At some point in your career the phone will ring or you will
get an email from a reporter requesting an interview for an upcoming article.
Don't panic! This is a wonderful opportunity for you and your company. Just remember to gather some information and
this should be a positive experience.
Be sure to ask some questions of your own first. Find out
who the reporter is and the topic and objective of the article. This will help
you determine if this is a good fit for you.
Next, find out the type of story. Is this a product piece,
an industry wrap-up or trend article. Try to think about how you can add value. Does your company have the best product in
the market to showcase in this article? Be objective here and use this time to
help promote it and show how it relates to the market and trends.
This can be accomplished by developing some message points.
In order to successfully deliver your message in the interview you need to
determine what the message is. Think about what your product brings to the
market and what you want people to know or remember of it. Condense this into
two or three concise one to two sentence statements. These are your message
points.
During the interview, weave these message points into your
interview answers. You can use a technique called bridging. This is where you
answer the given question and segue into your message point. An example is
"yes that is true, but you should know..." This will help you to take
control of the interview and make it worthwhile for you and the reporter. Be
sure to support your message points with an interesting story or fact and you
will have a terrific interview experience.
Last but not least, find out when the interview will air or
appear. You will want to watch or see a copy of the article.
