While it’s still summertime and back to school is on the horizon, the media is busy planning winter holiday gift guides for everyone on your list. Traditionally, these impactful gift guides are sourced in the summertime up until the first half of December (love last minute gift guides!). This means brands should prepare for their holiday gift guide outreach now.
What makes a brand an easy fit for those holiday gift guides? Here’s a few of our expert tips:
- Make sure it’s actually gift-worthy. It may seem like a no-brainer, but objectively look at a product and decide if it’s truly relevant for a gift guide. Perhaps it’s not a universal fit for every guide, but for a specialized audience it is. Think of your brand’s positioning and target markets, goal media coverage, what sets it apart, the hook for why it’s a must-have gift this season. Example: certified organic, fair trade luxury pajamas – perfect for the discerning consumer looking to lower their carbon footprint without sacrificing comfort or luxe style.
- Editors love brands that give back. Whether it’s a percentage of proceeds donated to an aligned charity or the buy one, give one model, the media champions brands that have a charitable tie-in during the holidays. Ideally this is part of the brand’s overall ethos and year-round mission – perhaps with an added push for the holiday season. Sponsoring a Toys for Tots drive, partnering with a local organization, or sharing more about the charitable impact the brand has made over the years – all of these giving back stories should be a part of your messaging.
- Make sure you have your assets ready to go. While it’s sometimes tricky if the holiday inventory hasn’t arrived just yet, having professional, high resolution imagery (product and lifestyle) ready to send to the media is important. Ideally physical samples as well to send for review and in-house shoots with the media. Be ready to overnight samples or have Magnolia PR handle this necessary task.
- Clearly communicate the necessary facts. Keep it concise – don’t task the media with hunting down the information they need to know in order to cover your brand. This includes: retail pricing, where to buy, important shipping dates/deadlines for the holidays, affiliate network details, and who they can contact for more information and samples.
- Consistently communicate your gift offerings & multiple press-worthy angles. One pitch may land gift guide coverage, but amplify your impact by coming up with several creative pitches to hit other categories. Editors often do $__ and under gift guides, brands that give back, eco-friendly, luxury, holiday party fashion, local/regional, gifts for specific age groups, etc. Tailoring your pitches to reflect the media outlets you’re targeting and the writer’s beat is key.
- Affiliate networks. Virtually all publishers utilize affiliate networks for revenue share now. If you are targeting digital commerce articles, you will need to be on an affiliate network like Awin/ShareASale or Amazon. We can help guide you on this process.
With our proprietary, vetted holiday gift guide media lists ready to go and established media connections from our nearly 2 decades in business, Magnolia Public Relations is here to help with your gift guide media coverage goals and overall PR strategy. Schedule a time to discuss here or email [email protected] to get started.
