There are no travel restrictions for connective3 as we’re travelling worldwide with our Digital PR campaigns!
With our team going global, our next stop is Greece. Crystal clear waters, ouzo, gyros and… OPA!!
KNOW YOUR NEWSJACKING OPPORTUNITIES
Greece is in a similar position to many other European countries, where ‘awareness days’ aren’t really awareness days but are mostly national and religious holidays. However, here is a selection of the most important dates to keep an eye on throughout the year:
11 DAYS BEFORE ASH MONDAY- TSIKNOPEMPTI [DATE VARIES]
Marking the start of the last weekend of Carnival, before the fasting season of Lent (leading up to Easter), Tsiknopempti is a special day celebrated throughout the nation where Greek’s grill and enjoy their favourite meat dishes while dressing up in carnival costumes. This is before entering the fasting period, where certain foods considered as “luxuries” are forbidden.
There are also spectacular carnival parades with each city hosting their own themed version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI_mnOlHVmA).
If you have a travel client, you could include the different traditions and historic festivals in a guide for the best events to visit.
25TH MARCH – GREEK INDEPENDENCE DAY
The Greek Independence Day is celebrating the declaration of the Independence War against the Ottomans on March 25th, 1821. Apart from a national celebration, this day is also a religious celebration dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary.
As it’s a national bank holiday, there are plenty of opportunities in the travel, food and even retail industry.
ORTHODOX EASTER – DATE VARIES [PASCHA]
Orthodox Easter is a significant tradition in Greece, with traditions being extremely different than the Easter bunny or an Easter egg hunt. Apart from the church traditions, Greeks often travel to rural areas to visit family and celebrate Easter with them.
During this time, there’s also a soar in bookings for summer destinations, which means there are a lot of travel related opportunities to take advantage of.
15th AUGUST – ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY [DEKAPENTAUGOUSTOS]
This is the second biggest religious holiday in Greece, and it’s a national bank holiday. It marks the peak of the summer holiday season.
On the day, all around Greece there are festivals – from the tiniest of churches in the smallest of villages to the largest towns. These festivals are called “panigiria”, which is a feast that takes places at local churches in the morning, and is followed later by good music, food, local wine and lots of dancing,
Possible ideas for taking advantage of this day vary. You could do everything from looking at and ranking the most popular Greek beaches to spend the day at, to checking out the most popular places to have a BBQ. Or you could even figure out how many panigiria are taking place on the day around the country!
OCTOBER-MAY – GREEK FOOTBALL CUP
Greeks love football. And Greek Football Cup is a Greek football competition which starts at the end of October, with the finals taking place on May. There are countless Greek online and print publications focusing on sports news.
This is a great opportunity for a sports, betting or lifestyle client. A campaign around sports – especially if there is regional data available, is guaranteed to gain coverage from high authority publications.
Top tips for digital pr outreach in Greece
Now that you’ve got all of your important Greek dates to plan your campaigns around, how do you actually outreach this to a Greek journalist?
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DON’T BOTHER WITH NAMES/SURNAMES
In English, there’s no declension in surnames and everything is in the nominative case. Greek surnames, on the other hand, have two rules; male surnames are generally in the nominative case. So, you have to use the appropriate declension rule, whereas for female surnames, there’s no need for declension at all.
So, it’s important to send an email with a polite tone. When you’re emailing a journalist, the best practice will be to use ‘kalimera sas’ or ‘kalispera sas’ which is an honorific plural.
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TRANSLATE YOUR CONTENT
Almost all Greeks know how to read and speak English, but as with any non-English speaking country, it’s always preferrable to send a tailored translated press release to journalists. Also, if your content is in English – allow a few more days until you follow up. This gives journalist a chance to translate the content and see if it’s relevant to them.
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CONSIDER THE DIFFERENT TIMETABLES
Timing does matter. When outreaching a campaign, it’s advisable to send the release to the journalist early in the morning so they’ll have time to pitch it to their editor. But remember, Greece is two hours ahead of the UK. So, you’ll need to make sure you’re outreaching at the appropriate time. Oh, and beware of lunchtime period – which is 2 to 3pm.
The future of digital PR in Greece is both uncertain and promising. There are excellent opportunities for PR campaigns, and local agencies are lacking on combining PR and SEO to impact organic rankings. For more information about international PR at c3, head here.
