WHAT IS MY BUDGET?
When you are budgeting think about related costs too. Try and be pragmatic about what return the video is going to make. It is a significant investment and you need to think creatively about how to get value for money. Are there other departments or organizations that could co-produce the film?
Be aware that as in any industry you get what you pay for. You will not get professional results from amateur camera work or editing.
There are always many different ways to make a film or video, different shooting formats of different qualities. If you are shooting an advert for the cinema you will need to shoot on a different format than if your advert is only ever to be seen on the Internet.
If your budget is set then it is worth telling a prospective producer from the beginning, as they will be able to tell you what you can do for that amount rather than giving you irrelevant quotes that will just discourage you.
When you have the answers to the above questions you are ready to approach a producer. Their job is to propose the best ways to convey your message to your audience within your budget and time frame.
A good producer should respond to your enquiry with a written film proposal, a draft budget and some examples of previous work.
Article Source: ABC Article Directory
Raj Yagnik is an award-winning filmmaker and director of Wired Video Production a UK company which has been making films for broadcasters, international charities and NGOs and businesses, since the turn of the century.
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