From sightings of mermaids and the Loch Ness monster to spotting Jesus’ face in a piece of toast or even the invasion of killer squirrels and fire fighters rescuing pigeons from rooftops – welcome to Silly Season. That special time of the year where it seems that only the most frivolous and outrageous stories make the news.
Silly Season describes a few months during the summer where news is slow resulting in the emergence of all sorts of weird and wonderful stories. The term was defined by the Brewers dictionary of Phrase and Fable in 1894.
There are always peaks and troughs in news which impacts what we do in PR. A quieter time in the industry usually from around July up until September when schools are out, people retreat to their holiday homes in exotic locations and even parliament shuts down for around six weeks of the summer.
For many it’s a time to kick back relax and enjoy some sunshine but for most of us it’s still business as usual needing to fill our eight hour days and for journalists especially, it’s a bit of a tricky time of year. They still have newspaper pages to fill every single day.
This is where we come in! Where there’s pages to fill and slow news, there are big PR opportunities up for grabs.
Stories that may not have been picked up previously or are a bit too light-hearted, stand a chance now and could end up being the feature of a large spread or even make the front page headlines. Not only does it give us the opportunity to get our clients some more sought after coverage, we may even stand the chance of getting in the good books of a journalist in a sticky spot trying to fill their pages.
Many people enjoy reading light-hearted stories as a break from all the doom and gloom in the world, which would make this time of year the perfect opportunity to gauge some more interest from people for your clients or your own business.
Instead of dreading this quiet period and allowing it to slow you down, take charge and use this time as a way of gaining some more media exposure. In fact planning for this time and keeping this quieter season in mind could put you ahead of the crowd.
A savvy PR will take full advantage of this quiet time by:
· Saving some news – Just like saving up for Christmas as it comes every year, make a note that this quite period is coming up and save something newsworthy. Ensuring it isn’t time sensitive for when journalists are experiencing a news shortage is a clever way of keeping your media exposure flowing.
· Recycle – Get creative and find a new, fresh angle of a news story that wasn’t picked up on previously.
· Take a class or network – Completing a training session to brush up on your skills or attending a networking event are things we can do in this quiet time which we never seem to usually have capacity for.
· Get organised – Use this quiet time to get organised and plan for the busy times ahead when the roads are once again packed with school traffic and clients return from their jollies. Sort out that overflowing pile of paper work on your desk or complete a client background research pack.
Drop us a tweet (link: http://www.twitter.com/wearesuperdream text: @wearesuperdream) and tell us about the silliest story you’ve seen so far this year