Photo: MorganVal / Freepik
For publicists working on the PR campaign of a particular product, there are numerous placement opportunities, including some that aren’t a fit for other sectors, like gift guides. However, even the best products don’t sell themselves. As the publicist, you must do the leg work and implement a specialized strategy to get your client’s product placed in gift guides and the like. Once you get that success, your client could experience significant benefits for their business.
To pitch or not to pitch
The first thing you should do when they receive an inquiry for a gift guide is to determine what, if any, products you are willing and able to send. Although you can pitch your client’s product without sending a free sample, the chances of the journalist including that product — if they even respond to your email — are slim to none. You’re probably wasting your time if you pitch a product knowing that your client isn’t willing to provide free products to journalists for review.
Publicists should also ensure that their pitches are timely. Know that there are a limited number of spots available in gift guides and hundreds or even thousands of products competing to get listed. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of being one of the first responses a journalist receives because once they accept a certain amount of pitches, they can no longer include anything else in their piece.
However, you must understand the editorial calendar of gift guides. Gift guides typically have a very long lead time. If you wait until November to pitch outlets for their holiday gift guide, you will have no success. Outlets often work on their gift guides three to five months before whatever occasion they are timed. If you’re looking for inclusion in a holiday gift guide, start thinking about pitching around July or August; for Mother’s Day, pitch in December or January. Getting into gift guides is all about being ahead of the game.
How to pitch for gift guides
In your pitch email to the journalist, you must say that a free product is involved. More often than not, journalists will not endorse products they cannot test. A product description can give journalists a great idea of your client’s product, but they won’t know what it’s actually like until they hold it. There’s nothing worse for a journalist than including a product in their gift guide that isn’t as advertised because that will disillusion their readers — and your potential customers.
Giving journalists a free product is also a great way to incentivize them to include your product in their gift guide. Although it’s part of the job, journalists like to receive product samples for things they want or need. Their positive experiences with a sample product can also allow them to give an even more enthusiastic, earnest recommendation of the product in their gift guide.
Of course, publicists should select appropriate contacts to pitch your client’s product. You should know your client’s ideal target audience, so pitch to publications and gift guides that align with that strategy. For example, if you’re working with a product in home goods, it’s not a good fit for a gift guide about the best children’s toys for holiday gifts. Don’t waste your time and money pitching and sending products to publications that aren’t relevant.
Following through on your pitches
Once you have pitched a journalist, don’t just wait and hope for the best. You need to follow up at the appropriate intervals. Although it is important not to annoy or pester the journalist, remember that they are likely receiving hundreds of pitches for that gift guide. It’s worth following up because journalists writing gift guides want to hear about exciting products like the one you represent — that’s why they are writing about it in the first place.
However, it isn’t the end of your duties when a journalist accepts a sample product. Keep in mind that providing a product to a journalist costs money, as that is a unit that could have been sold to a paying customer. Follow up with the journalist after you send the product to see what they may think about it, and negotiate a favorable placement for your client in their coverage. Although you can’t make demands of the journalist — doing so will only burn that bridge for future coverage opportunities — you can make kind requests in a negotiation.
Photo: Pineapple_Studio / Freepik
Gift guides are a tremendous opportunity for coverage for any client whose business is based around a product. That being said, pitching for gift guides differs significantly from pitching for regular placements. As a publicist, you must ensure that your pitches are timely, relevant, and deliberate, especially given the risk your client takes by providing a free product to the journalist. However, once that placement is secured, the reward is more than worth the risk.
Guest article contributed by Danielle Gober
Gober is a publicist for Otter Public Relations (PR), a PR agency creating thought leaders of tomorrow.
