Is it time for a media calendar?

Publicity is time-consuming. It takes several hours to prepare and print a daily newspaper; a day or more to lay out and print a weekly; and a week or more to compose a monthly magazine. You need to know when in the cycle to present a story idea and press materials, in order to appear in the best edition of the publication. To prepare a media calendar, first find out the "lead time," or amount of advance notice each publication requires. You can get a publishing schedule from the advertising department. This schedule will also provide editorial themes of upcoming issues.

Next, work backward from the date dictated by each target's lead time to prepare a schedule for your own work, which includes assembling a press kit, references to research each article, and finding the editor's contact information.

Finally, write lead-time deadlines on your calendar and set milestones for your own work leading up to them.