What do natural disasters, Covid-19 and celebrity deaths have to do with your PR campaign? A lot more than you think.
Your business is about to launch an exciting new product.
Everything’s ready to go; you’ve even engaged a stellar PR agency like Wine Glass Media to develop a media strategy, so you can reach as many people as possible.
Forty-eight hours before you pull the trigger, a series of bushfires spark on the outskirts of Brisbane.
Gusty winds and hot conditions make the situation worse, and the now out-of-control blazes start to threaten properties and lives.
It’s a terrible event, but it hasn’t directly impacted you or your business, so you have no reason to assume the PR campaign will still go ahead as planned.
Right? Wrong.
You receive a call from your PR agency, who suggests putting the launch on ice for a week.
You think to yourself: “What on earth does a bushfire have to do with the media pitching or your new product?”
The simple answer is: space.
News outlets only have so many holes they can fill.
Even in this day and age of digital media, there are only so many stories that fit on a homepage (which is where all the action is).
The size of a newspaper depends on the amount of advertising on a given day.
Nightly news bulletins either go for 30 or 60 minutes, including ads, sport and weather.
Top-of-the-hour radio broadcasts go for two or three minutes, tops.
Large events like natural disasters, pandemics (Covid-19 anyone?) and celebrity deaths will always dominate the news.
More often than not, there will be several stories devoted to the story of the day, meaning a smaller allocation of space for others.
That’s why it’s important to be flexible when it comes to the timing of media pitches.
Yes, it can be frustrating.
But the difference between securing media coverage or not can make a huge impact on your business’ bottom line.
You can’t pick a quiet news day, but you can take active steps to ensure your story isn’t going to get lost.
Want to know more about how to put your business in front of your customers?
Contact us for a free consultation.