PR 101: Timing!

How sad that I opened my email this a.m. and discovered a school is sending me a fundraiser event happening today that someone hopes I will post!

I post hundreds of event items each week, but I ask for four weeks notice before an event. Does my little calendar of events help groups and companies? H**l yes! I know it does because I hear about the results often.

I also get requests from hotel marketers, Internet marketers and media op companies promoting a special event, special price, new amenity and to my pleasure, lots of designer liquors.

If I receive notice at least a month before some special event happens, then the public can take advantage of a deal and at least have a chance to arrange their schedules if interested. But what's surprising is that close to 30% of the event submissions I receive are promoted just days or weeks before the event occurs. And in many cases, they've had the event date planned for half a year or more.

How can something so basic, so free and so effective as the Internet buzz be overlooked? Public relations practioners will have many answers to this one, I am sure. The most common is that volunteers are assigned to promote and market events. At hotels, a person answering phones often is tasked with doing the marketing between calls. In my experience, the majority of these types of workers and promoters do a one time request with an 80% drop-off for a follow-up contact. It's pretty easy to understand why I or anyone else willing to help them would do nothing.

If you are not tapping into this special events market for non-profits, high schools, etc., or working to promote hotels with their events menus, etc., I recommend you begin researching and pitching plans during times when you have no work coming in. It wouldn't be hard to prove your value. Just keep the project simple and within an affordable budget. Why? You can build a client, or build leads from the inside.

This also applies to your search for jobs. If you are making only one attempt at physical contact with a target audience, you aren't doing enough. Treat your job search like your job. Make the contact list. Start up an e-newsletter as a soft sell, and repeat, repeat. Timing isn't everything, but it is a key element in the buy and sell.