PR HOOK: FATHER'S DAY

We’ve just seen out Easter, so now I want you to start thinking about Father’s Day.

Do you have a product or service that can be an appealing commodity for Father’s Day? The perfect gift? The perfect service?

Once you’ve established that you’ve got an offering to work with for this PR hook, the next thing is to work out what type of media you’re going to be able to target. Let’s follow the principle of lead times:

  • Long Lead = 3-6 months in advance

  • Short Lead = 2-12 weeks in advance

So, with Father’s Day on the 16th June, we’re just under 2 months out but keep in mind that the June issues of the long leads will come out next month, so really, at this stage, we’re looking to short lead media.

Get your pitch ready, select your imagery and start to pull out the media you want to target. What is the audience of your offering? Magazines like the weekend newspaper supplements often give a broad cross section of gift suggestions, meeting all styles and ages. Perhaps your offering is a little more niche? Find where it will sit, do the preparation and start reaching out towards the end of this month.

Make a couple of calls: ‘Are you working on Father’s Day content?’ ‘Who is the best contact for the Father’s Day gift guide?’ and pitch accordingly.

Timing is everything in PR. Start now and you may be just in time to catch the short lead print media and you may be a little early for online, but that’s no bad thing, just make a note of when they will be tackling Father’s Day content, or try a couple of weeks later.

Make it happen; if you’ve got a great product or service, get out there and tell people about it!

If you want to think about long lead, start planning for Autumn!

Fiona Minett