We got an interview with either a typed out thing like a blog or magazine, or a recorded thing like a podcast or morning news! There’s a lot more that can be done than may at first appear!
This is not passive
It might seem like journalists / influencers own their space and need us to respond to them, but they are desperate for great content. They let us in because they think we have great content to share. We could be passive and they could get the minimum out of us or we could show up with guns blazing and give them something really awesome.
When someone asks “So, you’ve been eating ropes on stage for how long?” We can answer in a million ways. EG
- 12 years
- never done that
- Way longer than I thought I would… when I started, they were just strings, and nobody paid attention to me, but…
- Well, it starts before the stage. When my loving grandmother adopted me at age 11 I had no friends and she encouraged me to make friends of inanimate objects…
- It’s been over a decade, and I know it seems weird, but the thing I’ve learned from this career…
We can also make the questions
Often, we can propose a leading question to the interviewer, or volunteer an extra story to give more and get our point across. Interviewers need to make up questions for deadbeat guests, so if they know that an interesting question will make them look good and get us into a juicy story or joke, bonsai!
Late night show interviews are sometimes interviews, but usually they’re guest lead setups for responses.
We can create the reality
Beyond questions, we can frame our introductions or the context the media sets for us.
My favorite is Rubberboy Daniel Browning Smith — who was arguably the most flexible man in the world — started telling everyone he was the most flexible man in the world (no way to measure that) and Ripley’s called him “the most flexible man in the world.” Then, he had that quote to use.
Similarly, my press releases for my cooking show Crash Course said “Julia Child meets Jackass” And Oakland Tribune called my show “Emeril meets Johnny Knoxville!”
They say it, they’re the source. We’re the winners!
Get some objectives
Three common goals for an appearance or an article:
- clarify what’s happening = tell the world the who, what, why, when, where of what it is that’s news.
- call to action = Get the people consuming the media to do something – go to a special offer on a website, call a number, etc
- get clippings = either get a quotable quote from the writing, or some footage to use in our future promos.
Getting attention is not enough. Let’s go for the gold and use that attention to entertain more folks.
Two more tips…
- Use emotion to draw people in. Tell stories, expose vulnerabilities and feelings so that people connect. We are entertainers, let’s make a custom entertainment thing for these appearances.
- If it’s a written article, I always see if I can do the interview in written form. Spoken answers can come across wrong or shallow.