As the year starts to wind down, many businesses and entrepreneurs are making plans and budgets for the year 2004. Those plans could include anything from setting up goals for new products to preparing marketing, sales and PR/publicity campaigns. When it comes to your publicity plan, WHEN you launch your campaign can be just as important to what and how you launch.
HOLIDAY PUBLICITY OPPORTUNITIES
If your product/business lends itself to increased holiday sales, the next few weeks are a perfect time to get a publicity campaign launched - given the right media targets. Many holiday issues are already been laid out for magazines, and many other media outlets are feverishly seeking information/pitches on innovative stories for the holidays. Some media outlets even reorganize or beef up staff around the holidays to allow for an increase in stories on products. Have your publicist help you take advantage of this increased media opportunity. PLANTING
PUBLICITY SEEDS NOW FOR 1ST QUARTER RESULTS
Some business owners may be of the mindset: "I think we'll wait to launch a publicity campaign until after January 1st." The problem is -- if you wait to launch your publicity campaign until the first of the year hoping for a quick media interest blast in January, you may be in for a quiet month. Keep in mind most media outlets have editorial lead-times of a few weeks to 6 months. Also what some entrepreneurs don't realize is this. Because of the increasing number of publicity pitches media outlets receive, anything you send out is subjected to what I call the "media digestion period" - simply put - that is a period of time (sometimes weeks, sometimes months) that it takes media outlets to:
The potential placement is also directly dependent upon how quickly and efficiently your publicist or PR agency can help the media secure the placement. Media relations is crucial. Your publicist's job is to make the reporter/editor/producer's job as easy and as effortless as possible - which will lead to quicker and more numerous placements for your business.
When it comes to publicity pitches, the facts are: placement is totally up to the discretion of the particular media outlet; and very few media responses are immediate. I have in fact had media outlets respond even before the media release seemed to settle in the fax machine tray. Conversely, I also had one media outlet that responded 17 months after a pitch. (I had to ask the reporter what the YEAR was on the release!) NO placement is guaranteed, but you can definitely increase the odds. Even if your product/business if a dead-on perfect match for a media outlet's editorial profile, you are not guaranteed placement without some hard work and media relations. That's why timing of your publicity pitch is so critical.
Have your publicist get your pitch to the media, allow the editorial staff to digest it a bit, and strategically and professionally "rattle the cage" over the next several weeks to generate as many placements as possible.
What we are trying to do is plant seeds in media outlets' editorial garden so they will bear fruit -- in the form of articles/show placements -- continuously over the next several weeks and months. Like the plant that comes from a seed, publicity placements can also grow roots and lead to other arterial media placements in other media outlets. Given the right tending, the publicity seeds you plant over the next few weeks/months will indeed germinate and you'll reap a wonderful harvest for your business well past the first quarter of next year.
About The Author
Todd Brabender is the President of Spread The News Public Relations, Inc. His business specializes in generating media exposure and publicity for innovative products, businesses, experts and inventions. http://www.spreadthenewspr.com / http://www.spreadthenewspr.com / (785) 842-8909
home sanitizing services Arlington Heights ...The Key to Great PR is PerseveranceBy Paula Gardner of... Read More
?lose the confidence of your key target audiences? discourage them... Read More
Everyone has an opinion on something, and you can leverage... Read More
Being invited to appear on radio and television used to... Read More
Corporations are willing to pay substantial amounts of money to... Read More
How cool is this? You're a business, non-profit or association... Read More
Each of us is exposed to people from other cultures... Read More
Public relations changes minds in the process of delivering what... Read More
If your product or service can be given as a... Read More
Stripped down to its core, publicity is little more than... Read More
You may remember Forrest Gump's Vietnam pal ? the one... Read More
Although media relations is not all there is to PR,... Read More
When outside audiences important to your operation do not understand... Read More
1) Do you NEED solid, consistant media exposure...week after week,... Read More
A musician spends years honing his craft. He writes world-class... Read More
Public relations is a very important part of the marketing... Read More
I don't know about you but I get really frustrated... Read More
The name of the game is doing our part to... Read More
You've probably noticed, if you live on this planet, that... Read More
Although I still believe there is a place for advertising... Read More
Maybe you've seen another financial planner on TV, and thought,... Read More
Non-news professionals often have a hard time understanding why their... Read More
As a business, non-profit or association manager, you have a... Read More
Financial planners, the first thing to know about reporters is... Read More
As a business, non-profit or association manager, you'll know it's... Read More
apartment cleaning near Morton Grove ...Think of a triangle. On the left, imagine the story... Read More
China's media is booming creating opportunities for marketing-savvy businesses. But... Read More
You want to sell your products or services, and that... Read More
For financial planners, getting publicity, in the end, isn't about... Read More
Do editors of newspapers, magazines and online news sites really... Read More
Another way to really become known in your area is... Read More
Your important outside audiences behave in ways that stop you... Read More
You do if you're a business, non-profit or association manager... Read More
Not a single reporter showed up at our news event.... Read More
If you're like most publicity seekers, you probably think oneproject... Read More
You worked hard to get a story on your business... Read More
You know that getting publicity is vital to the health... Read More
OK, as a manager, your goal is to show a... Read More
You are getting a good deal when you accept the... Read More
Managers in the non-profit, association and business worlds need to... Read More
It's the time of year when calendars crowd out the... Read More
Managers ? the business, non-profit and association sort ? really... Read More
A reporter's job is to get the most accurate and... Read More
As an entry level position to PR, I found myself... Read More
Sure, as a manager, you have a talented member of... Read More
Be a ResourceThe media people that are likely to want... Read More
Publicity is obtaining editorial coverage or features for your business.... Read More
And here it is: public relations alters individual perception leading... Read More
As if making sure your company runs smoothly on an... Read More
For some, public relations works well when their news release... Read More
Public Relations |