Make Editorial Calendars Work for You

If you haven't included editorial calendars in your publicity efforts, you're missing a golden opportunity. Editorial calendars offer critical information that can help your PR efforts, as long as you’re willing to put in some time and effort.

According to Eric Hill, executive vice president of sales and marketing for MyEdcals, approximately 7,000 publications in the U.S. and Canada publish editorial calendars. These calendars help advertisers tie their ads into topics covered in the publication. To find a calendar, look in the advertising section of a publication's website. If you can't find one there, contact the publication's marketing/sales department and ask for one to be sent to you.

Savvy entrepreneurs can use editorial calendars when pitching story ideas. Here are some tips to make the most of your pitching:

1. Research the publication. Understand the publication's focus and how your product or service might fit in. If you can tie a pending editorial calendar opportunity to a story idea, you have a far greater chance of receiving coverage. With more than 7,000 publications to choose from, it's best to start with the ones you are the most familiar with.

2. Make sure the calendar topics are still relevant. "More than 50 percent of publications with editorial calendars will change those calendars throughout the year," Hill says. So confirm topics by checking with the publication’s editorial department or using a free trial of the MyEdcals service.

3. Contact the publication's editorial staff to better understand what types of story ideas will fit. Editorial calendars often contain only topics, without details on the actual stories planned. To find the right editorial contact, check the publication’s website or the publication's masthead, where staff members and writers are listed.

4. Offer story ideas with enough lead time. The lead time for publications varies. If you're not sure of the lead time, assume three to six months, though it could be more.

Now that you've found a publication and established which topics will run, it's time to develop a story angle. Let’s say you look at a business magazine's editorial calendar. After reviewing each month's topics, you focus on the topic of employee issues.

You know that your company has used several techniques to retain 90 percent of key employees in an industry that has an average turnover of 60 percent to 70 percent. This, you believe, is something readers would find useful.

You pitch a story on employee retention, the editor or writer you're pitching is intrigued, and you ultimately get coverage.

It takes a bit of work, but you can dramatically increase your chances of getting media coverage by using editorial calendars. The results are worth it.