A pair of companies sent me communications on the weekend – one a press release, the other a, umm, well, actually I’m not sure what it was.

The point here is that sending press out on a weekend doesn’t make a bunch of sense. The timing is all wrong.

A lot of people – probably most – have devices that allow really quick access to email, so they check multiple times on a Saturday and Sunday. But if you think about your own habits, how often do you sit down, read and respond to weekend emails. You glance at them.

So the idea that sending on a weekend means the press announcement will be fresh and new in the Inbox come Monday morning is flawed. It’s either been glanced at and quite possibly forgotten, or it’s in among a pile of emails that people need to get through quickly to get on with the week ahead.

The same holds for Fridays. Bad time to send a release. People are mentally checking out and there is a chance the release will be ignored or deferred for review until the following week.

You also want to think about time of day and the optimal time to send things. There is no idea time or wonder hour for sending out, but you should pay attention to how and when your target blogs and trade publications send material out, and the patterns of your competitors. If in your sector a lot of stuff moves the first thing in the morning, maybe think about midday so your news is not lost in the gush of announcements at breakfast.

Timing matters, and while weekends represent great times, they reflect bad timing in PR.

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