What are reporters looking for?
When it comes to doing media interviews, the ability to think like a journalist is a superpower.
Stop thinking like a marketer
A common mistake many spokespeople make is approaching their media interview from a marketing perspective (what can we sell? what will make us look good?) when they should be approaching it from a storytelling standpoint with the audience's interests in mind.
It's about motivation
When you have a mismatch in motivations (between the journalist and the spokesperson), you're essentially speaking different languages. This gap can lead to longer, more frustrating interviews, less than stellar quotes and situations in which neither the reporter nor the spokesperson are happy with the process (the interview) or the result (the story).
The journalist's motivations
Journalists want to tell stories that serve the needs of their audiences. And the vast majority of them also want to get the facts of the story right.
The most common mistake with motivation for spokespeople
Too often, they enter the interview with motivations that are too self-serving. That might be:
- to generate positive awareness for their company
- to do damage control in a crisis
- to drive traffic or sell more products
- to outshine the competition
- to earn praise for the great work they're doing
To be fair, these are all 100% understandable. The problem is that when you enter a media interview with any of these as your top priority, your messages will not resonate with the journalist.
What the spokesperson's motivation should be instead
As a spokesperson, your #1 motivation should be to serve the needs of the audience. Sound familiar? It should, because it's the journalist's motivation as well. This approach requires a slight change in perspective but when it's done properly, it's a powerful media relations technique.
This doesn't mean you and the journalist are in complete alignment or that you're on the same team. You're simply adjusting your mindset to you're both serving the same audience. Once you have that mindset in place, the list of what journalists are looking for is quite simple. They're looking for:
- a clear sense of what the story is about
- 3 or 4 concise quotes that help tell that story and which answer the big questions
- in the case of a radio interview, good audio
- in the case of a TV interview, good visuals
To recap...
Having self-serving motivations is understandable and part of being human. But entering a media interview with the singular goal of achieving your self-serving objectives is going to have the opposite result.
By telling the story through an audience-focused lens, you have a better chance of achieving those other more self-serving objectives (e.g. generating awareness, protecting the brand, etc.).
The big takeaway? Achieving those self-serving objectives should be the byproduct of a great media interview, not the main priority going into one.
#mediarelations
