How to Prepare for a Local TV Interview
Being on TV is exciting!
and scary!
and powerful!
If you get the chance to show off your expertise and business on TV, it should be an overall good experience. It might be a little nerve wracking and the pressure will be on, but as long as you prep before the interview everything should go fine.
Here are 6 things you should do to prepare for your TV interview!
1. Define your business in 3 adjectives
Write these down!
Know how to describe your business in as few words as possible. This is going to help you stay succinct throughout the interview.
Plus, your adjectives will guide everything from your attitude to your word choice to stay on brand.
Is your business fun, helpful, and creative?
Or are you established, professional, and charming?
Can you see how these would be two totally different interviewees?
Choose three adjectives, think about how they can guide your presentation, and go for it!
2. Practice your elevator pitch
It’s the same question all of us dread no matter what kind of interview it is:
“So, tell me a little about yourself.”
Plan on being asked about you or your business and be ready with a clear 20-30 second answer.
Your elevator pitch is crucial information that you definitely want people to know, but this is not the point of the interview so keep it short.
3. Answer, “Why do you do what you do?”
Who needs your products or services the most?
What motivates you to keep going?
Why do you care about what your business does?
Figure out what your “why” is and write it down. This is another detail that will probably come up in the interview and in any case will give you something interesting to talk about.
4. Pick a personal story
What catapulted your career?
How did your business get off the ground?
Where did your inspiration come from?
Stories like these help the viewer connect with you and simultaneously learn more about your brand. It’s good to make it personal because it’s more memorable. Tell the story of how you had an idea you believed in and fought against the odds to make it happen.
5. Memorize the basic facts
People love a good statistic. If you can spit out a few industry stats you’re going to look like an industry leader.
Create a list of facts and statistics for your business and industry as a whole. Include your sources and commit all of this information to memory.
You don’t need that many. You may start with a long list of facts, but you’ll only need to know a few for the interview.
What you don’t want to do is use up your time listing fact after fact after fact. That’s a surefire way to bore the audience and lose their attention.
Think about which facts are the most interesting and tell the best story and stick to those.
6. Get to know the audience
In everyday life, we adopt different ways of communicating depending on who we are speaking to.
For example, there’s a big difference between how I speak to my husband, my clients, and my friends. Each style is true to who I am, but it takes on a different flavor to fit my audience.
The same is true when you’re doing TV interviews, except you will be looking at a camera instead of an audience, so it’s a little harder to adapt in real time.
You definitely want to familiarize yourself with who watches the show before going live. Don’t go in blind!
If you can’t find specific information about the audience, you can look at the show’s previous episodes for clues. Look at the kind of content they tend to repeat and what is generally getting more views online for clues about who’s watching them.
Once you know who your audience is, lock in and just talk to them. This should take some of the pressure off and help you get your point across.
Good luck!
