Spring is coming full force in the UK, and despite the grey skies over here, there are a lot of people hoping for the flowers to come through and the sun to come out — and so far in March, we’ve had a mix.
We do share a lot of similarities with the US around the holidays and festivities we celebrate during Spring, and now is the perfect time to think about what you are going to do in terms of promotion and the variety of ways you can engage with the media during the early Spring. These are good ways to be timely and topical (especially in a slow news time). Also, remember that quirky and unusual works really well, too, if you suddenly have a PR brain Wave!
This time of year, there are so many festivals and holidays happening. It’s important for business owners and social media managers to tap into the festivities that connect to your business and your audience as best as possible. Which ones could bring media attention and increase your engagement?
I often get asked: why? The answer is simple. All media and news outlets are working to the same calendar you are. They have slow and busy news times, but they don’t want to just share bad news, they also need a degree of balance. They need stories that add light and shade. Even journalists get sick of bad news.
Anything that is quirky or unusual or really visual can be very attractive. For example, I once got a client a half-page spread in a national newspaper simply because we had wonderful pictures of Spring flowers. The only words were the caption. However, the caption mentioned the name of the business, and they got lots of engagement as a result. Don’t always think words.
By engaging with holidays and awareness days and drawing attention to the season, you could be doing the media a favor! You are handing them opportunities on a spring platter. Whether they take it is up to them, but you need to be ready ,and this is where your challenge will be. You will need to work hard to be available and visible when that opportunity to get some attention comes around.
Get Planning
Planning is everything. It is essential for your business promotion to plan your social media, your stories, and how and when you aim to engage with media outlets and let them know in advance what you are doing to mark the seasons.
You need to plan how you are going to build a good rapport with local media or sector press or national media so that when they do have a story idea, they know your name.
If you’ve not done this before, use this Spring to plan for next Spring. Pay attention to which businesses in your community are getting coverage that you are not. What is the story about them? Can you replicate that in a year’s time? Is it around Spring itself?
Or look at what your sector press is doing. Can you be part of that conversation next year? If you are selling Easter eggs or Easter bonnets, are you able to include your products in local or national gift guides (usually in return for a sample or two)?
Spring as a Story Hook
Consider what forms of engagement you can do. If you have a product-based business, no doubt you will have already done this. If you haven’t, well, it’s too late! But not all hope is lost, you can pay attention to the campaign of similar businesses and hone ideas for yourself and your brand next year.
If your business is not product-based, you can produce a special offer and curate social media posts, blogs, and video content all ready for the Spring and Easter period. Think of the ways you are going to engage your audience this Easter and what works for your business.
Use the data from your social media, blogs, and videos to understand the ways your audience engages with you. If you don’t have that information, you need to start somewhere and gather it this year for improvements and more direct messaging next. Don’t waste the opportunity if Spring or Easter really work for you and your brand.
Examples of brands or businesses that could benefit include artisan chocolate makers, successful crafters, jewelry brands, florists, and garden centers…
If you get in early in your community, you could start setting a trend, whether this be on your own social media account, with a local newspaper, or by starting a podcast or a regular YouTube channel that flows with a relevant season or all of the seasons. When I researched my podcast — PR Not BS with Fiona Scott — there were very few podcasts with the term “PR,” most were marketing. Most of my searches brought back PR as meaning Professional Rugby. Fantastic! A great opportunity for little ol’ me to do something which isn’t really common.
If you manage to, get on trends before others do and time your media outreach appropriately. You need to be consistent and effective in your outreach, making sure you are catering to what your audience engages with the most.
When it comes to the media, get in with them before they are booked up. However, don’t do it too early, or they won’t see the relevance. It is about striking while the iron’s hot at the right time. I’d suggest for seasons, get in touch about a month before and for events about two weeks before — that seems to work in the UK.
Do the Tagging
You may know this, but make sure you use relevant hashtags, sounds, and tags on your posts. This is important because it means you can be found. There is a lot of content in the world, and if someone stumbles across your video or blog, they need to know who you are. It’s also effective to try to predict the terms or phrases people might be using.
Essentially, if you are running an event, you need to shout about it! It could be an Easter bunny parade, hosting a St. Patrick’s Day party, celebrating Eid, or Arbor Day. Invite the press. The worst-case scenario is that they don’t turn up, but you must always take pictures and celebrate as if they were.
This means you can then call them later and send them your high-quality pictures and a press release or even just an email with a few explanatory sentences.
If you are doing something for your community or hosting something for charity, your local radio is one of your best media “friends,” and radio often gets forgotten. I have always found that local radio is a key place where community and charity engagement is talked about. So, if you are doing something along that vein later this month or April, tell them! Local and community radio are always looking for stories that will capture local interest. It could be your story next. Commercial radio is less easy to engage with as they tend, in the UK, to just do headlines and want substantial sums per month to advertise your event.
What’s On?
Days that might be of interest to you: St. Patrick’s Day (17th March), National Vietnam War Veterans Day (29th March), Easter (20th April), and Arbor Day (25th April).
There are plenty of days where you can engage with the media. It relies on creativity and timing to create exciting stories around your business and your team. Fore-fronting people and stories is a great way to humanize your business, and connecting with festivities is a great way to show that you value people and community.
Social media and press go hand in hand. Use this time of year to boost your engagement and hook people on social media and in the press to your business. Here’s to hoping Spring 2025 brings blooming engagement with your local media outlets. Get out there, get topical, get local and then rinse, dry, repeat.
