Making a strong pitch can be as easy as keeping tabs on your calendar.

Key dates throughout the year can be a vital resource in making the kind of pitch that will get your client noticed. That doesn’t just mean knowing when the next grand opening is going to be. It means finding strategic ways to tie in your client to events on the calendar.

Everyone knows about the easy pitches, centered around the most popular and recognizable holidays of the year such as Christmas or Halloween. But there are other holidays and events — some growing more popular each year — that can be a strong asset in helping you get your client noticed. Twenty years ago, many people did not know when Black History Month or Earth Day fell on the calendar, but now those are two of the most recognizable events of the year.

Specialized events can also get your client noticed. Anyone representing a health care client should know when the Great American Smokeout is (it’s November 19 this year). If your client is targeting retirees, you might want to remember Grandparents Day (September 13). National Iced Tea Month (it was June this year) can be a good way to spread the word about a food or beverage client. There are hundreds of different sponsored events each year that can provide a vital peg to help get you coverage.

That’s what the media covets: a peg to make a pitch timely. Maybe the grand opening of a new park coincides with National KidsDay (August 2). Maybe your client is holding a timely fundraiser during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October). Pegging your pitches to those kinds of events are helpful. Editors and reporters often hold meetings that start with a question such as "What can we do for a Halloween story?" Steering them toward your client can be easy if you are prepared.

That kind of preparation is vital, especially with media companies facing shrinking resources. The press needs stories that are timely, and are willing to give those stories more prominent play on their pages.

But you have to be prepared. Take a Loved One for a Checkup Day is coming in September. But don’t wait until September 15, the day it happens, to find that out.