It’s Not You, It’s What You Said – The Media Interview

It’s finally happened – you’ve landed a client an interview with their dream publication, whether it’s the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Wired, a high-profile blog or Cat Fancy. The journalist asks a few questions, your client gives the approved responses, pleasantries are exchanged and everyone hangs up. Now it’s a waiting game for the article to run and for your client to shower you with praise.

Just one problem: The article runs, and your client’s not in it. Besides dealing with an angry executive, you need to figure out exactly how your client’s place in the story got monkey-wrenched. There are a myriad of factors outside of your control (the publication’s editorial process, other interviewed sources, breaking news limiting space, etc.), but the odds are your client didn’t say what the journalist needed to hear.

So whose fault is it? Well…it’s yours.

You need to make sure that your client knows what to say to get ink – whether it’s being controversial, being knowledgeable or throwing out such pithy comments that the reporter can’t help but include them in the story.

So what do you tell your client to keep in mind to get ink?

1. The interview isn’t about you, your company or your product.

This is especially true in interviews with top-tier outlets and clients that aren’t in the Fortune 500. While your client may argue that the interview SHOULD be about them, they need to get over it. If they do want that company-specific story, they need to help the reporter NOW with the story at hand. If they prove to be a good source, the reporter will keep coming back, eventually with that company profile piece.

2. Remember bridging and flagging? Don’t.

This is an old school tactic – it may be good for broadcast, radio or live interviews, but it’s detrimental when it comes to print and online pieces. There are few things worse you can do in a high-profile interview than come off sounding over-coached –reporters want genuine answers and information, not sanitized corporate babble. This means going off script, but in a way that’s not going to upset investors and scuttle the company – this is where you, the PR guy, comes in.

3. Be quotable.

Wandering, minutes-long answers filled with industry-specific mumbo-jumbo are effective death sentences on a phone interview. Keep your answers concise, to-the-point and sans technical toroballistics. It makes it easier for the reporter to take notes and increases the chances of your client getting a quote. If your client can distill the gist of his talking points into a single, witty sentence, even better – that’s the stuff of pull-out quotes.

4. Shut up. No, seriously, shut up.

The reporter is the one asking the questions: They’re on a deadline and the last thing they need is your client starting off the interview with a rambling company overview or asking their own questions. To kick things off after introductions, ask the reporter if they want the 30-second overview of the company (that’s a maximum), and that’s it. Let the reporter drive – quality interviewers will give your client some time at the end of the conversation to elaborate or drive home points.

5. Look beyond the executives.

Obviously, the CEO is the person at the company who wants his name in print, but maybe he’s not the best person to speak with a Wired or an InformationWeek. You need to tailor your spokesperson to the task at hand – maybe the CTO, the director of engineering or even a product manager is the best person to speak. It may bruise the CEO’s ego, but you work for the company as a whole, not the CEO – if the interview will just be better with the CTO taking over, then it is what it is.

I’m not guaranteeing ink with these tips, but by following these guidelines, your clients will have more genuine, meaningful conversations with influential reporters and publications. And that, really, is what we aim to do in the first place – create conversations.

--John Terrill