| Now that we're at the end of the year, it's a | | | | and of course - the looming tax season. This |
| great time to plan your publicity for 2008. | | | | is a very "anything goes" time of year, so if |
| | | | you weren't able to sell fluff pieces during |
| With all the talk about the immediacy of a | | | | the holidays, you might want to try and |
| story, and the unbelievable speed that news | | | | repitch them now. |
| pieces make it onto TV and radio, we often | | | | |
| forget that for most media, lead times are | | | | April - June |
| crucial. Lead times can vary from a day to | | | | |
| six months depending on the media you're | | | | With major companies releasing their first |
| pitching. Generally women's magazines have | | | | quarter earnings (and hogging all the news |
| the longest lead times, sometimes as much as | | | | space) this could be a tough time to get in. |
| four to six months. | | | | As April 15th looms out there you'll see a |
| | | | lot of stories addressing taxes, saving on |
| If you want to find out what magazine lead | | | | taxes, and everything financial, but once |
| times are, call their advertising department | | | | that date comes and goes the media will start |
| and get a copy of their media kit. This will | | | | looking ahead to summer stories and "spring |
| not only tell you when advertising deadlines | | | | fever" pieces. |
| are (signaling your submission cut-off) but | | | | |
| it will also show you what stories to pitch | | | | July - September |
| when. Generally magazines will try and | | | | |
| coordinate advertising to coincide with their | | | | With summer in full swing we'll see a lot of |
| themes, so if you have a story about the | | | | lighter business stories, celebrity stories, |
| benefits of yoga, you might want to dig | | | | trend pieces, and back to school. This is a |
| through the advertising calendar and see if | | | | fantastic time to pitch since many pr firms |
| they're planning to address it in a future | | | | and media folk are on vacation. They still |
| issue. | | | | need stories but have less people pitching |
| | | | and less folks to field those pitches so if |
| Once you define your publicity targets and | | | | you can get your story in and it needs very |
| get an idea of what to pitch when, you'll | | | | little work you could be a shoe-in to get |
| want to open up a calendar and start circling | | | | some coverage. |
| dates that will matter to your story. Get | | | | |
| creative with this! Often dates are | | | | October - December |
| overlooked because they may seem too small | | | | |
| (like peanut butter and jelly day) but | | | | Many pr people think that this is the |
| everyone's competing for the biggies: | | | | heaviest time of the year, but I tend to |
| Valentine's Day, Christmas, etc. so why not | | | | disagree. I think that the media is hungry |
| add some off-beat holidays to your pitching | | | | for anything related to the holidays, end of |
| calendar and see what happens? If you're | | | | year perspective, getting your life in order, |
| looking for every holiday under the sun | | | | New Year's resolutions (yet again) as well as |
| (including international ones) try | | | | the next year's prediction stories, etc. |
| downloading the Calgoo calendar - this is a | | | | You'll also see a lot of best and worst of |
| free program used to sync Outlook with your | | | | for the prior year. Relationship experts - |
| Google calendar - but an additional benefit | | | | now is your time to shine! With all the |
| of it is that it comes loaded with every | | | | family gatherings there's a big call for |
| imaginable holiday. A great tool to start | | | | getting along, making family relationships |
| your planning session! | | | | better/stronger as well as navigating the |
| | | | busy holiday season and still keeping your |
| Once you define holidays/seasons/events you | | | | sanity. |
| want to pitch your story to, you'll also want | | | | |
| to be cognizant of the appropriate seasons | | | | Keep in mind that while we've only addressed |
| and what the media is looking for. Here's a | | | | media, these rules apply to online media as |
| brief outline of all four seasons as well as | | | | well as events you might do. It's much easier |
| suggested targets/pitches. Keep in mind that | | | | to get someone interested in something |
| breaking news stories and global events may | | | | they're already interested in, and by |
| slant these times considerably, but barring | | | | coordinating your efforts, you'll have a much |
| that, the seasonal angles tend to remain | | | | stronger and focused campaign. Planning your |
| fairly consistent. | | | | media for the upcoming year is one of the |
| | | | best things you can do before the clock |
| January - March | | | | strikes midnight on December 31st. It'll not |
| | | | only keep your campaign fresh but also |
| The first season of the year is pretty quiet. | | | | tightly focused. With a plan in place, you'll |
| The holidays are over and much of the media | | | | be ready to hit the ground running after |
| is looking ahead and looking to summer with | | | | January 1! |
| getting fit and weight loss stories, as well | | | | |
| as New Year's resolutions, getting organized | | | | Wishing you a super-successful New Year! |