Promote Your News with Magazine Editorial Calendars

Do you know that many print publications display their editorial calendars online?

This feature is mainly for advertisers who want their ads placed in specific issues, but reading what magazines are planning can be a marketing coup for you.

An editorial calendar details the information, articles, stories, and columns that will appear in each magazine issue. I explain this opportunity in my marketing book, encouraging you to take full advantage of this schedule as part of your own planning.

Here’s an example of how to turn these magazine calendars into your free promotion machine.

Gift Shop Magazine is a popular publication for retail store owners. Its Web site includes an editorial calendar. Anyone who’s interested in promoting their products or services to that industry will:

1. Print a copy of the calendar.
2. Review it for opportunities to send releases to the editorial staff via Email and/or sample products via postal mail before an editorial deadline date.

When I saw Gift Shop Magazine’s calendar earlier this year, it included editorial deadline dates, but the current calendar does not. If this is true for the publications you want to contact, call the magazine and ask an advertising staff member for the dates.

This marketing opportunity has helped me receive publicity in many publications. I do exactly what’s outlined above (in the two-step process), placing editorial deadlines on my calendar, and contacting the magazine’s editor with a news story specific to a forthcoming issue.

You’ll find more information about contacting editors on the press release pages.

Is this a marketing option you’ll add to your calendar?