I would bet that whatever type of expert you are, and whatever kind of work you do, you want to do media interviews to grow your practice or business. That is literally the goal of this podcast - to teach you how to do that.

But growing your business, and getting more patients, clients and customers can't be your goal when you go into a media interview.

If you've listened to some of the other episodes of this podcast, you've heard me say over and over that success in the media, especially over the long term, is about building relationships. Relationships with journalists, writers, reporters, TV, radio and podcast hosts, and show producers.
Win-win media relationships
And to build relationships with them, you have to make each interaction a win-win.

The win for you is simple. You get an interview that shares your message and potentially helps you attract patients, clients and customers.

But you need to focus on making it a win for that journalist or producer. What kinds of actions or steps can you take to create wins for them?

Bring them an interesting story idea or topic for an interview.
Be available to provide expert opinions and information on a topic they don't understand, even if it's for background, and you are never quoted directly.
Give them a name and contact information for someone who could speak about a topic outside of what you're comfortable with.
Help them attract readers, listeners or viewers.
Be great during the interview so that they look good.

Approach every interaction with people in the media with this goal
Basically, you need to approach every interview with the goal of helping that media person.

One of my former media coaches used to ask me, over and over, to consider this question: "How can I be a producer's solution?" Apply that same question with every medium. "How can I be the host's solution?" "How can I be a reporter's solution?"

Think about how you can help, and how you can be a solution for them in every interaction - before, during and after the interview.

Focus on how you can help them in every email, every pitch, every phone call, in every social media retweet or share or mention of your upcoming interview.

That approach will make you stand out from all the other experts out there doing media interviews. It will make that reporter, journalist, producer or host like you, value you as a resource, and encourage them to use you over and over again in the future.
Promoting yourself and your business will often have the opposite effect
But if you take the approach that most experts use - using the interview as a way to promote yourself and your business - you won't develop those long-term, mutually beneficial relationships, and you'll probably hurt your chances of having a successful interview.

Trying to make yourself look good and promoting or even selling your product or service instead of offering information that helps the audience and that makes the media person look good will almost certainly have the opposite effect.

One of the biggest reasons media interviews work to help experts grow their businesses is the credibility the interviews provide. If you offer information that helps the audience, and not try to promote yourself and your business, it makes you more credible in the audience’s eyes. And without selling, you become more attractive to that listener, viewer or reader. He or she thinks, "You know, I've had that issue too. Maybe I should talk to this attorney, or physician, or whatever type of expert you are."

True media success and growing your business comes from not just one interview, but lots of them. Repetition is huge. If someone sees you on TV a lot, or hears you on a radio show every week,