Gift guides are now big business for digital publications year-round, but if you represent clients with products, Q4 still means high pressure to deliver holiday gift guide coverage.
Nearly every national consumer site out there will be producing gift guides in the coming months. The season starts earlier than those outside the PR world expect. (For instance, pitches for Oprah’s Favorite Things are due by Aug. 7 — FYI!)
This can be tricky for PR, as gift sets and holiday items are often not finalized by late summer and early fall. Your client may not have images or links available for months.
You can still get ahead of the holiday pitching madness, though, by getting items in front of writers and editors before they become bombarded with pitches this fall.
Essentials to include in a product pitch for gift guides:
- Name of product
- What it does / what makes it unique
- Price
- Link to high-res images if available, or an embedded example image if not
- Affiliate program (this is an essential for 2024) and commission rate percentage you’re willing to offer
- Retailers (Amazon and big box stores largely prioritized)
- Offer samples
If you don’t have specific details on what your client will be offering for holiday, be generous in getting journalists familiar with your brand ahead of time.
Here are a few ideas on connecting with journalists ahead of time:
- Send samples of other products that are currently available, no strings attached, so they can fall in love with the brand ahead of your holiday launch.
- Share some background on the founder and their story to create an emotional connection.
- Follow up on a slow but regular cadence, keeping a journalist in the loop without annoying, overwhelming, or asking for coverage right away.
Then, once you have your holiday launch ready, you’ll have already built relationships with journalists through the brand, and you can introduce your client’s stellar gifting item to warm leads.
If this sounds overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be.
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Try us out for a few months as we build up to holiday gift guide season and see how our platform and community can save you hours of time, help you build meaningful relationships with journalists, and drive coverage and sales results for your clients.
