One of the best ways to attract positive publicity to your school, and ultimately more students, is with media coverage. Positive media relationships are a critically important, yet often ignored aspect of running a successful martial arts school. The press release is a highly effective tool for getting your name out into your community.
Learn how to write a press release that will get read and get the attention your school needs to boost its reputation.
Learn the insider tricks and techniques that public relations professionals use.
Attracting positive publicity is important to your business because it can bring paying students into your school and contribute to your professional reputation.
One time honored and highly effective tool for getting your name and business covered by the media is the press release.
A good press release is simply a one-page story describing a news event that you want covered by the media. A press release should be no longer than one page. It needs to include a short bio about you and about your school but avoid bombarding the editors with an encyclopedic study of all your accomplishments.
If you do, it will be thrown in the trash, unread. The bio goes at the end of the press release. If they want more information, they will call you. So the editor can call if interested, the top left of the page should look like this:
For Immediate Release
Date:
Contact Information: (your name and phone number)
Right above the story, write your headline. The headline should summarize the main point of the press release in one line. The opening paragraph must answer five basic questions: Who, what, where, when and how. Make sure you cover all five questions in your opening paragraph. End your press release with this: –end–.
Before you start writing, create an outline. Just like a novel, a press release has a beginning, middle, and an end. Visualize your story as an inverted pyramid. Because the initial paragraph answers the five basic questions containing the most information, it’s the broad side of the triangle. You prioritize all of the rest of information with the most important in the second and third paragraphs, and the least important at the bottom of the story.
Media Relationships When you’re first starting, no one will know who you are or why their readers/viewers would be interested in your news. With a little patience, you can build positive relationships with your local media. These relationships will be important to you, especially in smaller towns, where reporters tend to stay a long time in the print media. Broadcast media is different. Many broadcast reporters, your local anchor people, are working your territory on a contract. When their contract is up, they hope to move up to somewhere bigger.
The two most important things to remember when dealing with the media: Tell them only about the things that will interest their readers and viewers, and be very honest about your facts. Don’t waste their time when nothing is happening, but call them when something interesting does. The trick to successful media relations is to know when something is newsworthy.
Content of a Press Release A press release is only as good as the newsworthiness of the content. Notify the press of the things people find most interesting about the martial arts.
… the initial paragraph answers the five basic questions containing the most information; it’s the broad side of the triangle.
Everyone is interested in competition. Use your school’s competitions to get attention from the press and potential students. The larger the competition your students are participating in, the more newsworthy the event. Instruction can be an important subject for press releases. Write about improvements to your instruction methods and curriculum. Focus on how you are making a difference in the lives of your students.
Events, particularly those tied to a charity, are very newsworthy. After writing about the details of the event in the opening paragraph, talk about the fun things to be included like kick-a-thons or breaking contests.
Mention the success of previous events. For example, if you had it in a mall, then find out how many people came to the mall that day. These numbers will be important for your press release. Then, cover the importance of the charity Your annual tournaments or Black Belt testing are of great interest to most people. If your tournament is a large one involving out of town participants, it is of particular interest because hotels, restaurants, and other businesses will have you and your event to thank for some good business. Anything that benefits the business community as a whole is newsworthy.
Another thing to promote is authoring a book or writing an article in a national martial arts magazine.
This is not only good for your professional reputation; it is a good sales boost to your school. If you win a national or regional competition, this is another important reason to write a press release.
A visit to your school or a seminar held in your school by a martial arts celebrity is certainly cause for issuing a press release. If you have achieved a new level of celebrity yourself, such as being featured in a national martial arts magazine, issue a press release.
Grand openings are newsworthy events, but have to be handled with special care. In the old days, there was an interest in grand openings because people didn’t know how to run the business. Now, they are so common, they are only newsworthy if tied to a gala affair, or a special event. Then, you issue invitations and invite the media. It should be a newsworthy event, like one of the Power Rangers stopping by, or a parents only meet and greet.
Successful students earning Black Belts is newsworthy. The local media loves stories about local people doing good things. The media understand that a Black Belt is very difficult to get and requires a lot of commitment and determination.
Another type of press release is to tie a topical subject to a solution or event offered by your school. For example, the June third cover story of the U.S. News and World Report’s was “How to Raise a Moral Child.” The article starts with the header “Wimp or Bully.” This article asks if parents are concerned about the escalating use of violence to resolve childhood disputes. If an opportunity like this isn’t free advertising, I don’t know what is. Issuing a press release mentioning the article and answering this question with the benefits of martial arts education is certainly newsworthy.
Human interest stories are always newsworthy. Watch for the opportunities in your students’ lives for things they do that are extraordinary. The happier the story, the better the media like it.
If you have student in an academic competition at a high level, or who is involved in some charity work, issue a press release from your school. Give proper credit to the student and the parents.
Martial arts has two things that it does better than anything else I know; we teach people to overcome obstacles, and we transform their character. How many times have we heard the story of little Johnny showing up at karate school and his parents are complaining that his grades are terrible and they can’t control him? Working with an instructor he respects and tries to emulate as a role model, he earns a Black Belt. The relationships between instructors and students are rich with human interest stories.
I don’t know about you, but I can see the power and influence we have in these kids’ lives and I cherish it. I take pride in our industry and what we have to offer. It is important that we all learn how to articulate what we do and how good it is for society.
Press releases can get students in your school and give martial arts a good name. With more people confusing martial arts education with the MMA, we need to get sophisticated about using the media to build a professional image.
