Aviation Marketing “Secret” – The Editorial Calendar

Most people realize by now that great content is the key to great marketing. Writing clear, helpful articles and producing attractive video and images about your product or service is absolutely essential for communicating with potential customers.

To make the most of the content you’re writing or producing anyway, why not schedule writing content (or producing images or video) to coincide with the editorial calendar of the publications your  target market reads? The idea is to join the conversation already taking place about the topics people are already thinking about.

If you have (or develop) relationships with these publications, you may also be able to assist with the articles THEY are writing, provide materials or answer reporters’ questions.  This may net you (or your product or service) a mention in the publication, which is often better than paid advertising!

Of course, if you’re purchasing advertising, you should be coordinating your ads with editorial content to maximize your return on investment.

It’s ideal to plan materials and start making contacts at least four months in advance, so that you have time to focus your materials, do research, and build relationships. Here’s what we recommend:

• Find a topic in the editorial calendar  in which you are an expert or in which your company has some expertise.
• Find out about the publication – read it, get a feel for the style of writing and level of detail
• Contact the publication and find the name of the reporter will be covering the topic you have in mind.
• Find out as much as you can about the reporter (you can use Google for this)
• Contact the reporter and ask if you can be of assistance.  Offer interesting facts about the topic, not a sales pitch for your product or service.

Of course, you can also look up these publications yourself, but I’m sure you have plenty of other things to do with your time this year – like planning and writing great content!

Publications