If you are committed to an ongoing PR campaign, expect to send a minimum of four to six press releases a year, ideally at least one press release a quarter. If you have more newsworthy events, continue to send more releases. For example, a new product or service merits a press release that capitalizes on its most newsworthy elements.
The actual timing of a press release depends on several factors including the seasonality of your product or service. If you are selling an electronic tie rack for Father’s day, you will want to get your message out to the media well in advance, ideally six to eight weeks before the holiday. This window of availability closes one to two weeks before the event, with only bloggers and online media able to cover it at that time.
Regarding day of the week, there is no magic day but there is a mediocre day of the week. Mondays are a day where there are a lot of press releases filling email inboxes and newswire feeds so competition is strongest then. Because of this, reporters are much more likely to just lightly skim your press release headline rather than give it a proper once-over. That being said, newsworthy press releases get picked up Monday through Friday. Weekends are to be avoided, except for breaking news.