If you are just getting started with PR and about to embark on your first campaign, or pitch your first story to the media, it’s important to understand that timing really is everything.
When it comes to media relations, you are ultimately at the beck and call of the ‘news agenda’. What this means is that what is happening in the external environment and what’s currently making news could have a significant impact on the relevance and potential success of your story idea.
Of course there are media outlets and verticals that are industry specific and not necessarily impacted by ‘news of the day’, but by and large, most mainstream news and media outlets are.
What this means for you when getting ready to engage the media with your exciting story idea is, that you first need to consider the external landscape or current environment and what’s making news on that day. From here you should consider two things:
- Is it appropriate and relevant to be pitching the story now? And / or
- Is there a way that you could leverage what’s currently in the news to make your story stronger?
Let’s first explore appropriateness and relevance.
2020 has so far been a year of unprecedented events and major national and global crisis. Starting out with the bushfire crisis and leading into the coronavirus pandemic, many major brands had to put their PR and media activity on hold or cancel them completely. And there are two reason for this. The first is that these events consumed the news media and there was literally no room for any other stories.The second is that proactive, brand-led campaigns simply weren’t appropriate during such crisis events.
Unfortunately, this is just the nature of PR and an example of why flexibility, landscape mapping and media monitoring is crucial. The best plans need to be agile and be able to respond to the environment around them.
That said, major events do provide opportunities for brands and experts, providing they’re relevant and the PR efforts are executed in the right way. So how do you effectively leverage the news agenda?
Let’s look a COVID-19 and medical professionals for example. It would have been entirely appropriate for any number of allied health professionals to offer their services to the media, helping to educate the public on how to prevent the spread of coronavirus and what people could do to stay safe and well.
Similarly, if you’re a fitness or beauty expert, there would have been ample opportunities to pitch stories around how to stay fit and maintain your at-home beauty regime while in self-isolation.
And these are just a couple of examples, as there was no shortage of seasoned PR pros and established personalities and brands leveraging the opportunity to share timely and relevant content that both the media and consumers wanted.
However, the key to pitching these stories during such times of crisis is to ensure that you’re offering useful information and inspiration to consumers, and not just self-serving plugs to promote your own brand, as the media will see right through this.
So, when you’re next getting ready to pitch your story to the media, be sure to take stock of what’s happening in the external environment and what’s making news.
Consider whether it’s the right time to be pitching the story. If not, just put it on hold until the time feel’s right. If it does feel right, consider whether you can leverage what’s making news in order to improve your chances of media success. Because at the end of the day, timing really is everything in PR.