Aug
14
blog author

Sanina Kaur

media-coverage

Have you heard of the phase ‘silly season?’ It used to crop up every now and again when I was a journalist and far more frequently during my PR days.

As we’re in silly season, there’s no time like the present to share some insight into what it is and why it can be good when it comes to securing media coverage.

Traditionally, the silly season is the latter part of the summer (round about August time) that’s typified by the emergence of more ‘frivolous’ news stories in the media. It’s the time when children are off school and enjoying their summer holidays and most people tend to disappear off somewhere for their summer break.

It’s also the time when news desks, despite the 24/7 of the media these days, tend to slow down ever so slightly too, as most of their contacts, their teams (in fact, people in general!), go on holiday at some point.

This seasonal lull creates an opportunity. Although many PR professionals say they don’t time their campaigns to hit during silly season and that it can actually be trickier to get sign off from clients and secure coverage during this period.

With less resource and generally less tending to happen during late summer, journalists can sometimes be more receptive to running stories they might not typically run or, with print media, have the space to run.

In my experience, yes it is possible to get coverage during silly season. But like with all good news stories, you need to ensure that what you’re selling in is spot on. It needs to be of relevance to the target audience, timely and newsworthy – overlook or get any of these elements wrong and you’ve got no chance of expanding your coverage reports at all.

Got any questions or want to find out more about media relations or securing media coverage in the print or online media? Complete the contact form or email me at sanina@skcopyco.com. In the meantime, check out my recent article in B2B Marketing about ‘How to think like a journalist.’

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