It’s the day before Thanksgiving which means tomorrow the holidays have “officially” begun. This however, is not true for publicists. The holidays actually started for us back in May when editors at all of our favorite magazines began working on their “Gift Guides”. Since the beginning of November these guides have slowly started to roll out and have been bringing tears of happiness (or sadness depending on how clever editor’s found your pitch “unique gifts for the fill-in-the-blank”) to publicists everywhere.
Since the wrath of the Holiday Gift Guide may seem daunting, I have taken it upon myself to ask some of Konnect Public Relation’s reigning Queens of the “Guide” so you too can be a gift guide guru.
- “The Power of the Follow up” – Kim Le, Winner of the 2013 Konnect Public Relations Holiday Gift Guide Competition and currently in first place for the 2014 title
- “Speak to the editor realistically. Talk about the product as if it is something you want” – Brandy Stone, Winner of 2012 Konnect Public Relations Holiday Gift Guide Competition, 1st Runner-up in the 2013 competition (this is up for debate) and leader of the current 2014 competition
- “Find the gatekeeper of the publication you are pitching and make pals with this person,” Erin O’Brien, Gift Guide Terminator with high honors in the 2013 Konnect Public Relations Holiday Gift Guide Competition and on the winning team of the current 2014 competition
- “Start early. These editors are working on their gift guides before you can even think about swimsuit season. Email, call, send a pigeon with a press kit. Whatever it takes. Take it from me, nothing is worse than being the one person amongst your peers with no gift guide’s booked.” – Caitlin Armstrong, winner of 0 gift guide competitions (do as I say not as I do).
And there you have it! If you want to be a Gift Guide Ninja, follow these 4 easy steps. I invite any other Gift Guide Ninjas to sound off in the comment section for any additional advice!
XO,
Caitlin