When to send a press release in Africa

Non-working days is a huge factor when planning for press release distribution. After all, who wants to send a press release when nobody is around to read it?

As a result, checking the list of holidays in Africa is a logical first step for any PR professional planning a press release distribution in different African countries.

© tashatuvango - za.Fotolia.com

In the month of August for example, there are only seven working days (that's right, only seven!) that doesn't fall on a holiday in one of the 54 African countries.

If you need to distribute a press release in Tanzania in August, don't do it on the 8th as this is Nane Nane Day (Farmers' Day). Do you want to target Angola? Forget about 17 September because it's National Heroes Day. What about Nigeria? 1 October won't be effective because it's Independence Day. The list goes on and on... There are over 57 holidays in Africa in July alone! It's obvious that finding a day without a holiday in Africa can be tricky.

Following a few other simple scheduling tips can also make it easier to have your press release picked up by the media and help boost your ROI:

• Press releases should go out early in the week
  
• If possible, avoid distributing on Fridays
  
• Timing is important - don't send them out too late in the day, rather opt for the morning if you can
  
• Naturally, when planning the timing of your press release, you will have to factor in the various time zones across Africa. There are six in all, from UTC-1 (Cape Verde) to UTC+4 (Seychelles). (See: www.timeanddate.com)
  
• If your press release is not available until the end of the day, you'd be better off waiting patiently until the next morning before distributing it. This will help protect your ROI. Likewise, if your release is not available until Friday afternoon, think about waiting until the following Monday to distribute it.

In order to help PR professionals schedule their press release distributions in Africa, APO has released a Calendar of non-working days in Africa. This can be used to help PR professionals target the right audience on the best days.