First Quarter: January - March
What the Media's Covering: Early in the year, the media is looking ahead. It's a great time to pitch trend stories, marketplace predictions, previews of things to expect in the year ahead, etc. If a new President is being inaugurated, you'll see lots of "Will the new administration be good for the (textile/film/cattle ranching/Internet/...or any other) industry?" types of pieces. This is a good time to have something provocative, or even controversial, to say about your industry.
The media also likes this time of year to run "get your personal house in order" sorts of pieces. Tax planning, home organizing, weight loss, etc. Anything that's geared toward helping people keep their New Year's resolutions can work here.
Key Dates and Events: Can you come up with a story angle to tie your business into an event that typically generates lots of coverage? Put on your thinking cap -- I bet you can!
Here are some key events during the First Quarter: Super Bowl, NCAA Tournament, Easter, The Academy Awards.
Second Quarter: April - June
What the Media's Covering: An "anything goes" time of year. With no major holidays or huge events, April is a good time to try some of your general stories (business features, new product stuff, etc.) Light, fun stories work here, as a sense of "spring fever" takes hold of newsrooms (journalists are human, you know. They're just as happy winter is over as you are and it's often reflected in the kind of stories they choose to run).
As May rolls around, thoughts turn to summer. Now they're looking for summer vacation pieces, outdoor toys and gadgets, stories about safety (whether automotive or recreational), leisure activities, things to do for kids and so on.
Key Dates and Events: Baseball opening day, tax day (April 15), spring gardening season, Memorial Day, end of school, summer vacation.