{"id":142786,"date":"2023-03-27T09:07:52","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T08:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=142786"},"modified":"2023-03-27T09:07:52","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T08:07:52","slug":"which-awareness-days-should-you-take-advantage-of-for-your-pr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/which-awareness-days-should-you-take-advantage-of-for-your-pr\/","title":{"rendered":"Which awareness days should you take advantage of for your PR?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a guest post from Niamh Boylan, junior PR account manager at Hatch<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

There is an industry term that has been known to divide opinion amongst PR and social professionals: awareness days<\/a>. While some view them as a less creative approach to generating media coverage<\/a>, it cannot be denied that awareness days are an incredibly useful newsjacking<\/a> tool for PRs and a great way to leverage seasonality.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not only do they serve a great purpose in drawing attention to important calendar events and charitable causes but awareness days offer an opportunity to give your PR campaigns, stunts or social content a relevant news hook. By jumping onto a topic or event that\u2019s already got some newsworthy attention, it is an effective way of gaining brand exposure, positioning your client as a thought-leader in its specific sector, and driving all-important engagement for your campaign.<\/p>\n

Whether it is food, drink, sport or leisure, there is an awareness day for absolutely everything.<\/p>\n

What 2023 awareness days and events should you make note of<\/h2>\n

We can break down our newsjacking into three key areas: recurring annual holidays, 2023-specific events and hero awareness days. All three of these are easy to plan for, so long as you have the right strategy.<\/p>\n

Annual Holidays<\/h3>\n

First and foremost, we have our recurring holiday dates that everyone should have marked in their calendars. These are usually centred around seasonal celebrations; think Pancake Day, Easter, Mother\u2019s Day, Halloween and Christmas – you know the drill. All of these holidays offer a wealth of opportunities for PRs to create campaigns. While the media is heavily saturated around these occasions, they are simple to prepare for as we know what they are all about and we know when the journalist requests<\/a> start to come through.<\/p>\n

To get ahead of the game, the best thing to do is to start planning your campaigns well in advance and try to think outside of the box to ensure cut through in the highly saturated media landscape. For example, if you have a foodie client, avoid just reworking last year\u2019s lamb roast recipe in the lead up to Easter. Why not work with an acclaimed sommelier to curate the best wine pairings to go with your Easter roast dinner? Or work with an expert tablescaper to share top tips on the best table layout for first-time hosts? There are endless angles that you can explore to really position your brand as a thought-leader on the subject matter.<\/p>\n

Some key 2023 annual holidays for the diary:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Easter Sunday \u2013 9 April
\n\u2022 Father\u2019s Day \u2013 18 June
\n\u2022 Halloween \u2013 31 October
\n\u2022 Bonfire Night \u2013 5 November
\n\u2022 Thanksgiving \u2013 23 November
\n\u2022 Christmas \u2013 25 December<\/p>\n

2023-specific holidays<\/h3>\n

Next up, we have our 2023-specific holidays. As PR professionals, it is our job to predict what key events are going to be most-talked about in the press<\/a>, identifying what is relevant to our clients and how we can take advantage of these occasions for campaigns.<\/p>\n

These events are typically highly-anticipated national events, usually around sporting occasions, big anniversaries or anything to do with the state and the royals. For example, this year marks HRH King Charles III\u2019s Coronation, which we know already will be a huge focus for the press. To get ahead of the curve, think about whether or not your clients\u2019 offerings have something to say about this occasion. Perhaps you represent a sparkling wine brand that can offer some predictions on what the royal family may be drinking to toast the occasion? Or maybe you have a party decor company that can launch a new range of street party decks in honour of the big day? There are many ways in which you can take one big event and royally impress the media\u2026<\/p>\n

Some key 2023-specific holidays for the diary:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 HRH King Charles III\u2019s Coronation, London UK \u2013 6 May
\n\u2022 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final, Liverpool UK \u2013 13 May
\n\u2022 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup, Australia & New Zealand \u2013 20 July-20 August
\n\u2022 Netball World Cup, South Africa, July 28\u20136 August
\n\u2022 Rugby World Cup, France \u2013 8 September\u201328 October
\n\u2022 Ryder Cup 2023, Italy \u2013 29 September\u20131 October
\n\u2022 ICC Men\u2019s Cricket World Cup, India \u2013 October-November<\/p>\n

Awareness Days<\/h3>\n

Finally, we have our classic Awareness Days. These are a little trickier to plan for but we can easily prep content in advance once we have identified the right awareness day for the job. One thing to keep in mind is that there are now endless awareness days, some of them so niche that the media may not have heard of them, never mind the end-consumer. This can make things trickier to land coverage, but on the flipside, the more niche the awareness day, the more opportunity there is for your client to really \u2018own\u2019 the space that they are an expert in.<\/p>\n

Cornish Pasty Week, you say? Time for the Cornish Pasty Co. to launch their latest perfect bake. Zero Waste<\/a> week? Perfect opportunity for your makeup brand to shout about their zero-plastic packaging credentials. Awareness days are one of the best ways to really take a niche corner of an industry and give your press releases<\/a> an added layer of authority and relevance for the press.<\/p>\n

Some awareness days to expect in 2023:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Earth Day \u2013 22 April
\n\u2022 Pride Month \u2013 June
\n\u2022 National BBQ Week \u2013 29 May-4 June
\n\u2022 World Environment Day \u2013 5 June
\n\u2022 Clean Beaches Week \u2013 1-7 July
\n\u2022 Great British Pea Week \u2013 3-9 July
\n\u2022 Breast Cancer Awareness Month \u2013 October
\n\u2022 Black History Month \u2013 October
\n\u2022 Yorkshire Pudding Day \u2013 13 October
\n\u2022 Cheese Toastie Day \u2013 27 October
\n\u2022 World Television Day \u2013 21 November
\n\u2022 Pigs in Blankets Day \u2013 5 December<\/p>\n

Top tip for using awareness days: Be authentic<\/h3>\n

The key to successful newsjacking with awareness days is ensuring that you are always being authentic. Avoid jumping on the bandwagon of an awareness day because it loosely links to your brand. It must be relevant, it must make sense that you are using this particular day as a hook, and above all else, you must be adding something to the conversation. If your brand does not feel authentic, consumers will see right through it and you could be doing more damage than good. Always remember, your authenticity is your USP.<\/p>\n

Good luck with your newsjacking and I\u2019ll reshare this blog on National Awareness Days Day. Or perhaps not…<\/p>\n

For more information on making the most of awareness days throughout the year, check out this previous guest post from Bottle PR’s Jamie Wilson on nailing your PR story to an awareness day<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Want to track how your story is being reported in the press, or looking for an easy way to receive requests from journalists directly? Try Vuelio Media Monitoring<\/a> and the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this guest post, Hatch’s Niamh Boylan shares how awareness days are an incredibly useful newsjacking tool for PRs as well as a great way to leverage seasonality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":142792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7272,3725,3729,7238,1449],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142786"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142786"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142793,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142786\/revisions\/142793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}