Sometimes an unanticipated method for building our brand or business arises. How do you prepare?
This happened to me when National Broadcasting Radio FM offered me an eight-minute, live spot on to talk about my business. After the initial excitement and fear past,
I thought about the following.
· Do I want to be associated with them? Having never heard of them before I listened to some of their shows and looked over the subject matter they discussed.
· What could this experience do for me – positive and negative?
I concluded the learning potential outweighed any risk, so I asked them the following.
· What are the demographics of the audience?
· How did you hear of and choose to reach out to me?
· What will be the format and how are questions selected?
· How can I promote my interview and share the recording afterwards?
With that information in hand, now came the hard questions. This is where by background in marketing and Toastmasters really paid off?
· What impression/feeling do I want to leave the audience with?
· What information, questions and delivery style will convey that?
Here’s what I took away from the experience.
Practice! After scripting my responses, I practiced multiple times analyzing. Was I on time? Did I achieve my goals? This allowed me zero in on the critical information and perform despite having butterflies.
Let people know about the interview. Knowing people I respect might listen kept me prepping despite many other priorities popping up. My network’s encouragement strengthened my belief in myself.
Practice closing! I scripted my close, but I never practiced it, so I left out that I offer free coaching sessions!
Wait to look at interview questions. My questions were heavily influenced by the interviewer’s original questions. Developing my questions first would have increased my creativity.
Celebrate! The only other time I was interviewed live was rough! While there’s always room for improvement, the glow of this success helped me get back to my priorities with renewed vigor.
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