Storytelling & Media Interviews

Once you’ve outlined all the elements of your story, it’s time to create your narrative. This is typically the most time-intensive aspect of story development with the goal of communicating the most impact with the least amount of words. We recommend saying your story out loud several times, recording it, writing it down, and refining as your go. This will likely take several iterations. Aim to have a strong but simple story that you can build on over time.

Constantly Iterate on Your Storyline

Your story should undergo constant changes as you outline, draft, practice, and deliver it.

Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind when iterating on your story:

• Keep your message as simple as possible.
• Don't overwhelm your audience with too many extraneous or unnecessary details.
• Make sure your stakes and big ideas are clarified.
• Hone in on the emotional impact of your story.

Outside of simple changes and refinement, as your business evolves, you may need to completely overhaul/ update your mission and overarching storyline. When revising or changing your narrative, focus on how your company is relevant at that specific moment in time. Major changes in the industry, to your core audience, or even on a global scale will impact your story. Ensure that examples, details, and your hero are relevant and compelling to the current market.

Test Your Story Obsessively

A good storyteller is a consistent storyteller. After you’ve developed your storyline, practice it with anyone who will listen. Feedback from co-workers, friends, and family is a great way to hone your message and ensure the core ideas resonate. At Lightspeed, we’re also big supporters of storytelling and love hearing your stories. Reach out to your lead investor for feedback.  

When soliciting feedback, ask the following:

• What information do you recall from the story? How does my story make you feel?
• After listening, what questions do you have?

Additional Tips

• Practice your story out loud, and use the 8:1 ratio -  8 minutes practicing for every minute you will speak. Practice regularly, deliver your story to a variety of audiences, record yourself, and ask for feedback.
• Don’t directly state your core message. It's generally considered cliche to state your core message directly in your story; it can turn the audience off because it feels overtly salesy. Leverage your story arc to get your message across in a subtle way. For example, instead of stating your mission statement verbatim in your story, start with your company tagline as your story’s hook and go on to describe what it means and how you arrived at that tagline, weaving in the values from your mission statement.
• Stay true to yourself. It's critical to have authenticity within your story. While you may not always be the central character, the audience will still want to relate to you as the storyteller. That may involve adjusting your script on the fly to better resonate with the audience and including elements of honesty and vulnerability throughout.
• Constantly assess if you have a good story. Co-founder and CBO of Pensando Systems, Soni Jiandani, notes that a winning story is when your customers or audience can tell that story to others because if customers can tell your story, it will resonate with the rest of the market. When assessing whether you’ve created a great storyline, consider whether your customers, employees, or investors have started using your message.

Media engagement is a crucial part of any company’s growth and success. Finding the right tone and telling your company’s story in a captivating way can make the difference between a successful PR campaign and a potential disaster. Effective communication with media requires careful planning and consideration to ensure that your message is conveyed accurately and effectively.

In this guide, we'll cover key points highlighted during a workshop with Clarity Media Group, a leading storytelling and communication firm. This session was aimed at equipping founders with the skills to effectively communicate their stories, engage audiences, and handle media interactions with confidence.

💡 For a list of potential journalist questions to prep for check out our PR & Funding Announcement guide here.

The 3 Golden Rules of PR

Lead the Dance

Journalists and interviewers often have a predetermined lens or angle they want to explore in a story. This can lead them to guide the interview in a way that confirms their preconceived ideas rather than allowing you to share your own story. To avoid this, develop a set of key talking points that serve as a consistent, focused message.  

An interview is a key opportunity for you to broadcast your message to a large audience. Use this opportunity to your advantage and have a game plan to support it.

Know Your Audience

Every audience is different and it's your job to develop a message that's going to resonate. Consider who the media outlet's audience is and develop a message with specific analogies that suits those listeners / readers.

• Tailor your message based on who's listening - both the interviewer/ outlet and their target audience.
• Consider how your message will be shaped and perceived depending on who the audience is.
• Remember that you aren’t just talking to the interviewer, you're talking to their readers / viewers / followers. Make sure to adjust your messaging so that it lands with that audience.

Scout Your Interviewer

Just as the interviewer will research your background and company  to prepare for the interview, you should also take the time to research their previous work, topics of interest, typical writing style, etc. This will help you understand their perspective and approach and give you a better sense of what to expect.

