Intesa Communications Group

  • About
    • In San Diego
    • In North County
    • Wherever You Are
  • Who We Are
  • Our Clients
    • Our Work
  • Quick Fixes
    • Seas the Day
  • Contact
  • The Latest
You are here: Home / Public Relations / How to Nail Your Next Media Interview

How to Nail Your Next Media Interview

January 4, 2013 by Margie Newman Tsay 2 Comments

A colleague recently asked me about the key to a successful media interview. When I answered, “stop talking,” she laughed and said, “That sounds so simple.” It is. As I always say: to nail your next media interview, think “period” not “comma.”

Much like perfect is the enemy of good, a comma is the enemy of a good media interview. When a reporter asks you a question, answer it. Period. DO NOT start talking again just to fill up the space.

Maybe silence makes you nervous, or maybe you think if you do all the talking you’re in control. But the truth is, the more you talk, the higher your chances of veering off into uncharted, stormy message waters that have very little to do with the actual question. 

When I’m training executives for media interviews and appearances, this is my main weapon:

When I hold up this period post-it, it's time to end your sentence.
When I hold up this period post-it, it’s time to end your sentence.

It’s a very effective training technique, actually. Many of my clients end up making their own period post-its if I cannot be there to staff their interviews.

The bottom line: folks who consistently do great interviews practice message discipline. And that means saying what they came to say and nothing more.

Filed Under: Public Relations, Tips Tagged With: Margie Newman, Media Relations Tips, media training, period, post-it

About Margie Newman Tsay

Communicator | Confidence-builder | Entrepreneur | Compassionate coach and facilitator | Crisis strategist

Comments

  1. Joe Flood says

    January 8, 2013 at 12:19 pm

    LOL. Good advice – having been on the reporter side of things, we like clear, concise statements with periods at the end of them too. We’re looking for short, punchy, memorable quotes that we can include in articles to help readers understand something. The advice I’ve given people is not to say “the [blank] was great” but to use specific details about what was so great about it.

    Reply
  2. Margie says

    January 8, 2013 at 12:45 pm

    Good stuff, Joe! And anytime you want to send us a guest post that might help our clients understand the reporter side of things, please do 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay in the loop!

Sign up for our quarterly newsletter. We promise to be good stewards of your information and will never spam you.

Recent Posts

  • The Next Big Thing is here: what you need to know about the Blue Economy 
  • Intesa Hooks ‘Blue Economy’ Expert Greg Murphy,  Expands Public Policy and Government Affairs Offerings  
  • Improving San Diego: I’m proud of how Civic Communities transforms our region
  • Stay ready: build confidence and trust through a PR crisis
  • ‘Tis the season’…for awards!
    Intesa scores big wins at PRSA and MarCom

Latest Tweets Latest Tweets

  • Such an honor to support @CSUSM and President @EllenNeufeldt. They’re taking the world by storm and it’s truly amaz… https://t.co/SMixxZ5reI, 3 hours ago
  • RT @MargieNewman: WICKER! Congratulations, @jdwicker! https://t.co/fZgm35Ubso, May 25
  • Big news everywhere! ⚽ @MLS coming to @SnapdragonStdm in 2025! Proud to support @SycuanTribe with this announcement… https://t.co/ilCz3VEvK6, May 20
  • RT @kenneth_a_moore: It’s been an exciting past few weeks at @intesacom. We’ve supported our client @SycuanTribe announce the arrival of… https://t.co/ijEwxxKajb, May 18
  • Tourism is more than just cocktails& scenic views it's vital to San Diego's economy, bolstering 200K+jobs and a r… https://t.co/iCvENpEN3O, May 10

Where to find us

2550 Fifth Avenue
Suite 510
San Diego, CA 92103
619-995-3078

Start A Project

Let us take that off your plate. Call or send us a request via our contact form and we'll get back to you right away!

Privacy Policy

Please visit our Privacy page for information

Connect With Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 · Intesa Communications Group

Copyright © 2023 · Agency Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in