Lead Generation Through Media Interviews
Engaging with journalists and effectively articulating your company's story can yield significant rewards, including lead generation, brand promotion, and positioning yourself as an industry thought leader.
Media interviews play a pivotal role in introducing businesses, products, and services to potential customers by establishing credibility and fostering trust. By positioning executives as experts in their respective fields, these interviews attract new leads from individuals who may not have previously been aware of your business.
A media interview also provides an opportunity to cultivate relationships with journalists who cover your industry or sector. This helps you enhance the likelihood of your company being featured in articles, leading to increased publicity and exposure.
Making The Most Of An Interview
Never say anything you don't want your boss to read.
Bad interviews can be a disaster for your company by making you look unprepared and unprofessional, and may even damage your relationship with the media.
Practice and preparation prior to the interview will help ensure that you deliver your message in a clear and concise manner. Consider the following tips:
- Be prepared. Before the interview, take some time to think about what you want to say and how you want to say it.
- Be engaging. Remember that the goal of the interview is to generate interest in your company and its story. To do this, you need to tell your story engagingly. Practice beforehand so that you can deliver your message in a clear and concise manner.
- Be interesting. Journalists are always looking for stories that their readers will find interesting, so make sure you have something to say that will capture their attention.
- Be yourself. The media want authentic and genuine stories, so don’t put on an act.
- No rambling. If you ramble, you’ll lose the attention of the journalist and likely end up saying something that’s off message. So when you’re answering questions, make sure you’re focused and to the point.
- Don't talk to much. It’s important to answer questions thoroughly, but you don’t want to go on for too long. If you do, the interviewer will get impatient and may cut you off. This is critical if giving a live TV or radio interview where time is precious.
- Sounding scripted or rehearsed. Avoid reading out information. This is a big no no. By all means have information with you for referencing, just make sure your delivery is natural.
Use Facts and Figures to Illustrate Your Story
For broadcast interviews, use facts and figures to engage the anchor and audience. Comparing numbers to relatable objects works well.
In print interviews, you have more flexibility to go into detail and share your company's story, even if it doesn't all appear in the coverage.
Keep in mind that TV and radio appearances are typically limited to five to ten minutes, so make your answers impactful. The length of a print interview depends on the publication and article type, but always try to be interesting.
Promote Your Company
While you shouldn’t use an interview as a chance to pitch your product or service, there’s nothing wrong with mentioning your company if it’s relevant to the conversation. Just make sure you’re not coming across as salesy or pushy.
End on a High Note
When you’re nearing the end of the interview, always try to leave the journalist with something interesting or memorable. This could be a quote, an anecdote, or even just a piece of advice that you think the audience will find useful.
If you ever get asked by a journalist if you have anything to add, never, ever say no. Use the opportunity to repeat a key message or promote your company one more time.
As a recap, here are a few points to make you the superhero of media interviews:
- Be interesting and engage with your audience
- Use facts and figures to illustrate your story
- End on a high note
By following these tips, you will make the most out of your next media interview and generate some great leads for your business.
5 Strategies A Media Interview
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