As Jean-Louis Gassée once wisely pointed out, advertising may boast about your greatness, but PR earns that recognition from others. And one powerful tool we use to consistently secure national and regional coverage for our clients is ‘awareness days’.
These special days, some serious and others simply for fun, hold incredible potential for integrating into your PR and marketing plans, especially if staying in the news is a vital part of your business strategy. From ‘Talk Like a Pirate Day’ to ‘Catch the Bus Week’, it seems there’s a designated day, week, or month for just about anything you want to champion.
By strategically incorporating awareness days into your overall PR strategy, you can ensure that your clients can benefit from these opportunities. But how can PR professionals effectively leverage these occasions?
What do the press want?
In the world of PR, a story is only valuable if it captures the attention of the publications you’re targeting. The same holds true for leveraging awareness days – it’s crucial to ensure that journalists are actually interested in them before moving forward.
Take the time to narrow down the days you want to focus on, then delve into the press coverage surrounding those days in previous years. This will give you an indication of whether the media finds these occasions compelling and will also reveal which journalists are likely to cover them.
For example, a quick Google search exposes that ‘Blue Monday’ (20th January) is a hot topic for the press, and numerous brands jump on this trend every year. Meanwhile, a search of ‘National Awkward Moments Day’ (18th March) yields far fewer results, suggesting that it is not something the press normally cover.
Of course, this can be a fine balancing act. If everyone jumps on the bandwagon of a certain awareness day, then your story may simply get lost in the noise. Whereas leading the agenda will give you a greater share of voice. It all comes down to ensuring the story itself has the gravitas it needs to have in its own right to gain the column inches. Simply hoping that the mere mention of an awareness day will get you noticed is a strategy destined to fail.
Valuable contributions
Consider how the awareness day relates to your cause and what valuable insights you can offer. You should explore the possibility of conducting relevant studies or leveraging internal data that can enhance the campaign. You could even consider recycling, reusing, and updating existing campaigns on the designated day or week. Don’t hesitate to reframe a campaign to give it a new perspective. This strategy is efficient and effortless, especially if you already know the original piece was successful.
Furthermore, consider whether a spokesperson could be put forward to offer a respected or unique perspective on matters related to the day’s themes, especially if there are any perceived industry implications that a client can comment on.
This could remove the need to create a full-fledged campaign altogether (no press releases, on-site content, or data gathering required). Instead, try tapping into social media, posting about the designated day, or highlighting the spokesperson to comment on third-party posts to convey any pre-agreed key messages with authority.
Engaging concepts
To ensure your ideas are press-worthy, it’s crucial to check if they align with the interests of journalists. Spending weeks or even months planning around a topical awareness day may be futile if it doesn’t result in a compelling story.
There are several effective ways to gauge what journalists are covering. Some of our preferred methods include:
- Following journalists on their professional social media accounts. This will give you insights into the topics they engage with and cover in their stories.
- Regularly checking news sites that are relevant to your target audience. Just a few minutes a day can give you a sense of the current news landscape and the stories being covered.
- Paying attention to the stories that are generating the most engagement on social media and receiving high article views. Many journalists are measured on their interactions, so providing them with a story that is likely to generate interest will be greatly appreciated.
- Utilising Google Trends to identify popular topics that people are searching for at any given time. This free tool from Google is an excellent resource for staying up to date with what’s currently trending.
- Analysing past news stories that have covered similar awareness days. Look for any recurring themes, such as involvement with local primary schools, as these can serve as a starting point for brainstorming ideas for your own campaigns.
When incorporated into your PR strategy, awareness days have the potential to significantly enhance your reputation and increase your presence in the news and social media spheres. This applies to both B2B and B2C businesses alike.
However, it is crucial to align the awareness days with the brand in question. While some occasions may suit various industries, others will be far more specific. As the saying goes, you shouldn’t try to put a ‘square peg in a round hole’.
To effectively utilise awareness days in your campaigns, both data-led and thought-led, as well as in ideation and expert commentary opportunities, it is crucial to maintain an up-to-date awareness calendar.
Assign someone to take ownership of the calendar, sharing three months of dates upfront with the team and keeping an eye out for any new, emerging days that could be used within your client-specific strategies.
Ultimately, like all PR activities, your story needs to be valuable and relevant to the reader. It is wise to focus on what captivates the audience and generates exceptional PR value.
