Be Careful Using Awareness Month and the Media

Many health charities have a particular month each year that is “awareness month” for their cause. They can be a great opportunity for fund-raising and special events. But, the best time to pitch stories to the media is, simply, when you have great story. Journalists love to receive great story ideas, especially from someone who can supply great facts and figures and connect them with experts for interviews.
 
Too often, I see charitable organizations bombard media outlets during their “awareness month”. They beg and plead with them to do a story about a very broad subject. Subjects that are too broad usually don’t result in a great story that gets reader attention. If you are on the look-out for great stories all year, they probably won’t happen during your “awareness month”.
 
Let’s suppose January is your awareness month. You bombard every media outlet in your area to do a story about your cause that month. Then on February 2 a great story breaks that is connected with your cause. It may be that a famous person is affected by it. It may be a scientific breakthrough. These are called “news-pegs”. They are a great way to link your cause to something to which people are interested and paying attention. They are also a good way to establish your organization as the “go-to” source for information in your area of specialty.
 
However, if you have been bombarding journalists with a weak story idea throughout January, how likely are they to listen to your great story idea on February 2?