We love calendar listings, and we thought you should know why.

POSTED BY stephanie ON June 15, 2010

Photo credit: Cris Watk

Think of the last event you attended. How did you find out about it? Was it in a community bulletin, online calendar, or newspaper? Maybe via social media or word-of-mouth? More than likely, you came across the info from an important and often overlooked form of publicity – calendar listings.

PR by the Book learned very quickly how vital calendar listings are for both our clients and their events. After several successful events and book tours this spring, we wanted to make sure our clients understand the value of having their events appear in an online or print media calendar.

So, what are calendar listings, and why are they worth your time?

Whether it’s a highlight in an online social events guide or entertainment listing found in a newspaper or magazine, they serve the same purpose: to inform and get the word out to the public about a particular event and/or person hosting the event.

Calendar listings…

1. 1. Improve client exposure through the power of the Internet. Calendar listings create an online forum of information. Let’s say we post a listing on one network site, such as LA.com. The listing is picked up and automatically posted to different websites within the network. Sometimes, it’s as many as 10. (See LA.com Network here.) Along with the event listing, we always make sure to directly link to the client’s website and/or additional info, so it’s easier for others to discover your social media accounts, blog, etc.

1. 2. Are simple and easy to read. The general public tends to stick to what is short and sweet. People are likely to skim through event calendars rather than read a few paragraphs about an upcoming event.

1. 3. Bring people to events. Not only do listings inform the public of your name, book, or product; they’ve proven to help the event turnout. Select online listings persuade the public to attend the event. With these listings, you have the freedom to make your event stand out and reach your target audience. This is event publicity at its best.

How are you better reaching your target audience via online calendars?

As I said earlier, online information spreads like a wildfire. It’s open to (mostly) everyone. Tags and keywords are necessary and used often to guide event goers in the right direction. You don’t have to rely on someone turning the newspaper pages to the entertainment section to find out what is going on this weekend. Anyone can find events at the click of a button, and the best part is – it’s usually free! Here are some of our favorites:

• Austin360.com
• AustinChronicle.com
• Kut.org
• Do512.com
• Chron.com
• Artshound.com
• Eventful.com
• Booktour.com
• Librarything.com (Listings also appear on the Local Books iPhone app!)

Who’s reading calendar listings, anyway?

You’ve got all types of audiences. Within the print sector, you may have more traditional readers, whereas online, you may have the tech-savvy, Gen Y audience. Book lovers read literary calendars. Health freaks read about health-related events. Business gurus may read the business calendar for networking events. Art and music lovers will likely read over the general arts & entertainment or nightlife calendar. Whatever it is your book or event is promoting, there are usually a few calendars to choose from within each outlet (especially newspapers).

If you ever have a question, let us know – we won’t hesitate to answer. Heck, we’ll even dedicate another blog post to it.

- Ashlee Putney, PR by the Book

Tags: book pr, book publicity, calendar listings, literary pr practices

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