The (PR) Summer Slowdown - How to take advantage of it
Photo by Marteen Van den Heuvel on Unsplash
To distribute news, or not to distribute news? That is the question.
Ahhh, summer holidays. In the UK, this means several weeks where many people down-tools, go away for a vacation and/or juggle childcare. Collectively, this shift in our working habits creates a palpable difference in every day business activity. Meetings are delayed, big announcements are put off, decisions are postponed, people cover colleagues’ workloads… all until we shift back to full-speed ahead in September.
So what does this mean for PR activity, and specifically sending out a news release?
Publications are, of course, still running and journalists will still be at their laptops looking for and writing interesting stories (although also likely taking time off and juggling workload to cover teammates’ time away).
In fact, an award-winning journalist we work with told us:
“The summer is definitely quieter - especially during the week of the UK election (which was also July 4th holiday for the US).
“We are still getting a steady stream though, and to be honest, it is great to have the space to actually take a breath to work on some features/bigger pieces without the distraction of breaking news.
“It also allows us to do some pitching ourselves of big brands, and to have lots of time to prep those pitches and work on questions for interviews (without it all being a mad rush).”
This means, that PR coverage is a potential. But should it be considered?
The summer lull likely means that the voices clambering for a journalist’s attention may decrease - with fewer news releases and pitches being made.
However, PR in HR founder and PR expert Kay Phelps recommends that before rushing to release stories to the media in the summer months:
“each news release should be judged on individual merit with an astute understanding of the sector and its different media’s needs. It’s vital to consider the pros and cons of any holiday-time news release”.
The consideration? Is it better to distribute a news release now, or better to wait? If it’s sent now, is there a potentially higher chance of gaining coverage because journalists are getting less pitches? Or will any resulting coverage be seen by a smaller audience and fewer buying decision makers, because they’re away too?
What do we recommend?
If you have news to distribute - information that you couldn’t quite send out before the summer holidays - consider your sector carefully. Do you know any specific journalists that you can talk to about it? What’s the driver here - gaining coverage or getting in front of a larger audience? Would it be better to wait until September? Bear in mind too, that there will be a lot of catch-up news in September, those who have delayed will be chomping at the bit to get their news out.
Take advantage of the time. Use the summer break to focus on PR strategy. Gather PR metrics data and analyse them to make informed decisions on what’s been effective, and what’s not. Can you see why?
Build on your stories with the intention of finely tuning them into fresh, relevant angles. Is there a different angle you can take? In the HR/workplace sector, especially, journalists receive hundreds of news releases or pitches each day, so honing in on something highly relevant that your chosen media hasn’t written about yet, will increase your chances.
Look at the data. Have a look at sector trends - what’s happening with your customers? Does this show an interesting shift in behaviour?
Revisit your journalist contacts. Does your media list need to be refined? Have any editors moved on, or have new ones joined an important publication?
If you’re in the HR sector - specifically a supplier or vendor who sells into the workplace - and aren’t sure where to start, we offer a free PR audit to assess how strong your brand’s presence is by evaluating a range of your content, from social media accounts to media coverage earned.
Holidays will always need navigating. It’s important to think strategically, considering how these 6 weeks impact a market and your overall goals. But also tactically - there are some solid actions that can take place during this time: maintain momentum by focusing efforts on initiatives that help gain impactful coverage, whenever you need to distribute it.