121- Public Relations and Good Timing

You’ve written your first press release which contains relevant information.

Your catchy title should capture the attention of journalists and influencers.

But you’re wondering what’s the right timing for sending it out.

This is an excellent question and, as you might suspect, there’s more than one answer.

Monday morning: not unless you’re a major company that’s already well known.

Monday mornings are often very busy for media and influencers, just as they are for you.

It’s back to work after the weekend, and people often empty their email inboxes and prepare the week’s agenda.

Generally speaking, we avoid sending out press releases on Mondays.

But be aware, if your news is connected to the headlines, Monday mornings could be the ideal time.

At NATA PR, we maximize the impact of our press releases by sending them out on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

However, since we have to create weekly action reports for many clients, I ask my employees to prepare those on Thursday and to write press releases that can be sent out first thing Friday.

Again, it all depends on your line of business, but be aware that Fridays are a good time if you need to speak directly to journalists or influencers.

On Friday afternoons some journalists will be busy wrapping up articles for the weekend, but in our business, where we’re often approaching magazines, Friday has always been an excellent day.

We’ve even held events on Fridays.

There is this misconception among public relations professionals who specialize in promoting products, who assert that Fridays are not good days to send out press releases or hold events.

This is wrong, but be careful, because if you decide to invite influencers/journalists to visit a new spa or shop, you’ll have to let them know in advance.

We’re talking several weeks here, to maximize the number of journalists and influencers who show up.

At NATA PR, we have, many times, organized press trips with groups of journalists or influencers on Fridays.

In those cases, we notified the media and influencers weeks ahead of time so they could block off that time in their schedule.

These are often short press trips to visit a new spa or tourist attraction 60-90 minutes away from downtown.

By giving them ample time, we let them schedule their workweek so they can finish up earlier on Friday and join us on the press trip.

There’s no one-size-fits-all guideline here – we’re in a world that’s constantly changing.

Nothing’s stopping you from asking three journalists and three influencers what they think the best times are to be invited to presentations/events.

One thing is for sure: good timing is a key component in the success of our events and our public relations campaigns, and the timing that worked before the pandemic may not be a useful standard anymore.

Make sure you have that time, because if you only have 10 days to send out invitations and confirm who’s coming, there’s a good chance that your media and influencers already have something on their calendar.

INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/nata_pr_school/ FAITES PARLER DE VOUS GRATUITEMENT https://prschool.natapr.com/evergreen_fr GET FEATURED FOR FREE https://prschool.natapr.com/evergreen_en THE FREE NATA PR MODEL https://prschool.natapr.com/Le-Modele-NATA-PR SIGN UP TO OUR LISTS www.natapr.com