The best press we get is almost never about news our client has happening. It is about the timing of a story that is already hot, and having someone ready to talk about it.
That is the part most business owners have backwards. They wait until they have an announcement, then wonder why nobody covers it.
Your Announcement Is Not the Problem. The Timing Is.
A new CEO, a new service, a new product. That news is real and it matters to your customers, your employees and your industry. What it usually is not is the story a reporter is already working on this week.
Your announcement did not fail because it was weak. It failed because it was not attached to anything already moving.
Reporters are covering what is trending right now. Today’s headline, the thing everyone is already arguing about, the story their newsroom is chasing this morning. They need someone who can explain it in plain language before deadline. The goal is to be that person in the week it happens.
Three Examples From This Year
Here is what that looks like in practice, using three of our clients.
eeCPA, a full-service accounting firm in Scottsdale:
The week the new federal savings accounts for kids went live, parents everywhere had questions and the media needed someone who could answer them. We pitched local Arizona media first: the accounts are live, and we have a CPA who can explain what they are and how they work. It ran on the FOX affiliate in Phoenix. A week later, a Forbes reporter was working on the same topic and our client was an easy yes, because we had already proven he could handle it.
The key: we did not pitch the firm. We pitched the answer to a question people were already asking.
Spectrum Medical Care Center, a Phoenix healthcare company serving the LGBTQ+ community:
It had been one year since the twice-yearly HIV prevention shot came out, and they had owned the local coverage when it launched. We asked if they could pull clinic data from year one. They could. So instead of “it has been a year, do you want to talk to our client,” we said “it has been a year, we have 225 patients receiving treatment and 150 more preparing to start, and we can talk about the outcomes we are seeing.” Spectrum ended up anchoring a national story in Gayety.
The key: the anniversary got us in the door. The data got us the story.
Recovery Centers of America, which runs addiction and mental health treatment centers around the country:
Lollapalooza was coming to Chicago at the end of July, so we offered the CEO of their Chicago area treatment center to local broadcast as the person who can tell 100,000 people a day in Grant Park how to know when a friend has had too much and when a friend needs help. CBS booked a same-day interview that turned into five broadcast hits, FOX 32 followed with four segments, and MSN picked it up and took it national.
The key: we did not pitch a topic. We pitched a date, a place and a segment a producer could already picture.
Nobody in that list announced anything. They just showed up where the audience already was, and it paid: traffic to their sites, visibility in AI answers, and proof of expertise in front of clients, prospects and referral sources.
The Twenty-Minute Exercise That Becomes Your PR Plan
Open a calendar. Write down every date in the next three months when the world will already be talking about something your business touches.
A law changing. A season starting. An event coming to town. A number getting released. Tax deadlines, enrollment, back to school, monsoon, budget season, whatever yours is.
Then, next to each date, write two things: what you can say about it that a reporter could not get from a press release, and what proof you have. Data from your own business is the strongest proof there is, and most companies are sitting on it without realizing it counts.
That list is your PR strategy. Everything else is a press release nobody asked for.
Start Three Weeks Early
Reporters are not working on next month. They are working on this week, and the good ones are lining up sources for the week after. If you wait until the story is everywhere, you are pitching into a story that already has its experts.
Lollapalooza had been on the calendar for a year. That is why we were ready in June and available in July.
The companies that get covered constantly are not more interesting than you. They are just ready three weeks earlier, and they know how to fit their news into the trending story of the moment.
Want help building your calendar for the next quarter? Let’s talk.