It's also important to be informed about any recent news or trends that impact your specific industry & business, as this can help you anticipate questions and provide relevant, thoughtful responses. Here are some questions to help you in your research:

• What is their point of view about your industry?
• What is their interview style? Do they typically write with an open or critical slant?
• Have they reported on your industry before? How much knowledge do they have of your industry?
• How much will you be able to have to teach this person?
• Have they covered your competitors in the past?

💡 Key Takeaway

The interviewer is not there to amplify your narrative, they’re there to challenge it.

Reporter's Tactics

Keep the Interviewee Talking

A skilled interviewer is comfortable with silence and encourages the interviewee to speak more than they might intend. As the interviewee, it’s important to be aware of this dynamic and not feel pressure to fill every silence with words.

• Don't assume that any part of the interview "doesn't count" or is "free time."
• Don't be forced into talking about negative or controversial subjects.
• The longer you talk, the harder it is to stay focused and on message. Brevity can be powerful, so embrace it and let your key points shine.

Joke Around to Build Trust

It's not uncommon for interviewers to joke around or engage in non-related small talk. Although this is a good way to build rapport and break the ice, it is also a great way to get the interview subject into a more casual and less professional mindset. Quotes during casual chit-chat often become headlines.

It's OK to engage in small talk and to be friendly with the media, but always remain professional and on message. Their goal is to create a headline, yours is to tell your story.

Get Under the Interviewees' Skin

Great interviewers are skilled at using both silence and discomfort to elicit interesting and revealing responses from their subjects. While this can be challenging for the interviewee, it's important to remember that you always have the option to return to your "home base" of key talking points. This can help you stay focused and on message, even when you're feeling flustered or rushed. So if you start to feel panicked or off-topic, take a deep breath and refocus on your core message.

• They want to get you off message, that's their job. Never let your guard down.
• Don't let your emotions dictate the tone of the interview. If they can get you emotional, they can probably get you off your message.
• Never let your responses or tone become combative. At the end of the day, the journalist has the final say in the way the piece is written, it's important that all interactions are friendly and amicable.

💡 Key Takeaway

Everything you say counts and has to look good in quotation marks.

Crafting a Compelling Message for Interviews

Establish Your Button

Your Button is a 1-2 sentence summary of why your company exists. It’s more concise than a mission statement and can serve as your "home base" in any interview. When you're faced with difficult or snarky questions or feel the interview is getting off-topic, always find your way back to your Button.

Keys to Creating a Great Button:

• A one-line response to the question, “why does my company exist?”.
• It shouldn’t be granular or specific.
• It should be relatable across a wide range of audiences.
• Clarity’s Button: “We help people become more memorable communicators.”
• Yelp’s Button: “Yelp is a great resource for finding the best local businesses.” - Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO & Co-Founder of Yelp during an NPR interview

Know Your Center of Gravity

Along with your Button, you should have a clearly defined center of gravity in every interview. This is 1-2 talking points that you want to dominate the conversation. As journalists try to pull you away from your core message, it's your job to pull the conversation back to your thematic center.

Yelp's Center of Gravity: "Yelp has created a true meritocracy.” & “Yelp changed the way people advertise." - Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO & Co-Founder of Yelp during an NPR interview

Develop Your “Greatest Hits”

Most people prepare for an interview by outlining every possible question and developing answers for them. A more powerful practice is examining the best components of your narrative - your “Greatest Hits” - and developing a story around them. Define your most compelling stories, anecdotes, analogies, and data points that will resonate with the audience you'll be speaking to. Ignore the literal meaning of the question and focus on the story you want to tell.

Greatest Hit Tips:

• Every question should be an opportunity to talk about your “Greatest Hits”.
• Don’t just be in question-answering mode. Intentionally think about what quote or sound bite you're trying to create. Come armed with a memorable thing to say.
• You aren’t in the business of question-answering, you're in the business of landing a sound bite.

Avoid Repeating the Negative

A very common mistake during interviews is focusing on or repeating a negative, even when the intent is positive.

What Not to Do: “My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks." - Justice Amy Coney Barrett

What Not to Do: "I genuinely believe that the UK is not remotely a corrupt country, and I genuinely think that our institutions are not corrupt." - Boris Johnson

These types of negative statements are frequently picked up in headlines and can be misconstrued without context.

• Avoid repeating, refuting, or referencing anything through a negative lens.
• When refuting a negative question, make sure you don’t repeat the toxicity in the question; do not adopt their terminology!
• It's better to talk about what it is, not what it isn’t.
• “Not at all” statements, don’t make a quote for a reporter.

