What the Media's Covering: The dog days of summer are when smart publicity seekers really make hay. Folks at PR firms are on vacation, marketing budgets are being conserved for the holidays and reporters are suddenly accessible and open to all sorts of things. Get to work here, with creative, fun angles.
Entertainment-themed pieces do well in the summer, anything with celebrities works, lighter business stories, new products, trend pieces, technology news, back to school education-themed articles, you name it. Reporters are about to get deluged once again come September, so use this window of opportunity wisely.
Key Dates and Events: July 4th, summer movies, summer travel, back to school.
Fourth Quarter: October - December
What the Media's Covering: The busiest time of the media calendar, the Fourth Quarter is when the business media turns serious and the lifestyle media thinks Holidays, Holidays, Holidays. Business angles need to be hard news. Fluffy trend pieces won't cut it, as business editors begin to take stock of the state of the economy and the market. It's a tough time to put out a new product release.
For the non-business media, think Christmas. Christmas travel, Christmas gifts, Christmas cooking, whatever. If you have a product or service that can be given as a holiday gift, get on the stick early.
Nail down lead times for the publications you're targeting, call to find out who's handling the holiday gift review article and get your product in the right person's hands in plenty of time -- along with a pitch letter or release that makes a strong case about how what a novel, unusual or essential gift your product makes. After Christmas, you have a brief window for "Best of the Year," "Worst of the Year" and "Year in Review" pieces. Be creative -- the media loves these things.
Key Dates and Events: Labor Day, World Series, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's Eve.
Bill Stoller, the "Publicity Insider," has spent two decades as one of America's top publicists. Now, through his website, eZine and subscription newsletter, Free Publicity: The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses, he's sharing -- for the very first time -- his secrets of scoring big publicity. For free articles, publicity tips and much more, visit Bill's exclusive new site: Publicity Insider