Summer is often associated with down time—and it’s easy to understand why. After a long winter, who doesn’t want to kick back, relax, and enjoy the sunshine?
I fully support taking a much-deserved vacation or spending more time with family, but I also support continuing your organization’s PR efforts during the summer months.
Although the media does quiet down, news coverage never truly sleeps. Summer is an ideal season to garner attention for your brand, making June through August one of the busiest and best times for PR initiatives!
5 Tips for Grabbing Media Attention this Summer
Ready to start planning for a fun, successful, media-grabbing summer? Here are a few things to think about:
1. Plan ahead. The PR cycle is always several months ahead of the current date. Print publications set their editorial calendars three to six months in advance. That means if you want to be featured in a publication’s summer issue, you’ll likely need to submit your content by April. This same timeline applies to events and activities: if you’re timing a launch event for June, reverse engineer your workflow to include plenty of time for planning and promotion.
2. Target publications that wouldn’t normally cover you. Newspapers and magazines publish special features during the summer, often covering brands or stories that differ from the regular lineup. The media cycle slows down enough that journalists may be more likely to accept a pitch that would get overlooked during the fall or holiday season.
3. Continue promotions as usual. Summer can be an ideal time for promotions, so instead of taking your foot off the gas, keep your campaigns going during the warmer months. People tend to be more receptive when relaxing on the beach, and those higher temps put nearly everyone in a better mood. You may find your audience is more open to engaging with the content in your newsletters, feature callouts, and social media posts.
4. Use the weather to your advantage. With so many people spending time outside, why not stage a promotional activity outdoors? Summer is a great opportunity to leverage Mother Nature. Plant a memorable experience in people’s minds so that come fall or winter, they’re still thinking about your brand.
5. Make good use of any downtime. If your PR efforts do slow down during the summer, that’s no reason to stop moving forward. Maybe your industry’s important trade shows or other big events happen during fall, winter, or spring. Use any extra time to start planning for future campaigns and initiatives that can have big benefits for your brand.
I hope I’ve inspired you to plan a spectacular summer for your brand! Connect with me if you’d like to chat about attention-grabbing opportunities for summer and beyond.
