WHAT STORIES CAN YOU TELL IN OCTOBER?

Planning ahead in all aspects of business has huge benefits - alongside a willingness to flex and be agile if things change or the unexpected just turns up.

This is exactly the same for PR in its general form of 'public relations' - getting ahead and understanding the news agenda (which reflects what's going on in the world) is central to success across all aspects of story-telling, including media outreach. Planning allows a PR partner, and inhouse talent, to make the most of reactive PR opportunities, frankly most are pretty rubbish at being proactive...

Therefore as October dawns I thought I'd share some tips on what to consider as the tenth month of the year comes up. First of all, for media outreach, what's in your diary which might make a media story? Are you running an event? Are you a keynote speaker somewhere? Are you doing something for charity? Do you have pictures - or can take pictures of good quality - to illustrate that? If so, consider that your media story for October and send it out to your local media and perhaps sector media - if they cover stories of that nature. Don't be offended if you are asked to pay for space, many local and hyper local publications (on and offline) are small businesses too. Just make a considered choice.

Then look at your social media and blogs - remember being business like all of the time is not wise. People buy from people and that's particularly true if you run a service-based business. If you batter them constantly with what you can offer - that's being super salesy and you'll get less traction. You will not be interesting enough for people to check in or pay attention to your content.

Remember you are serving, educating and informing in small incremental steps based on the ebb and flow of your year and the year in general.

Once you've done this then consider - what things are happening in October which would make sense for me or my team to be writing about, taking about or pitching the media about? Here are just five themes to consider:

*The Budget - this year's budget on October 30 will be very big news. The first of a new government which has a huge majority and it's already made it very clear that there will be tough times ahead to plug a financial hole and also big changes in line with manifesto pledges. You can comment on this - and it doesn't have to be about your political opinion, though if you do feel strongly adding that in is up to you. This is about 'serving'. This would work well for anyone in the financial, legal or HR sector as impacts will come for your clients. Any small business owner can also comment, although opinion might be a factor here. For example if taxes rise on small businesses, some may agree with that if it's temporary get help the country and some will object to that as they will the SME sector as an easy target for raising money quickly and the sector suffered badly, in general, throughout the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

*Halloween - a predictable event in the annual calendar. Any business selling products for this period should have already done the work and be selling off the back of that work. If you have not done this and you are chasing your tail, use this time to plan next year so that it doesn't happen again and you are making sales as soon as the schools are back at it. This time of year though can be a point to talk about marking Halloween in your office, at home, or not as the case may be. For me, it's not something I mark, I find a lot of its themes frankly gross (trick or treat) and I will talk about why at this time of year. Our opinions can be interesting to many - not to others and that's okay. Some people love Halloween, some hate it. I don't care about it. Halloween will still happen whether I love it or not. So this can the stuff of blogs, social media posts, reels etc.

*Q4 - we're at the start of Q4 in the year and there will probably be stats and surveys released from previous quarters - have you got any data in your business which could make a story at least for a blog? Consider what you do, the data you gather and what does that show about your customer/client base? Could that be a story? Could that inform, serve or entertain? Data can make great stories, especially if it speaks to a particular community or postcode area or region. And the media often love those stories.

*Menopause - I choose this one because it's personal to me as a woman in her 50s and I work with a client where this is integral to her business so we're ahead on this. However it's also a trending topic within society anyway - and sometimes it's beneficial and makes sense to be part of conversations around this. Everyone will be impacted by menopause at some point either individually, within a couple or a family situation - for some the impact will be minimal for others it will be dramatic. For this reason, there's now a movement to ensure companies with many employees take on being menopause aware as part of their wellbeing policies. It's my belief in time it will be part of HR compliance. October 18 is World Menopause Day and the theme this year is HRT. If you think HRT is accessible to all, and easy to get and easy to pay for then frankly you are deluded.

*Humour and laughter - each month there are 'awareness' days and moments which can make you chuckle and are simply a bit of fun. This is something which is often overlooked and underestimated in business. We all need light and shade. Doing something fun and offbeat can also lead to great traction on your social media. It has to make sense and be relevant to you and possibly your business and it's quite powerful to ask questions around it. For example, Oct 5 is Do Something Nice Day - share what someone has done for you are recently and ask others to share their stories. You could do something similar for October 26 which is National Make A Difference Day. For me it has to be October 10, World Handbag Day. I have a ton of handbags as I love them (I bought another one at the weekend) so that's a 'me' thing. I'll probably ask people to share pictures of their favourite handbag or something similar.

If any of this resonates with you but you need a bit of help with planning and coming up with ideas you might find my 2025 Social Media Diary and Planner a useful resource. I create a hard copy edition every year which I give to my retained clients for free. Then I have a small number for sale and the cost throughout October is ￡40 plus P&P (if relevant). The cost rises from November 1 but to be honest I rarely have any left! Anyone can pre-order here - https://scottmedia.uk/product/preorder-your-2025-diary/