If your company has an event coming up or a new product launching soon, you’re probably starting to plan for the media blitz needed to promote it. And if you’re thinking about distributing a branded journalism article for newspaper and media websites to promote, you may be wondering about the best time to develop and release your content marketing coverage.
At Brandpoint, we’ve worked closely with the newspaper industry to give our clients the best guidance on timing for content marketing articles. In fact, many of us are former newspaper writers, editors and managers of publications large and small – so we know firsthand how important timing is to target special-section publishing dates at different times of the year. Here are some general rules to go by when scheduling your campaign to highlight your content marketing promotions.
Creation takes time
Content marketing is more than just distributing a lifestyle article. It takes time to brainstorm, create, find art and gain approval for an article – lots of time for some businesses. If you have a release date you’re targeting, be sure to give your team at least a week or up to a month to get everything else accomplished.
Placement takes time
A lot of content marketing distribution is still based in the print media, and print media takes time to get an article published. If you want to promote a specific event, be sure to give editors plenty of time to see your article, put it on their print schedule and get it printed in time for the event. If you don’t have at least a week available between the distribution date and your event, you might want to consider a different type of promotion, such as a press release.
Know your calendar
Every winter we get asked at Brandpoint the best time to start running holiday-related articles. Would you believe the answer is end of October? The reason is that newspapers start to plan and lay out their holiday inserts at this time. They’re selling ads and discovering space they need to fill with copy. Those inserts usually appear in the newspapers right around Thanksgiving. If your company has a product you want to promote for the December shopping rush, you need to start thinking about your content marketing Oct. 1 at the latest. Apply this thought process to any seasonal or holiday event year-round to make certain your article gets the best possible distribution and placement.
Understand your distribution service
Some syndication companies distribute promotions for a week, some for a month and others for a year. At Brandpoint, we promote your article in print and to online publishers for four months. As such, if you have an article promoting spring cleaning, you probably want to get it posted in February at the latest, instead of waiting until May. With a February posting, your article will finish its distribution in June, coinciding perfectly with the calendar end of spring.
Be sure to check out the calendar Brandpoint creates each year to promote articles for editors in need of content on a given topic. Contact us to write your articles and help you with photo searching, too, so you can get your event or product promoted.
