Universal Information Services

If you are a communication practitioner, Halloween should be a date on your calendar to use as a reminder – time to get your end-of-the-year list or lists together for distribution to the media. No, this isn’t like putting up Christmas decorations while people are baking pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. It’s just smart public relations. At Universal Information Services we see large and small PR firms and practitioners take great advantage of this tactic each year.

Media outlets from Seattle to New York, Chicago to Miami love lists. End of the year/start of the year top five or top ten recommendation lists or New Year’s resolutions are all easy to use items. Submitting fun content for reporters and editors, during a time period that can be more than a little slow for news, can generate a great response. And most business or industry areas can come up with common-sense, easy to understand material. Some examples:

• New Year’s resolutions for saving money for a house, for college, for a skiing vacation to Denver , etc. (personal finance and banking);
• Top Ten items to think about when joining a gym, buying fitness equipment, starting an exercise program, etc. (health and wellness);
• Top Five tech tips to help automate online payments, back up your computer, clean out your email in-box, etc. (technology and computing); and
• Start of the year goals for personal growth and development, for volunteering, for finding a better work/life balance, etc. (home life and free time.)

Creating a good, simple release that captures a late December 2013/early January 2014 topic is half the battle. An organization also needs to get that information to broadcast and print outlets via an existing media contact list or by using a service, like Universal’s SmartWire media contact database and release platform, to make sure the material is seen by the right editors and reporters.

Final advice – keep your list short and make it smart and entertaining. A compelling list can end up being picked up by a wire service or easily amplified through social media. Investing a little time and thought in early November may expand your organization’s communications footprint during the holiday season. Not a bad little gift.

We’d love to hear your ideas for some of the lists you’ve done in the past.