Timing is Everything

I know that I have stressed and stressed the idea of contacting a reporter as early as possible (although a reporter on deadline is a different situation entirely.

Well, when you're planning an in-depth publicity campaign, this is even more important.

What do I mean by in-depth campaign? Well, let's say you commemorate a holiday every year at about the same time with an annual event.

If this is the case, you should be gearing up to contact the reporter at least eight weeks out. Why?

• You want to make sure that you have an advance (which is a story about your event, in advance)
  
• You want to get the word out and grab more attendees.
• You want to give the reporters time to cover it and plan.

The moral of the story? The rule of them is still: the earlier, the better...and it's always better to be too early than too late.


Bridgette Outten is a journalist and media consultant with The Write Vision Group, Inc.  Her background is in print journalism and she has written hundreds of articles for newspapers and online publications. At The Write Vision Group, Bridgette consults with nonprofits and small businesses about how they can get media attention for their programs and efforts. Meanwhile, she blogs on all things journalism.