TinkerX

If you’re not in retail, avoid mid-November through early-January. You’ll pay very big bucks and be amid tons of clutter. This is most true for print, but also holds true for radio and TV. Radio does get better numbers in this timeframe, though, as people are out-n-about a lot more, in their cars, going shopping, visiting people… listening to the radio. The radio stations know this, and the price will reflect that knowledge.

Skip the summer. At any given time between Memorial Day and Labor Day, 20% of the market is out on vacation. People don’t do b2b shopping while on vacation.

Mid Jan through February is pretty good for b2b. If a company has new money in the budget, it may be looking for a vendor/firm in 1Q.

Likewise, October isn’t bad. You miss the big blow-out of the holidays, the media folks are looking for some early numbers and you can sometimes get a deal, and companies with budget to burn by the end of the year will be looking to do it in 4Q.

I hate March, but it’s a personal thing. You don’t need to listen to me about March.

September is change-up time for many people; ie, kids back in school, etc. Makes people distracted. If you’re in a sports-crazy town, though, September is a great month to be in the sports section of the paper.

If you are looking to do something soon-ish, I’d say try to get your first ad out there by the end of May, then wait, hit it again in October, and then again next February.

BUT! (and ain’t there always a but…) If you can afford it, you should really be in your selected media year-round. If you’re just looking for a good time to front-load a year-long campaign, I stick with my May, October or February call.