One of my employees recently met a home-based business owner who gets continual press attention without using a public relations agency. The man owns and lives in a hotel in central Mexico. His hotel is perfectly nice, and he is a congenial host, but plenty of nearby, comparable hotels don’t get half of the press coverage his place receives.

The tricks he uses to get media attention are giving a great interview and presenting himself as an expert. He has a knack for telling interesting stories, peppering his conversation with quantifiable information and making reporters like him.

In addition, he leverages press mentions to establish himself as an authority on Mexico’s tourism industry and history. His expert status encourages other reporters to call him as a resource for articles.

The hotel owner’s tactics may not be right for your business, but some universal techniques can increase your chance of gaining press coverage. Here are a few to get you started.

-Understand the angle. When possible, find out the story’s angle before speaking with the writer. This will allow you to feed the reporter comments that speak directly to the article’s crux.

For example, a travel agent who knows a story’s angle would offer different comments to a writer covering honeymoon destinations than one writing about business conventions.

-Offer sound bytes. By offering reporters short, memorable quotes, you can almost guarantee your comments won’t get chopped before the article goes to print. For example, my staffer overheard the hotel owner quipping that tourism had blossomed in his town because travelers were tired of “beach, beer and burn.”

A word of advice if a quote appears in print, don’t use it again. Reporters are interested in original material.

-Rehearse. Practice your comments before the interview. This lets you add impact to statements that might otherwise sound drab.

In casual conversation, people tend to add qualifiers words such as probably, often and maybe to sentences, which reduce sentences’ force. Rehearsing will help you rid your conversation of these energy-sappers.

Consider the difference between the statements “we have more return visitors than any other hotel in the area” and “we probably have a lot more people come back than other hotels.”

-Answer more than you’re asked. Even if they’ve done good research, reporters may not know all the right questions to ask. Find opportunities to mention something of interest that the reporter may not know.

This not only helps reporters write better stories, but it also sets you up as an expert on the topic. In addition, you may be able to continue a conversation that otherwise would have ended. The longer a reporter speaks with you, the more likely you will be mentioned in the final piece.

-Offer anecdotes. Paint a picture for journalists by providing real-life examples or a case study of the topic at hand. Readers gravitate toward and identify with real stories, which reporters often include in articles.

For instance, if you’re being interviewed for a piece about stock market surges, work in a story about someone who was able to fulfill a dream thanks to a wise investing strategy.

-Make yourself available. Reinforce to reporters that they can call you for last-minute information, as the article goes to press. If an article has a hole that needs to be filled with a quote or fact, you want to be the first person the writer calls.

Alice Bredin is author of the “Virtual Office Survival Handbook” (John Wiley & Sons) and a nationally syndicated columnist.