As January nears its end after what feels like 1678 days, I’m hoping that you are now settled back into work and have plans in place for how you are going to maximise your PR and marketing for the rest of 2023. To help you with your pitching and in some cases your social media I have put together this guide of what’s going on in Feb and where you should be pitching.
KEY AWARENESS DATES:
LGBT History Month, Raynaud’s Awareness Month, International Boost self-esteem month
29th Jan – 4th February– National storytelling week
9th – National Pizza Day
14th – Valentine’s Day
14th-20th – Random acts of kindness week
20th – National love your pet day
LAST MINUTE PITCHES
Valentine’s Day is a key date for coverage. Lots of the larger publications will have already finalised their pieces but there may be some opportunities on regional titles. Keep an eye on Twitter using the hashtag #journorequest. Make sure you have releases and good images ready to go to make it easy for the journalist. There is also Random Acts of Kindness week if you’re a retail business maybe you have a product that fits the theme or maybe you want to share something kind your business is doing either for the team, the community or an individual.
SHORT LEAD VS LONG LEAD
Understanding the difference between long and short lead media and how to pitch accordingly is a topic I’ve already covered. To keep it succinct, the key to differentiating between the two is in the name! ‘Short Lead’ has a turnaround of about 4-8 weeks from pitching, editing, and publishing whereas ‘Long Lead’ follows a much longer timescale of anywhere from 3 – 6 months.
SHORT LEAD FOCUSES: FEBRUARY
My recommendation for short leads is to focus on Mother’s Day which is on 19th March. There will still be a number of major publications that are accepting submissions for their Mother’s Day gift guides. Think about what your business can offer for Mother’s Day is it a product, an offer e.g. mum’s eat free, breaks away etc. What would appeal to your local audience is their another local business that you could collaborate with to create a product, offer or event.
LONG-LEAD FOCUSES: FEBRUARY
Looking to the future there are lots of things on the horizon. Father’s Day on the 18th June gives you similar opportunities to Mother’s Day. If you have a product or service that can be tailored specifically to father figures then get planning. On another note, June 20th is World Refugee Day, if you actively support refugees in your community for example, you’re a charity or a business that volunteers with refugees or helps in some way then now is the time to let people know about what you are doing.
Rebecca Slater is a PR Consultant with more than 20 years public relations experience. She is based in Staffordshire and provides support to businesses all over the country.
Find out more at www.beckandcallpr.co.uk or email sayhello@beckandcallpr.co.uk