By Mark Macias
Most Internet retailers will turn to online ads for their holiday promotions, but PR can in many ways be more cost effective and targeted than any online ad campaign. First off, Internet bots steal much of your ad budgets. (You can read another article I wrote on Internet bots by clicking here), while online news stories typically remain on a news site long after your PR campaign ends.
But here is an even bigger reason why PR can be very effective during the holiday seasons. The journalism bar for news coverage actually drops during the month of December, especially for tech startups searching for publicity.
During my time as an Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York, our news staff always dwindled in December as the staff went on vacation. However, news programming hours remained the same, so there were essentially fewer people doing the same amount of work. In print, this news staff shortage is even more pronounced in December because their ad page volume increases, which means more articles are needed to fill these additional pages. At the same time, their news staff shrinks with journalists taking their end-of-the-year vacations.
So how can you take advantage of the lowered journalism bar this holiday season?
Macias PR has published a holiday PR guidebook that can help business owners and entrepreneurs identify the holiday news peg that can get them on the news. The PR guidebook reveals five PR tactics that can increase your chances for coverage during the holiday season. You can download the free PR guidebook here.
Macias PR was named the 2015 “PR Consultant Firm of the Year – USA” by Finance Monthly. The firm was founded by Mark Macias – a former Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. Macias is a weekly contributor with CNBC.com and author of the communications book, Beat the Press: Your Guide to Managing the Media, which has been featured in the NY Times, Fox Business, NY Post and others. Macias PR has run media campaigns for tech startups, financial groups, service providers, nonprofits and politicians.