Not so silly season for PRs

Silly season is upon us, the time of year where PRs exchange cutting edge news stories for suntans and light hearted stories to lift the national newspapers. Silly season is when clients take holidays, products for next year are being developed and the newspapers have the capacity to include stories which would have otherwise been either condensed, missed or left out altogether. Examples in the news this week include daily pictures of PM Dave being compared to various sea mammals (usually the paunchier variety), being drip fed the Strictly’ line-up. Contestant. By. Contestant, and front page features about, quite frankly, mid/end page stories. Today, the Mirror’s cover story was about a man who has re-married on his and his current wife’s anniversary; current wife in home, new wife assumed him widow. Shocking, yes; front page, no.

In lieu of true editorial, PR’s can achieve results that in other times of the year would be near on impossible. Here are ten useful tips for short-lead stories to sell in, in silly season:

1         Anything vaguely celebrity related, especially where the celebrity is in a bikini

2         Anything about the weather

3         Survey results are always a winner, especially in conjunction with 1, and 2

4         Case studies. “He married my brother” for example –  people like to read these on the beach

5         Travel essentials pieces

6         Anything diet related, or even better, bikini diet related (just don’t say it’s too late)

7         Anything about love and romance. If you represent an online dating company, now is your time

8         Where to stay for less features

9         Back to school features

10     What to do with kids features