Press Release: What day and what time are perfect?

When is the best time to send out a PR report? Which days of the week and times are considered good, which are bad?

Why do you do PR?

What do you want to achieve with public relations work? What is the point of a press release? You want to grab attention, for example for your startup or for a new product. First, journalists should pick up your report and write something about it.

Once the journalists and then bloggers, influencers, and similar media workers have processed and distributed your press release, the ‘message’ should reach your actual target group: your potential customers.

In order for this information chain to work, you have to think of the first link in particular: the journalists and media professionals. So there is a certain timing to consider.

Which days are bad for a press release?

Let’s get to the no-gos first. On these days and periods of time, the probability is very high that your press release will receive little or no attention:

• at weekends
• on public holidays
• between the holidays
• evening and night
• Friday afternoon
• Monday morning
• parallel to trade fairs and major events

Why? In the evenings and at night, very few editorial offices are occupied and hardly any bloggers are active, and neither are they on weekends or on public holidays. For example, if you send a message on Saturday evening, it will end up in the mailbox – but that’s it.

The press representative reads your mail on Monday or Tuesday and thinks: “Oh, this PR report is from Saturday, so it is out of date. Extinguish!”

Read also: What is Social Media Marketing? (SMM)

Send press release: Why are some days of the week unsuitable?

Although Friday afternoon is still part of regular working hours, it is still unsuitable for sending press releases. At this point, many journalists, bloggers, and influencers are mostly stressed because they have a lot of things to do before the weekend. Or they are mentally already in the weekend, so inattentive.

Monday morning is also a bad time for your PR work. Why? Because journalists and media professionals often just skim through their mailboxes at the start of the new week. If there are a lot of emails here, they are quickly sorted out. Press releases end up in the memory under M for I-have-to-read-sometime or in the folder P for trash.

Press release: Which days and periods should you avoid?

Trade fairs and major events are turbulent times for specialist journalists. You get a lot of input, including in the form of press releases. Many entrances tend to get lost in the crowd. Or the media professionals cherrypick and concentrate only on communications from large or well-known companies.

Start-ups or companies with products that are not fully in the limelight have to experience this painfully. Although they also publish suitable innovations for the IAA, Gamescom, Book Fair, or Photokina, their reports fizzle out in the huge flood of new announcements.

What are the best days and times to send the press release?

Although the days during the week seem equivalent, there are still periods here that are considered more suitable for sending a press release. As mentioned before, on a Friday afternoon or Monday morning, the chances are high that your press release will be ignored or deleted.

So you should concentrate on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The best time to do this is in the morning (between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.), midday, and early afternoon (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.). In addition, some PR managers swear by Friday morning.

The reason for this sounds plausible: If an online journalist picks up a report on Friday morning and brings news about it around noon or afternoon, it often remains in the visible area of ​​the website for the entire weekend. This gives the message more visibility. That’s exactly what you want to achieve.

Is there an ideal time to send a press release?

In theory, yes. In practice, however, you cannot lump everything and everyone together. As always, you have to take a close look at the target group, i.e. the journalists and editorial offices contacted. There are some differences here:

• Online works differently than print. While there is a fast frequency on the Internet, it is different with weekly newspapers or monthly magazines.
• Note the editorial deadline, especially in the print area.
• Online media are not always online media! While large news sites are more or less occupied around the clock, the situation is very different with blogs.
• Even within an industry, the editorial offices and individual journalists work differently. Some have a certain rhythm after they work. That’s why you should have a direct line to the most important contacts.

Other important tips for sending out your press release

Since many PR specialists focus on the (theoretically) best times for press mailing, it can make sense to go against the trend. That means:

• It is usually less busy between the holidays. So maybe you could attract more attention with a PR report during this exact period.
• The same applies to the summer slump: when little happens, journalists are grateful for any topic.
• After a trade fair, there is often a downturn in the news because most companies have run out of powder. Use this to make your appearance.