If you’ve not heard of the expression silly season, then it’s a phrase to explain how in the summer months exaggerated news stories about frivolous matters are used for want of any real news.

You know the sort of thing. Stories that wouldn’t normally stand a chance of appearing are now making the headlines, from cats being stuck up trees, Victor Meldrew’s face being spotted in the night sky, even an invasion of killer chipmunks found favour in one national newspaper.

However, a lack of any hard news offers a potential goldmine of opportunity for creative, media savvy businesses. After all, that column space, both print and on-line, or airtime (both radio and TV) still needs filling.

The even better news is that it’s possible to plan ahead with your communications activity because you know when the silly season is as, rather unsurprisingly, summer falls the same time every year!

So have a think about what will push the trivial, that really doesn’t deserve to be in the spotlight, off the news agenda and instead make way for a proper story related to your company that will put a smile on the face of a receptive editor or programme planner.

What do you know that’s coming up that could be used for a press release. It could be:

• New business win
• Business anniversary
• Staff anniversary
• Charity involvement
• Office move
• Business expansion

You don’t even need to reinvent the wheel to stand a great chance of achieving decent media coverage. A well-written, interesting, concise and factually correct press release is a good place to start.

If you need some guidance, then please don’t hesitate to contact Red Marlin, as we’ll be more than happy to see how we can help.