Here’s something else for you to consider before you begin talking to a reporter -- have some written materials for them to use as their research. These materials may even contain most of the points you’d like to make. This is important for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest is that it is an easy reference point for the reporters. Taking notes is hard work, and sometimes you don’t catch everything – and you don’t necessarily want to keep stopping the other person from talking while you try to catch up.

This is particularly the case when a reporter comes to visit you. He or she is probably taking notes in a little note pad, trying to absorb everything, and they may be writing so fast that they can’t even read some of their own writing later. Trust me, this has happened to me many times – and I have seen it happen to reporters who have visited Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu schools.

By putting your ideas onto paper, you have done several things. You have chosen the most important ideas that you want them to focus on, and reinforced to the reporter the importance of those concepts. Second, the reporter has them in an easy to read format that he or she can plug easily into the story.

If you doubt the value of putting together written materials, consider this: ever read a story about the same person in multiple publications on the same day or week. Ever notice how the same quotes and background info keeps popping up? When I was a kid, I used to read music magazines and wonder why the same stuff appeared in Circus and Hit Parader and Metallix and RIP...you get the picture.

Other tactics. Once you know you have a reporter coming by, make sure of a few things.

Number one. Make sure your school is clean and fresh smelling. If the place is a dump, and smells bad, it might be reflected in the piece. No one is going to want to train at a place like that. Sure, some tough guys don’t mind it. And many students don’t notice when their schools gradually fall into bad shape. But it’s a good, hygenic thing to do anyway to keep students and yourself happy and free of skin diseases like ringworm and worse.

Or maybe the reporter is so turned off that there is no piece. It would be a shame if all your hard work to bring them in goes to waste.

Also, be sure to have as many students present as possible. Some nights you might only have a handful of students present for a particular class. That might be fine for your business, especially if you teach several classes a day.

But it may look to a reporter like your business is not going terribly well. It would be a shame if that was reflected in the article -- and maybe the reporter says to himself “no point in doing an article about a little place that looks like it may close in a week.”

Let all of your students know that you are going to be visited by a reporter, and impress upon all of them that it is important for them to show up. If you have to, let them know how important it is to you, and provide and incentive -- pizza afterwards, etc. Is the cost of a few large pizza’s worth the free publicity that could lead to increasing number of students, generating hundreds more dollars per month in revenue for your school? I think you’d agree that it is.

Sometimes just the prospect of being quoted or pictured in the paper is enough of an incentive, so even the small investment in a few pizzas might not be necessary. You be the judge, but try to figure that out in advance.

By having the largest group possible present, it shows the reporter that you are successful. It’s fine if you don’t believe this, and you feel successful no matter how many people come to a typical class. But perception is important. That’s why women polled generally say that one of the main ways to judge a man is by the shoes he wears -- if he has fashionable shoes, they believe he is more successful and they are more likely to be attracted to him.

It’s obviously silly, but it works. Sure, plenty of people have no problem finding dates no matter how sloppy they dress or the beat up sneakers or boots they may wear. But why take chances? You need to stack the deck in your favor. That’s why you may only need one or two good moves to win a street fight -- say a good throw or knee to the groin -- but you learn many others just in case.

As always, feel free to contact me to talk about these ideas or if you have any questions or need some help with something. You can click the 'contact' button to drop me an email.

Take care,

Jeremy