While some of us may like to think that “company x announces” should be enough to get positive media coverage, whether or not you get ink has a lot to do with timing. Take the recent Back to the Future Day, for example, where Toyota used the day to give a first peek at its new hydrogen-powered car, and the White House, Microsoft and others also tried to utilize the unique day to make a splash.
So without further ado, here’s a list in no particular order other than being alphabetical, of 10 days you can build public relations campaigns around.
April Fools’ Day
Everybody likes stunts and if you have one, go for it. Just make sure the joke isn’t an inside one. Here’s TechCrunch’s roundup of the best April Fools’ gags of 2015 in case it sparks any ideas.
Back to School
Is your company about to launch that perfect product that makes a student’s life easier? Make sure you get in front of editors well in advance of the end of August so you can get on their list of must buy back to school products.
Christmas and Chanukah
Aside from getting your product in the holiday gift guides, maybe you have predictions about how money will be spent during the holiday season or maybe you have a recap of how it was spent? If you are going to release results, just make sure you have them out as early as possible. For example, with Cyber M
Father’s Day
Maybe you’re a video conferencing provider and you want to provide a means for military dads to not just see their kids on a screen on Father’s Day, but also connect with them in person? Think about arranging a trip for their child to wherever their parent is being stationed.
Graduation Season… aka start of summer travel
Graduation time of year also means getaways. Is there a tie in to summer travel that might be interesting for the media? For example, a Voxus client got coverage in the Los Angeles Times about how to avoid summer travel scams.
Halloween
Think about any sort of scary story that puts your organization in a positive light. Maybe it’s that time your office got flooded? Or maybe you have some scary statistics tied to your industry?
Mother’s Day
Are you a retailer who can offer up a mommy makeover? Or what if you’re a florist who can host a competition to build the world’s largest bouquet?
New Year
Got predictions for what to look out for in your industry in the next year? For example, here’s an article Vice posted based on data a Voxus client provided. If you do have interesting predictions, it’s best to issue them a couple months before the end of the year. That’s because you want to beat others to the punch who may be planning on issuing similar predictions or get that information to reporters before they already write their prediction articles.
Valentine’s Day
Do you have any statistics you can build around a “loving theme?” If so, you might have met your perfect match with Valentine’s Day. Here’s an example of what one client did to coincide with Valentine’s Day that got attention in Mashable.
Veterans Day
This could potentially be a sensitive one. But if you’re a company looking to hire veterans, maybe make an announcement about this initiative to tie in to Veterans Day. Or think about profiling a veteran who’s now an employee at your company.