See MyEdcals In Action: Click To Begin Tour Join Our Growing List Of Clients:    [Testimonials] [more]        · Client Login   · About   · Products   · Media Room   · Clients   · FAQ   ·Contact Us     Make Editorial Calendars Work for You Margie Zable Fisher WomenEntrepreneur.com Link to the original article Mon Mar 03 22:49:12 EST 2008 -- 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 youre willing to put in some time and effort. Editorial calendars list the topics that publications will be covering throughout the year. 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. Editorial calendars are readily available in most cases. Magazines develop these calendars so advertisers can tie their ads into topics covered in the publication. Typically, they are included in advertising sales kits. To find a calendar, look in the advertising section of a publication's website. If you cant find one there, contact the publications marketing/sales department and ask that one to be sent to you. Using Editorial Calendars to Gain Publicity Savvy entrepreneurs will find editorial calendars extremely useful when pitching story ideas, so you can tie your story ideas into those topics. 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 will 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 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, notes Hill. So confirm topics by checking with the publications editorial department or using a free trial of the MyEdcals service. 3. Contact the publications editorial staff to better understand what types of story ideas will fit into the topic category. Editorial calendars often contain only topic names, without details on the actual stories the publication intends to publish. To find the appropriate editorial contact, along with phone number and e-mail address, check out the publications website or review 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 youre not sure of the lead time, assume three to six months, though it could be more. Developing a Story Angle Heres how this can work. Lets say in April you look at a business magazine's editorial calendar. After reviewing each months topics, you focus on an October topic: employee issues. Employee retention is a major focus for you, so you start to brainstorm ideas. 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 confirm that this topic is still relevant and that the lead time of the publication is three to six months. You pitch the story; 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.     © 2008 MyEdcals | Contact Us | Privacy Policy