When you work in PR, figuring out a way to justify your retainer during the slow holiday season can be hard. But there is so much you could be doing to get through the season and gain valuable coverage for clients. Here are four tips for making the best out of what is likely the toughest time of the year to practice PR.

1. Don’t  Plan Any Big Announcements: With rare exceptions, mid-November through the New Year is one of the worst times to make an announcement, issue a release, or generate news. Journalists and publications are preoccupied with content like end-of-year lists and features; many are just out of the office. If you plan to launch a product or make a big news announcement, look ahead to January when reporters are looking to get a leg up on the year and big business shows like CES kick-off. 
2. Pitch And Place Content: With a slow news cycle and attention elsewhere, publications – particularly vertical publications – are starved for content at the end of the year. If you make life easier for these publications, you might not only get a valuable clip for your client but also build a relationship with an editor. Think of “evergreen” content that you can pitch to publications that can be used anytime from the Thanksgiving holiday through Christmas. While little attention is paid to most press releases during the holiday season, there is a huge need for content as magazines and websites build winter issues around year-end lists and features.
3. Look To Other Markets: It’s easy to get myopic but plenty of the world’s population doesn’t celebrate Christmas or Thanksgiving. It’s business as usual in places like Asia and India. See if it’s possible to place stories or contributed content in these parts of the world when the United States and Europe are quiet.
4. Plan and Get Approvals: Clients affected by the Christmas peak (e-commerce, retail, logistics) will be preoccupied with operations for the last two months of the year. This makes it hard to get approval from higher-ups. Plan and get approvals before it gets crazy. One example: we discussed above how press releases and announcements won’t work from late November to early January. Work with your clients to get content written and approved months before. While clients are busy with the holiday, you can focus on placing this content, making them look good, and reminding them why they hired your PR firm.

Looking for help with pr strategy, digital pr, or public relations? MGP public relations is a top PR firm. Get in touch with us at hello@wearemgp.com

When you work in PR, figuring out a way to justify your retainer during the slow holiday season can be hard. But there is so much you could be doing to get through the season and gain valuable coverage for clients. Here are four tips for making the best out of what is likely the toughest time of the year to practice PR.

1. Don’t  Plan Any Big Announcements: With rare exceptions, mid-November through the New Year is one of the worst times to make an announcement, issue a release, or generate news. Journalists and publications are preoccupied with content like end-of-year lists and features; many are just out of the office. If you plan to launch a product or make a big news announcement, look ahead to January when reporters are looking to get a leg up on the year and big business shows like CES kick-off. 
2. Pitch And Place Content: With a slow news cycle and attention elsewhere, publications – particularly vertical publications – are starved for content at the end of the year. If you make life easier for these publications, you might not only get a valuable clip for your client but also build a relationship with an editor. Think of “evergreen” content that you can pitch to publications that can be used anytime from the Thanksgiving holiday through Christmas. While little attention is paid to most press releases during the holiday season, there is a huge need for content as magazines and websites build winter issues around year-end lists and features.
3. Look To Other Markets: It’s easy to get myopic but plenty of the world’s population doesn’t celebrate Christmas or Thanksgiving. It’s business as usual in places like Asia and India. See if it’s possible to place stories or contributed content in these parts of the world when the United States and Europe are quiet.
4. Plan and Get Approvals: Clients affected by the Christmas peak (e-commerce, retail, logistics) will be preoccupied with operations for the last two months of the year. This makes it hard to get approval from higher-ups. Plan and get approvals before it gets crazy. One example: we discussed above how press releases and announcements won’t work from late November to early January. Work with your clients to get content written and approved months before. While clients are busy with the holiday, you can focus on placing this content, making them look good, and reminding them why they hired your PR firm.

Looking for help with pr strategy, digital pr, or public relations? MGP public relations is a top PR firm. Get in touch with us at hello@wearemgp.com