DIY PR pros and publicists alike know that it's VITAL for your business and your sanity to understand the timeline the outlets you're pitching work on. Case in point: you know how you send a sample in (usually last minute, we know, but nonetheless it was requested and you sent it in) and then you wait a few days and don't hear back and you start to think WHAT is going on? Am I in? Do they have it? When will I hear? The fastest way to get those answers and rest easy is by digging into the world of editorial content creation and figuring out what they do on their end when you send a sample.
Here are some clues:
- planning meetings where they (editors) toss around ideas, share product suggestions, decide which items they will take to photo shoots, lay out possible options of how those shoots will look
- send them away for photo shoots
- put them in their sample closet until they're ready to work on the shoot they had it in mind for
- think they may use it in the future so they hold onto it, etc etc.
The point is, take a deep breath, your sample could be there for 4-6 weeks! Other times they shoot it and it's a quick turn around and back into your hands (usually for short lead like blogs and weekly magazines). The more you get to know the process in general (when they shoot, what part of the month they tend to pull for stories, etc) the more you'll be able to master your outreach, and get a grasp on what is going on with your sample when it leaves your hand and gets into an editors. An easy way to start this process? Rent the September issue, look at editorial calendar deadlines to see when their copy is due back and when they go on newsstands, ASK the people you pitch regularly.
