In the late 1950s, when asked what would blow his time as Prime Minister of Great Britain off course, Harold Macmillan replied: “events, dear boy, events”.
So, you have your research results back, you’ve drafted a compelling release that will kick off your campaign, and everything is ready to rock. The sell in date is engraved in the calendar – and then something happens. A newsworthy event takes place.
Whether it’s an important death, a politician resigning or even an epoch defining sporting win, the news will be overtaken by the events. Should you release your story into a heaving news storm?
We think not. For print, newspapers only have so many pages, and so with a heavy news agenda, your story, no matter how good, could get spiked.
“Ah-ha,” you may say. “But the internet means there is more space for all sorts of stories.”
And you’d be right – but at the same time, journalists only have a limited time preparing the news – so they’re likely to be working on stories which are bigger.
And if you ‘hit and hope’ and it doesn’t land, you’ll have squandered your chance of hitting the news desks fresh. So when you send it out the following week because it hasn’t made, people will remember it and think it’s old.
So unless your research is incredibly date-dependent – we suggest that you should hold fire, retool the project and wait until there is a clearer space.
Even stories which are designed to go out on a national day, would probably be best shelving and renosing.
There’s no need to panic, just as Harold Macmillan would not, your story can still make headlines. But time is of the essence.
For more information on the best way to get coverage, contact us at UNLEASH@GINGERCOMMS.COM