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Strategies and Things to Avoid with Japanese TV Coverage

Strategies for the Interview: Repeat the Questions

　During interviews, TV directors become very concerned when the interviewee answers with only Yes and No's. A lot of times, their minds go blank because of the pressure, and they find themselves just capable of answering the questions. However, you will not be able to maximize your chances to promote yourself this way.
　Interviews are really just devices to give someone a chance to state their opinions or to draw out their ideas and thoughts. Thus, this is the prime situation to promote your product. If you have this in mind, your interview should not become like this:
Q: I heard the service your company provides is very popular with housewives.
A: Yes.
Q: The numbers of users have increased?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you strategically target this demographic with your service?
A: Yes.
　Usually, extraneous portions of the interviews are cut to fit within the show's time constraints. The extraneous portions stated here are usually the questions by the interviewers. But if you look at the interview above, if one were to remove the interviewer's questions, what remains will make absolutely no sense. You can make a case that this interview had some poorly constructed questions, but…
　What the show wants to find out from this interview is "Why Company X's service is so popular with housewives?"
When you are not used to doing interviews, it may be difficult to analyze the question quickly and answer in an articulate fashion. So here, I will teach you an easy technique to help you. It is to "repeat the question." Just repeat what the interviewer asked. See how this technique would work with the previous interview.
Q: I heard the service your company provides is very popular with housewives.
A: Yes. Our service has been very popular with housewives. When we first introduced this service, blah, blah, blah.
Q: The numbers of users have increased?
A: Yes. It is true that we have had an increase in the people who use this service, blah, blah, blah.
Q: Did you strategically target this demographic with your service?
A: Yes. We targeted the housewives for this service. Currently, blah, blah, blah.
　What do you think? Don't you think the answers become more detailed simply by repeating the questions? In most cases, interviewers state what they most want to hear in their questions. By repeating their questions, you will be able to provide the best answers to them.
　There is another advantage to this technique. By repeating the question, you give time for your mind to organize your answer and it makes it easier to reply to the question.
　This strategy should come in handy when you are nervous or are having trouble finding words.
　However, this technique is effective only when the interview is edited. For live broadcasts, constantly repeating questions may seem unnatural, and you will waste a lot of precious time. In this case, try to prepare yourself to answer the questions as thoroughly as possible.

Strategies and Things to Avoid with Japanese TV Coverage: Pros and Cons of Promoting on Japanese TV; Things to Be Careful of in Japanese TV Programs: Pushy Requests; Things to Be Careful of in Japanese TV Programs: Fashioning Yourself for TV; Things to Be Careful of in Japanese TV Programs: Heavy Makeup and Bad Hairdos; Strategies for the Interview: Do Not Be Nervous; Strategies for the Interview: Repeat the Questions; Strategies for the Interview: Don't Look at the Camera