5 Essential Tips for Taking Interviews with Print Reporters
Engaging with print reporters can be a powerful opportunity to share your brand’s message, but it requires a thoughtful approach to ensure your words come across clearly and effectively. Whether you're preparing for a sit-down interview or an impromptu phone call, the following tips will help you make the most of the conversation while avoiding common pitfalls.
1. Know Your Audience
Before speaking with any print reporter, it’s crucial to understand their readership. Is their audience niche, like trade publications, or broad, like mainstream media? What issues are they most concerned with, and how can your message align with their interests? Research the publication’s focus and the reporter's past articles to tailor your responses and anticipate the types of questions they may ask.
Pro Tip: Reporters often appreciate it when you can reference a recent story they’ve written or share insights that connect directly with their target audience.
2. Prepare Key Messages
Print interviews often have limited space, so it’s important to ensure your most important points come across clearly and succinctly. Identify 3-5 key messages you want to convey and think of ways to integrate them into your responses naturally. These should align with your broader communication goals, but also address the reporter’s needs for a compelling story.
For example, if you’re promoting a new product, focus on its unique benefits, and how it solves problems that readers care about. By staying on message, you increase the chances that your key points make it into the final article.
Pro Tip: Use anecdotes, statistics, or case studies to make your key points memorable and impactful.
3. Be Clear and Concise
In print, your words can be edited and condensed. To minimize misinterpretation, be as clear and direct as possible. Avoid jargon or overly complex explanations and instead focus on simple, digestible answers that will resonate with a general audience.
Also, be mindful of giving too much information or wandering off-topic. The more concise and focused you are, the less likely your words will be taken out of context or trimmed down in ways that lose their meaning.
Pro Tip: Practice delivering key points in short, punchy statements to ensure they remain intact during editing.
4. Don’t Rush – Take Your Time to Think
Unlike live interviews, print interviews usually allow for a little more time and thought. It’s perfectly acceptable to pause, gather your thoughts, or ask the reporter to clarify a question. This prevents giving off-the-cuff remarks that you might later regret or that could be misinterpreted in print.
If you don’t know the answer to a question, don’t guess. Instead, offer to follow up with more information after the interview, or direct the reporter to a more knowledgeable source within your organization.
Pro Tip: If the conversation goes off-topic, politely steer the discussion back to your main points by saying something like, “What’s most important for your readers to know is...”
5. Understand the Off-the-Record Rule
“Off the record” can be a tricky area in interviews. If you don’t want something to be published, it’s best not to say it at all. While most reporters respect the off-the-record agreement, it can lead to confusion or miscommunication if not handled carefully. Always make sure both parties have explicitly agreed before assuming a comment is off the record.
It’s safer to assume everything you say can be used unless otherwise stated. If you’re not comfortable with a topic, it’s perfectly acceptable to decline to answer and redirect to your main talking points.
Pro Tip: Establish ground rules for the interview upfront. If there are specific topics you want to avoid, clarify that at the beginning, or have a media professional set expectations before the interview.
By following these tips, you'll feel more confident when engaging with print reporters, ensuring that your message is clear, accurate, and compelling. Remember, preparation and clarity are key to a successful interview and maintaining a positive relationship with the media.
