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The Four Seasons of Publicity -
Building an All-Year Publicity Machine
by Bill Stoller, Publisher Free Publicity,
The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses
If you’re like most publicity
seekers, you probably think one project at a time.
You’ve got a new product coming out in April, so you send out
a release in
March. You’ve hired a new executive, you’ll put out a
release when she’s on
board, etc.
For hard-core publicity insiders, though, there’s
a rhythm to generating coverage,
based upon the natural ebb and flow of the seasons. Such an approach
can help
you score publicity throughout the year, and will help keep your
eye on the ball
from January through December.
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Essentially, a year long approach consists of two strategies:
- Timing your existing stories (new
product introductions, oddball promotions,
business page features, etc.) to fit the needs of the media during
particular times
of the year.
- Crafting new stories to take advantage
of events, holidays and seasonal
activities.
Before we run through the four seasons
of publicity, a few words about lead time.
In this age of immediacy (only a few seconds separate a Matt Drudge
or a CNN
from writing a story and putting it before millions), it’s
easy to forget that, for
many print publications and TV shows, it can be weeks -- and sometimes
months
-- before a completed story sees the light of day.
The phrase lead time simply refers
to the amount of time needed for a journalist
to complete a story for a particular issue of a magazine or episode
of a TV news
program. For example, a freelancer for an entertainment magazine
may need to
turn in a story on Christmas movies by September 15. That’s
a lead time of three
months, time needed for the editor to review and change the piece,
the issue to
be typeset and printed and distributors to place the issues on newsstands
before
December. Lead time can range from a day (for hard news pieces in
newspapers)
to a few days (newspaper features) to a few weeks (weekly magazines)
to many
months.
The longest leads are the domain of "women’s books" like
Good Housekeeping
and Better Homes & Gardens. These publications often have a lead
time of up to
six months, which means they need information for their Christmas
issues as
early as May!
Here’s a tip to help you discover the lead time of a particular
publication you’re
targeting: call the advertising department of the publication and
request a media
kit. Since advertisers need to know when their ads must be submitted,
each
issue’s lead time is clearly stated in the media kit.
Factor the lead time into your planning
as you look over the following sections.
If you have a great story idea for Rolling Stone’s summer issues,
you need to be
on the ball well before Memorial Day.
The Four Seasons of Publicity:
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/http://www.womensnet.net.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.
Third Quarter: July - September
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.
About The Author:
Bill Stoller, the "Publicity Insider",
has spent two decades as one of America's
top publicists.
Now, through his website, eZine & subscription
newsletter:
Free Publicity: The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses
http://www.PublicityInsider.com/freepub.asp , he's sharing -- for
the very first time
-- his secrets of scoring big publicity.
For free articles, killer publicity tips and much, much more, visit
Bill's exclusive
new site: http://www.publicityInsider.com
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