What Should You Do to Prepare Press Releases for New Year

by Louise Harris

Editors of magazines and special sections of newspapers have an editorial calendars. On these calendars, the editors decide what types of stories they will publish. For example, in April or May, they might do a home and garden special edition where all the stories are related to home and garden. If you have a unique fertilizer or a product for gardening, this would be a good time to send your release. Industrial publications also have editorial calendars and plan their issues for the whole year. If you are part of the industry, you probably read those magazines and can determine when you should send your press release. Television, radio and podcasts don’t use editorial calendars as much, but they have specials they air that pick specific stories for certain times of the year. Pay attention to these special times. Pitch your story idea to fit in these categories at these times. Do your research on the calendars. Successful public relations pros know to ask editors in January for their calendars.

Magazines work months ahead. Even online magazines work at least a month ahead. So, if you want to have your story considered, you should be sending press releases for February or March this time of year. You might even have to send something for April. Find out what the deadlines are and make sure your public relations strategy takes into account the long time that magazines and online publications work.

Send your press release of something newsworthy any time of year, but some types are better at certain times of year. In January, you could send a release about what you expect for the year. If you are about to launch a new product line, mention that launch in January even if you haven’t finished work on it yet or the launch is many months away. If you expect your year to be better than last financially, announce that in January too. If you have something relating to the environment, send a press release in April, which is the time editors and broadcasters are looking for environmental news. If you have something relating to travel, you could send it in April, May or June as they gear up for summer travel season. If you have a cold and flu remedy, send it in the winter. Editors always want stories about money, job creation, and economic upturn or downturn. They also like ideas about something good happening, a change in an industry or something innovative. Releases about something for schools would work well in August and September. Before the end of the year, figure out what types of releases you plan and send them at the most opportune time.

New product releases should be avoided unless what you have is truly unique or innovative. If it is a healthy product that does something similar to what is on the market, you are probably not going to get picked up by the media. They have seen releases about this many times. The same is true for new services. If they are innovative, disruptive or unique, they will be chosen, but if they are just another company doing what others do, they will usually pass on the idea. You also want to avoid press releases about your marketing strategy or product campaign for the year unless you are planning something editors haven’t seen previously. For the most part, editors don’t care what you are doing unless you have numbers to back your claims.

When planning your public relations strategy, you should consult a press release distribution company to help you decide what you should send. Faselis Growth offers templates for entrepreneurs who are new to public relations. It also has experts that can help you decide what to send and when.

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