Interviews provide fantastic content for any marketer. If you can get an interview in person, on camera or by voice, then you’ll find that this actually offers even more benefits as you can then create a podcast or upload it to YouTube.
There’s just one problem – conducting an interview in person means you’ll need to speak on camera or on a voice recorder. This is something many of us feel awkward doing. Here are some tips that will help.
Don’t Worry
The first thing to understand is that you’re not as bad as you think you are. Your voice sounds bad to yourself because it’s not what you’re used to hearing when you listen to a recording. When we hear our own voices, they’re actually much deeper because we’re hearing the vibrations through our skull as well as through the air.
The reality is that your voice is probably just fine. Unless your friends and family have always made fun of your voice – and even if they have, if you have something interesting to say, it won’t matter. Don’t be put off the idea of interviewing for that reason alone. No one likes his or her voice at first – but soon enough it will start to sound natural.
Listen Back
There is some benefit to listening to your own voice back and then cringing. When you listen to yourself speaking you’ll be able to notice things that you might be doing wrong – words you pronounce incorrectly, or points where you speed up to much, or need to speed up more. If you listen to your voice and are critical, then you can use this to help improve the way you speak next time.
Speak More Slowly
One very simple and easy thing you can do to improve your speaking voice is to speak more slowly. As soon as you do this, you’ll sound lower, more intelligent and calmer. What’s more, seeing as most people speed up when they’re nervous, you’ll probably need to slow down a lot just to get back to normal.
A great point to pause is in between sentences. Each time you finish a sentence, take a moment to just pause and let it sink in. This makes your speech much easier to follow for the audience and it lends it more gravitas.
Gesticulate
Even if you’re not on camera, you should gesticulate, smile and laugh as you normally would. Telesales professionals are actually taught to smile when they’re on the phone. The reason? It comes across in your voice unconsciously, even if they can’t see you.
Nervousness
And as for feeling nervous – whether they are camera-shy or not, people are always nervous at first. But with time,you will become totally comfortable being on camera or audio.
