This is a guest blog post by PR, digital, social media and communications strategist, Martin Waxman.

Okay, so your new product/service is ready to be launched and you’ve got your story perfectly honed. You’ve read our earlier post about kick starting your PR and have started to build relationships with a few local media early. Now you want to get out there and spread the news to create the kind of awareness that ultimately leads to sales.

It’s time to tell your story to media and influencers.  This may be a good opportunity to hire a PR agency (more on that in a future post).

But what if the stars align and you get a call from that local reporter you’ve already reached out to? She’s working on a bigger piece on what successful entrepreneurs do to grow their business. She remembered you and wants to set up an interview tomorrow.  That’s not enough time to bring on an agency so you’ll have to go D.I.Y.

What should you do?  

Here are 3 things to help you prepare for a media interview:

1. Anticipate the questions:

This includes the good and the bad ones. Don’t just focus on the positive news. Write down easy questions and the hard ones (e.g. Why would anyone need this? Didn’t you just rip-off an existing product?). Think about the story from the point of view of your customers, competitors, media, and the industry at large. Then craft compelling, honest answers. You can never stop a challenging question, but you can always be prepared.

2. Practice, then practice some more:

Get a friend or family member to ask you questions as if you were in an interview. Do this more than once. If you can capture yourself on video and review it without becoming self-conscious, that’s a smart way to evaluate your responses, watch your body language and improve. Just remember not to sound like you’re reading from a script. Answer in your own voice, include anecdotes, and be yourself.

3. Have an answer to the question ‘Do you have anything else to add?' 

Often times, at the end of an interview a reporter will ask if you have anything else to say, and far too many people shake their heads. This is a great opportunity to reinforce your story, add a call to action, phone number or website, and end with a bang. Think of it like your encore performance and have an answer that rocks the house.

Have you done media interviews before?  Did they turn out the way you’d planned?

Please share your thoughts. And as the 3 Things series grows we’ll be adding guest bloggers and looking for your stories on what’s worked and what hasn’t, and how you adapted or improved on an idea we shared.

Email: 3things@methodintegration.com

Twitter: @methodCRM

Bio: This is a guest blog post by Martin Waxman. Martin is a PR, digital, social media and communications strategist, founder of three PR agencies, blogger at myPALETTE, Inside PR co-host, @martinwaxman on Twitter and a digital and social media strategy instructor at University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies.