We have all seen car crash interviews where someone has refused to answer the question.
If you want a reminder of some of the best ones (worst ones?) then click here, grab your popcorn and wait until you start hiding behind it.
They are a sure-fire way to get people talking about you or your brand for all the wrong reasons.
Difficult questions from the press can mean sometimes put people off of doing interviews at all!
So what do you do if you are asked the question you are dreading?
1. Breathe.
I cannot emphasize this enough. It is crucial for you to pause and listen to the question carefully. If you rush then you may misspeak or the person asking you may put words into your mouth. So stay calm, take a breath and think.
2. Bridge.
You have to acknowledge the question and you need to make sure that you aren't ignoring a concern. Whether the question is asked on live TV or on social media it's important that you are seen to be listening.
But once you have done that you then need to do something called 'bridging ‘.
This will move the conversation away from what someone else wants to talk about and bring it back to what you want to talk about. It is a way of regaining control.
This is bridging:
"That's an interesting question but..."
"That's an important point to make but what's more important to our customers is..."
"I know this is something that people are very concerned about at the moment and I want to reassure you that..."
3. Bring it back to brand
Once you have successfully bridged you need to take that control you have just regained and use it to talk about your key messages.
Presumably you will have prepped messaging ready to go and this is where you can use personal experience or very targeted language to bring them alive.
Things like:
"When we talk to our customers they say their priority is..."
"We know that small businesses are..."
"Our ambition for the last 30 years has been..."
If you follow these three tips and prepare in advance your key messages you should never worry about what you might be asked again.
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Alison Jackson-Carter is a ‘PR Pro’ who has spent her career helping people and businesses share stories. As a journalist she spent her 20s working for newspapers, ITV’s This Morning programme, Sky News and 5 News. She then moved into PR where she has worked with hundreds of household brands to increase their media profile.
Since she moved to PR she has led teams that have won awards, launched a successful podcast that has been downloaded more than 100,000 times, and achieved millions of pounds worth of media coverage for brands.
Her passion for supporting women in business led her to launch Enlighten PR where she helps small business owners and entrepreneurs raise their profile and communicate with confidence about their business. In her downtime she can be found listening to The Archers or trying to read while her children and dog climb all over her.