KeeferPR News - October 8, 2009 As a result of the economic downturn many businesses are cutting marketing budgets. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, now is the time to put more effort into promoting your business. Not only will this keep you in front of your audience, it will ensure that, when the economy turns around and your competition ramps up its marketing efforts, your organization will be ahead of the game. No budget to initiate a public relations campaign? Here are a few tips to facilitate pitching and placing news, articles and story ideas. · Whenever possible, capitalize on current events. This makes your input timely and more relevant. · Ascertain the audience. A technology publication will not be interested in a story idea about fixing credit. · Become familiar with the outlet. If it is a print publication look at the type of articles, columns and features published. The same goes for bloggers. If it is a radio or television show, check if they use guests and what is the focus. Do they cover books, real estate, personal finance, consumer topics? · Look at the editorial calendar. Almost all print media have editorial calendars which are listings of topics they plan to cover throughout the year. These can generally be found on the web site on the advertisement or editorial pages. Following editorial calendars makes pitching easier. Lead Times. Find out what the lead time is for a publication so that you know how far in advance the editorial department works on a story. Lead times are typically three to five months in advance for a monthly publication; one to three weeks for a weekly publication and daily for dailies. | 
