TJ Walker explains when to do media interviews by phone versus in-person. Phone interviews are worth doing almost always, but in-studio gets you better audio, more airtime, and stronger rapport with hosts. He warns against email-only Q&A and stresses that accepting requests and building relationships matters more than controlling the interaction.
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Question when should you do an interview by telephone?
Speaking the show about effective speaking in public to the media, at work and in life. Speaking with TJ Walker.
So when should you do media interviews by telephone? The short answer is anytime a reporter or media outlet wants you to. There are of course, some times when it's at your discretion. Let's look at the first example of talk radio. Lots of times if it's a talk radio station or network in your town, they would prefer that you go to their studio for several reasons. Number one, the audio quality is going to be better regardless of what sort of phone you have. Being in the studio with professional microphone, the audio will be better. That's better for the media outlet. Whether it's a radio, TV network, excuse me, a radio network or a radio station, the audio quality will be better. It's also easier for the host to read your body language, connect with you, ask, follow up, have a better exchange. A conversation is just easier when you can see someone now. The downside is it takes a lot more time. For example, I have an interview based in New York City Sunday morning at 11:23 this week for 10 minutes for me to have to drive into the city or take the train from where I live outside of New York City, do the interview, come back, we're talking about a five hour hole out of my day, a Sunday. Well, I don't want to do that. And for me to do it by phone, I can be in my bathing suit, relaxing, playing with my daughter and family and the whole interview will take just 10 minutes on the telephone. So. And it's not an especially important interview with a media outlet I'm really after long term relationships with. So it's not to put them down. But in that case, 10 minutes versus five hours, that's a pretty easy call. Now if it's a radio station 10 minutes away from you for you to go there, sign in, get there early, have a little chit chat, do the show, come back still an hour out of your day versus 10 minutes, that's a little closer call. I want to give you some checklist items to look at before you make your final decision that in a moment.
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The advantage of doing a radio show in particular in person versus over the phone, beyond the superior audio qualities we just discussed, is you'll likely get more airtime if it's a show that is not edited, if it's any kind of a live format, you'll probably get a lot more time. It's just human nature. If you're already there to give you more time. If it's just over the phone, they may cut you off after 30 seconds, 60 seconds, that happens all the time. But routinely, if I'm in a studio, you get a lot more time. Another advantage of going in person is you can make more of an impression on the host and the producer, the person who booked you. Because as you've heard me say before, the real goal of doing a talk radio show is to get invited back again and again and again. That's the real power of that medium, is the frequency getting in front of that audience on a regular basis. So if you go and you have some pleasant chit chat, you comment on the person's photo on their office wall, that sort of exchange business cards, it's just easier for there to be more of a permanent connection. And what I always do is say, look, here's my cell phone. If you ever need a last minute guest or in an emergency, feel free to call me. You can always reach me. It's just a much more powerful connection than a voice over the phone. Now, I'm not in any way suggesting turning down a phone interview because that may be what the reporter wants the talk radio station or network wants right away. Don't say, well, unless I come down, I'm not going to do that. You're not turning anything down. It is a matter of when there is a choice, what is the choice? And if your schedule permits it, Certainly if it's your first time dealing with a media outlet and it's one you value, make the extra effort. Drive down there, take any sort of transit you can to get there. You'll make a better impression. Now let's switch gears a minute and look at a completely different opportunity. Sometimes, and this is a trend I'm not particularly happy about, some organizations, in an attempt to control the media, will tell reporters, we're not going to be interviewed over the phone. You must email us the questions in advance and we'll email you the answers back. This is generally a horrible practice because you're telling the reporter, I'm hiding from you. I'm afraid of your questions. I've got something to hide. And if you dig a little harder, you'll probably find it. I want to make your life difficult. I want to create more work for you. Now, how do you like me? That's obviously not a good way to start a relationship. Reporters don't necessarily know all the questions in advance. Any good reporter who's doing what he or she should is listening to you carefully and then asking intelligent follow up questions based on what you said. Well, you can't do that if you have to send all the questions in advance. So it smacks a lot of reporters as manipulative, overly controlling. It's almost like you're a some sort of old Soviet authoritarian leader and you're trying to control them and turn them into stenographers for you. Not a good way to get excellent coverage. Certainly not a good way to build relationships. There's certainly no rapport built with the reporter if you're not even talking to the reporter. Are there very rare exceptions where the issues are so wildly contentious, so controversial, there's so much potential litigation involved, your lawyers are ordering you not to even talk to the reporters. Are there occasionally situations where you only want to send an email? Sure, but that should not be your default position. All these questions about is it okay to do a TV interview or a telephone interview or a live interview or a taped interview. All these different scenarios are all based upon the erroneous assumption that that changing the format somehow increases control for you over the final outcome of the story and the quotes you get. I don't find any correlation there. Do not lose sight of your number one goal. When a reporter has called you. Your goal is to get the message you want communicated to that media outlet. And unless it's a live TV or radio talk show or a fully transcribed interview, your goal is to get the exact quotes you want into the final story. That's the goal. Period, paragraph, end of story. So everything you do needs to walk backwards from that goal and you need to focus on reaching that goal. And that's why I do not find sending an email with your text written out to be particularly helpful. Not the end of the world if it's, you know, Every once in a while, occasionally a reporter may ask to do that. If a reporter asks that, well, by all means do it, but let them know you're also happy to talk to them. If I'm going to send a written statement to a reporter, I always include a note and say, hey, I'm happy to talk to you. To flesh out any of these concepts in more detail, here's my phone number. Now, the other thing that people try to do by not doing it over the phone is they want to make it harder for the reporter. They'll say, well, I'll talk to you, but we don't do it over the phone. So you have to come here. So if it's a reporter in another city or you're in a big city and they're two hours away, all you're doing is causing resentment. You are letting them know, I'm trying to make your life difficult. I'm trying to hide, but not officially say no comment. And it tends to stir resentment. So that's why I'm not a fan of those particular tactics. All the tactics people use, giving a reporter a time limit, telling them what questions they can't ask, trying to say this is off limits, trying to say it has to be on our turf or I have to be on my couch or my diploma has to. All these things are an attempt to manipulate the reporter and the media outcome. And guess what? They typically don't work. I'm not opposed to trying to manipulate the media messages from your mouth into the final story. I just want to do it in a way that's actually effective. And in my experience, having worked with more than 10,000 clients over the last 32 years, having been interviewed thousands of times and having conducted thousands of interviews is the absolute best way to communicate effectively to the public on a regular basis. Is, number one, take every interview request that comes your way. Take them all. Number two, have a good message for each interview and have interesting sound bites for each message. That is the ultimate way of manipulating the media because they don't feel manipulated. They feel like you are really helpful and useful to them and you got what you want. So that's the answer to the question, when to take a phone interview? Pretty much anytime. I'm TJ Walker. Thanks for listening as always. May all of your presentations in life be a huge success.
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