 IF
YOU WANT TO GET YOUR PRODUCTS INTO GIFT GUIDES
LISTEN TO WHAT MARGIE FISHER OF ZABLE FISHER PR
HAS TO SAY
Fisher is well-known for getting
results. Here is what she has to say about getting
your brand or products into gift guides:
12 Tips to Get Your Products Included
in Gift Guides All Year Long
If yours is a product business, you know that
certain times of the year are absolutely crucial
to your sales.
For many product companies, sales opportunities
increase during the Christmas holiday season,
as well as other gift-giving times -- Valentine’s
Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s
Day, Graduation, Back to School, Halloween, Thanksgiving
and others, depending on your product.
That’s why many businesses rely on a strategic
Public Relations effort to boost sales during
these peak seasons. And one of the most effective
ways to kick up your sales is to get your product
listed in a magazine, newspaper, or TV Holiday
Gift Guide. Why is this so important? Because
these holidays are when readers or viewers are
READY TO BUY and eager to see what a media outlet
recommends.
Another good reason to get your product featured
in Holiday Gift Guides is because media outlets
almost ALWAYS list the ways for readers to order
the product (usually a Web site, telephone number
and/or retail store location), while in many standard
publicity articles, contact information is not
included.
As you might imagine, getting into a Holiday
Gift Guide is not all that easy. There’s
lots of competition from hundreds, sometimes thousands,
of other companies that are also pitching their
products. Here are a dozen tips to help you get
your products covered in Holiday Gift Guides:
1. Send your pitches at the right time.
Timing is critical. Know the deadline for each
Holiday Gift Guide. Magazines, for instance, have
long lead times, sometimes six months or more,
and newspaper and TV have shorter lead times (more
specific information about deadlines is covered
later in this Special Report). And remember, while
sending product samples out too late is obviously
a wasted effort, sending them out too early is
also not a good idea, because the products can
get misplaced.
2. Determine the category of gifts that
each media outlet covers. For example,
Southwest Airlines’ in-flight magazine covered
only technology gifts in their Christmas Holiday
Gift Guide this year, while Alaska Airlines' in-flight
magazine covered upscale items.
3. Pay attention to your packaging and
shipping. I’ve been told many times
by media people that products often arrive broken,
or with unappealing packaging, and the media people
often won't even consider those products for coverage
in the Holiday Gift Guide.
4. Submit Gadgets/Technology if you have
those products. Most business magazines,
men’s magazines, and in-flight publications
cover gadgets (technology) in their Holiday Gift
Guides, as do many consumer magazines. Family
Circle, for instance, covered Family Technology
in their 2005 Christmas Holiday Gift Guide. Family
Circle will also cover tech gifts for Moms, Dads,
and Grads in their Spring/Summer 2006 issues.
U.S. News & World Report is another
publication looking for tech gifts for Mother’s
Day and Father’s Day.
5. Offer inexpensive products. Many
media outlets cover gifts under $50, $25 or even
lower cost stocking stuffers. Good Housekeeping’s
2005 Christmas Holiday Gift Guide, for example,
was titled “Great buys under $50.”
Redbook’s 2005 Christmas Holiday Gift Guide
was titled “40 gifts under $40.”
6. Send in your most colorful products.
Most media outlets are visual, and color looks
better in the pages of a magazine or on TV than
drab colors do. If you flip through magazines
with Holiday Gift Guides, you’ll notice
that most of the items are bright colors. So,
make sure that either your product or your packaging
has eye-catching color to capture their attention.
7. Donate a portion of your product’s
sales or profits to charity. Some media
outlets ONLY cover products that donate to charity.
Not only is it the right thing to do, but it also
increases your chances of getting publicity. Be
sure to mention this in all of your pitches.
8. Offer something that is brand new
to the marketplace. Remember, Gift Guide
Editors are just like other media people -- they
want something new. If you create a new product,
you’ll get the media’s attention.
9. Don’t forget products for pets.
While Prevention Magazine’s December,
2005 issue didn’t have a Gift Guide for
people -- it did have a “Pet Gift Guide”.
Many other Gift Guides, especially in women’s
magazines, include gifts for pets. Remember, there
are millions of pet lovers out there who consider
pets their “family” and want to buy
holiday presents for them. If you have a unique
gift for a pet, you may very well get coverage.
10. Mention any celebrity tie-ins.
Some entertainment media outlets will only cover
your products if celebrities use them. Other media
outlets like to know that celebrities use the
product, because readers and viewers are fascinated
with celebrities, and want to use the same products.
So, if your brother-in-law’s cousin knows
someone famous who’s willing to tout your
product, go for it.
11. Manufacture the product yourself.
It is much easier to get coverage if you make
the product (unless, of course, you’re an
exclusive seller of a product). For example, Real
Simple Magazine’s Beauty and Grooming
Department will do a three-page Gift Guide for
Dads in June. They are looking for men's beauty
and grooming products. If you make anything in
this category (shaving creams, hair and skin care
products, etc.), this would be a great opportunity
for you (Real Simple Holiday Gift Guide products
often get hundreds, even thousands of sales).
12. If you can get a major retailer to
sell your products, include that information in
your pitch. Gift Guide Editors feel more
comfortable recommending products sold by major
retailers.
Remember . . . throughout the year the media
is working on Gift Guides. Use these tips to help
obtain great public relations coverage leading
to sales for your product.
Special Offer for Hat Life Subscribers:
Order the “Do-It-Yourself Public Relations
Kit” by September 15, 2006 and you will
receive a Zable Fisher Public Relations Special
Report, free of charge (a $9 value). After ordering
the Kit at www.zfpr.com,
just e-mail us with the Subject Line of the name
of the Special Report, and we’ll e-mail
it back to you.
P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for our free
newsletter and publicity opportunities at www.zfpr.com.
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