Ethics Check: 7 Do's and Don'ts for Sending Journalists a Holiday Thank You Gift
Plus: RSVP now for our Nov Top Tier Talk AND get 25% off an annual subscription
Happy Wednesday, TTC subscribers!
Last week, we discussed why sending an email attachment may harm your coverage chances and what to do instead, and we had a lot of great response to that topic on social media.
This week, we’re going to dive into a super timely topic based on a question we get a lot this time of year: What are the rules and best practices around sending holiday gifts and thank-yous to writers?
Before we dive in, a few items of interest:
1. Pick our brains in our November Top Tier Talk
Our upcoming Top Tier Talk will be held on Wednesday, November 29 at 10 A.M. PT/ 1 P.M. ET.
This will be an open forum where you can ask us anything. We can discuss pitching, the state of the industry, seasonal gift guides, sources/experts, best practices, writer pet peeves, AI, interviews, products, deadlines, affiliate programs and more!
2. Save 25% on an annual subscription and set yourself up for success in 2024
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Full access to our weekly newsletters
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Discounts on all our most popular group workshops
Upgrade to an annual plan today and save 25% — instead of $99/year, it’ll only be $74! It’s our way of saying thank you during a month of gratitude :)
3. Book a Private session with Jill and Nicole — we’ve reworked our pricing so it’s more affordable than ever before to have a 1:1 meeting with us!
We have a few slots open for the rest of the year … so if you’re interested in more direct access to us, book one of our private consulting sessions:
Want to workshop a few pitches with two top-tier writers? Try our Pitch Perfecting session.
Looking to build deeper relationships with journalists? You’ll love our Become a Journalist’s BFF session.
Have a slew of questions you want answers to? Book an Ask Us Anything session.
Are you putting together a press trip and need help with the details? We offer a Press Trip Invites and Itineraries session.
Need fresh ideas for sending mailers to writers? Book our Press Package session.
Scheduling an in-person or virtual media event? We can help, with our Hosting the Perfect Virtual/In-Person Media Event session.
Have other ideas you need help brainstorming or creating an action plan for? We offer Custom sessions, too!
4. Holiday Gift Guide Pitching Resource Center
Pitching products for gift guides this year? Pitching sources for stories around the holidays? Here are some tools we highly recommend:
The ULTIMATE INSIDER’S GUIDE to Holiday Gift Guide Pitching Workshop (one full hour of best practices, sample subject lines, a checklist of what to include in your pitch, advice for how to stand out from the crowd, tips for getting your sources included, examples of real HGG pitches that worked and answers to your most pressing questions)
Christmas in July Zoom Q&A with Affiliate Marketing Expert Sarah Karger (this will answer ALL your affiliate-related HGG questions!)
A Real-Life Example of an HGG Product Pitch Format that Most Writers Will Delete (hint: Don’t do this!)
What NOT to Pitch in a Holiday Gift Guide (seriously, save these pitches for another time)
A Handy-Dandy Checklist of 10 Things to Double-Check Before Sending Your Pitch (don’t send another pitch before making sure you’ve included everything a journalist needs!)
Ok, now back to this week’s topic
We LOVE that publicists want to acknowledge the holidays and thank the writers who helped make their year even better — but there’s a very fine ethical line you’ll need to make sure you don’t accidentally cross. The last thing you would ever want with your thoughtful gesture and good intentions is to put a writer in an awkward position — either with their employer and a perceived ethical violation or a perceived indication that this gift is IN EXCHANGE for something that’s already happened or that you want to happen in the future.
And please keep in mind that sending a gift is by no means necessary. Writers do not expect gifts, nor do they favor publicists who send them. We are simply addressing this topic because publicists often reach out expressing that they want to send thank-you gifts to journalists and asking our opinions on what to send.
We’re going to help you navigate all of this below.