Running Public Relations Campaigns in California
California, also known as the Golden State, is the most populous state in America with 39.5 million residents! When focusing on campaigns across the state, Cherry Digital are aware of the vast amount of cultures present – it is important that any public relations campaign created is sensitive to the melting pot of cultures within the state. California is often at the forefront of technology, environmentalism and culture, setting trends across the whole of the world on a daily basis. Cherry Digital pride themselves in their ability to keep up to date and connected with the fast paced innovative Californian culture, which is oh so essential to maintaining excellent relationships with the state publications.
Cherry Digital has run many California-specific public relations campaigns – we know the state well and its nuances. In fact, our study in 2019, based on 4 years of data found that the optimum day and time to send a press release in California is 9.34am or 2.12pm on a Thursday.
Cherry Digital put together an online SEO boosting campaign for pet supplies website InnovetPet. The story asked Americans if they would rather become parents or own a pet: interestingly the survey found that 24% of Californians would prefer to have pets over becoming parents! National publications loved the story for InnovetPet and featured it heavily. Publications in California like L.A. Times and Rock 105.3 iHeart also shared their state results!
Cherry Digital put together a campaign for GearHungry which asked American’s how far they’d be willing to travel to see family for Christmas, or whether they would have a virtual Christmas instead. The story included an interactive tool which allowed it’s users to compare the best ways to keep in touch with their friends and family over the festive period. Both the national press loved the campaign and Californian publication Canyon News featured the GearHungry story!
The team ran a fun digital marketing campaign for sweet treats retailer Funky Chunky which received a lot of coverage across the U.S. The eye catching story compared America’s favorite sweet treats by state and included a fun interactive tool which boosted SEO with backlinks to the Funky Chunky website. Californian press loved the story too and shared it with their readers on publications such as Sunny 98.1, Lemon Love and KSON Radio.
We ran an extremely successful local campaign for online security review website SecurityBaron.com, which showed the safest cities in each state. Not only did this story do exceptionally well across the whole of the U.S. but it was also picked up by multiple local publications in each state. In California the story was shared by publications such as Times Daily and Appeal Democrat.
Below is a list of the most influential publications in California:
1: Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is the biggest metropolitan daily newspaper in the US with a daily readership of 1.3 million people (2 million on Sunday). The website has more than 30 million unique monthly visitors and together, the publication has a combined online and print local weekly audience of 4.6 million. The Times has won a Pulitzer Prize for its journalism and covers the Southern California area.
2: San Diego Union-Tribune
This metropolitan daily newspaper is published in San Diego, California and is the city’s largest media company, dating back to 1868. Today, Union-Times publications reach more than 96% of San Diego County household’s every week and SanDiegoUnionTribune.com is the region’s leading website.
3: San Jose Mercury-News
The San Jose Mercury-News is a morning daily newspaper in San Jose, California. It has a daily circulation of over 324,500 and 415,300 on Sunday. It is the only English-language daily newspaper that still covers the Santa Clara Valley and was first published in 1851. It was also the first American newspaper to publish news in three different languages – English, Spanish and Vietnamese.
4: San Francisco Chronicle
The largest newspaper in Northern California and the second largest on the West Coast, the San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 and has received six Pulitzer Prizes for journalistic excellence. It is available in online, print, mobile app and iPad versions and covers local and national issues.
5: Orange County Register
Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, the Orange County Register, is focused on serving Orange County, California with quality news. It is also part of Southern California News Group, which contains 11 daily newspapers and websites in the Southern California region.
6: Fresno Bee
This daily newspaper is the primary news source for the central San Joaquin Valley. It covers six counties and is located in Fresno. The Fresno Bee all publishes four community products, including a bilingual weekly one serving the Latino community of the San Joaquin Valley.
7: Press-Enterprise
The Press-Enterprise is a paid daily newspaper serving the Southern California area. It is located in Riverside, California and covers the area from the Orange County border, to the west, east to the Coachella Valley, north to the San Bernadino Mountains and south to the San Diego County border.
8: San Francisco Examiner
The San Francisco Examiner was first published in 1863 and is owned by San Francisco Media Company. Its website has over 2 million page views per month.
9: Sacramento Bee
This daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California and founded in 1857, is the second largest in the city and the fifth largest in the state of California. It has a circulation if 112,600 daily and 225,343 on a Sunday. It is also the 27th largest paper in the country.
10: East Bay Times
Based in Walnut Creek, California, the East Bay Times is owned by the Bay Area News Group and is a subsidiary of Digital First Media. It serves the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, including Contra Costa and Alameda Counties.
If you are a business based in California, and searching for public relations representation, please get in touch with us here.
