Interview

Have your key messages ready, and you will find it easier to influence a conversation or an interview. If you can tell your story concisely, clearly, in a positive tone, consistently and credibly, you will be heard, or at least you will be able to make yourself heard.

But of course, as they are, your key messages won’t simply fit into any old interview. So get some tools. One is bridging (that is, closing) the gap between a question and your key message. This is most useful when the question is about something you would rather not talk about. Your spontaneous reaction might be: “No comment.” But that will destroy whatever good will there was so far. Better not to say what you can’t say, and instead lead over to what you can say. The easiest way to do this is simply to say so: “What I can say is this.” And then state your message. Or how about: “What’s important to us is…”

Sometimes you will be faced with a question containing an error, whether intentionally or unintentionally. You will need to correct the error, and do it quickly, but do so without antagonizing the other person. One way to achieve this is to begin your answer with “What is correct is…”

You might also consider alerting the audience to something important that you are about to utter. You might even use this to shift the interview’s focus. Try a line such as “What matters to us is…” or “The essential thing in this context is…” By sheer professional reflex, the journalist will move along with you.

If you are even more confident, an option would be to put a bait out for the journalist to swallow. “But something else is much more important,” is what you say, followed by a pause. The journalist is guaranteed to ask: “What?” giving you the greatest possible leeway to insert your key message.

If you have an especially good key message, you might try using it as a headline. Imagine it being: “Our program is unique in the industry” or “we have found the solution to…” Make sure that you have subordinate stories to back up your headline. But provided you do, headlining ensures that from the next moment on the entire interview is yours.