💡 Key Takeaways

Challenges Over Problems: Never talk about the problems, talk about the challenges. Always focus on the positive and never repeat a negative statement.

‍‍Creating Memorable Lines

‍When preparing for an interview, focus on creating memorable lines and sound bites. Without a story or quote that sticks with readers, your message will not appear impactful or unique.

Analogies

Good analogies make great sound bites. But, great analogies are not an accident. They are purposefully crafted and follow the Analogy Trifecta recipe - Theme, Placement, and Delivery.

• The analogy should be core to your message and theme.
• The analogy should be near the end of your answer, so it doesn't sound scripted.
• The analogy should be relevant and understandable to your audience.

Example: "There's constantly an opportunity to find value in the world, just because of the way the world works and people give up on things, stocks get oversold. Think about it as if you were going to the last-call sale at Neiman's, and you could do that all the time. That's what it's like, that's what we do. It's not like some bargain bin, it's really great things that are cheap." - Mellody Hobson, co-CEO and president of Ariel Investments during an interview with Goop.

Creative Label

A label or an expression you can coin. A twist on something. Dangle a key message that you know will resonate and that will look good in print.

• ‍Example: The Great Resignation‍
• Example: The Digital Day of Reckoning‍
• Example: Colin Powell's famous Pottery Barn rule—“you break it, you own it”

Avoid Jargon & Cliches

The enemy of simplicity is jargon. Synthetic language strips you of authenticity and can confuse your audience. Use simple, straightforward language that everyone can understand.

Jargon Test: When you type something, does a red line shows up under the word? If so, it's synthetic language - throw it out.

Why Jargon & Cliches Are Problematic:

• People who lean too heavily on cliche expressions do not stand out in interviews.
• Relying on overused expressions can lead to the assumption that you don’t know what you're talking about and that you're not an expert.
• They can create false complexity around your product or company.

Common Cliche's to Avoid:

• Authenticity
• Ecosystem
• We're on a journey
• Our brand DNA
• Laser-focused
• Value proposition
• Holistic
• Meeting consumers wherever/ whenever
• Doubling down
• Fostering innovation
• Reimagined
• Promoting a disruptive culture

Develop Your Message Grid

Similar to storytelling, one of the most powerful steps you can take in preparing for an interview is developing your media message grid. This should serve as your "Greatest Hits" list and should include your Button, center of gravity, memorable lines, anecdotes, and interesting data points that you want to touch on in an interview.

A well-developed grid will function as a roadmap, so all you have to do is follow the directions you've laid out for yourself. The grid takes searching for the right answer to a question out of the equation.

We recommend creating message grids for different circumstances, audiences, focus areas, etc., and refining them constantly based on new product features, company milestones, and previous interviews/ media coverage.

Find the Message Grid template in the  "Tools & Templates" section at the bottom of this post.

Tips For Setting Up Your Grid

• Focus on telling your most compelling stories. Only highlights should make it on your grid.
• Avoid adding anything that an interviewer might ask, "why does this matter" or "can you give me an example?" Importance and examples should be baked into your point from the start.
• If you anticipate a potentially challenging question, it's a good idea to come up with version B and even version C.
• Everything in your grid should be 100% factual. You don’t have to reveal everything, but everything you say should be truthful.
• Avoid describing yourself or the company theoretically. Focus on the impact you create and the experience of the user.
• Put your customer / client at the center of the description and address the benefit and the problem they are trying to overcome.
• Avoid unnecessary words. Your grid should be short and concise. If your grid doesn't fit on a single page, there is likely a more simple way to phrase things.

Develop Exit Lane Opportunities

An "exit lane" is a line that makes it sound like you're answering the question but actually allows you to get back to your message grid and center of gravity. You never want to avoid questions, but you do want to avoid going down the wrong path. An exit lane simply allows you to stick to your core message and avoids falling into the interviewer's narrative.

Examples of Exit Lane Phrases:

• “Here’s what we saw specifically.”
• “Short of getting into the specific number… what I can tell you is…(broad characterization)”
• “I would probably defer to my colleague (name here), who is our expert in that area….”
• “I’m really glad you asked me that because that's one of the most common misconceptions about our place in the industry.…”
• “Here are the facts…”
• “Let me give you some specific insights on how we’re approaching this....”
• “Let me tell you how I view this.…”

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