What NOT to Pitch in a Holiday Gift Guide

Hoping to sneak some "unexpected" products into 2023 gift guides? Here's why some things just don't work no matter how hard you try to spin it.

Sep 07, 2023

∙ Paid

Hello Top Tier Consultant Community!

Thanks for allowing us a short break over the last 2 weeks … we’re back in action and focused on gift guide season, as many of you are! And today, we’ll be diving into the topic of what NOT to pitch writers for gift guides.

Many of you attended our Christmas in July: Affiliate Marketing Workshop where we dove into all things getting your clients dialed in on affiliate programs. We also talked a bit about some of the basics of gift guide pitching.

We’ve just announced a follow-up group workshop for this month where we’ll dive deep into the basics of gift guide pitching! More on that below.

And if you missed the Christmas in July Affiliate Marketing Workshop, you can still purchase the video recording + the presentation deck + examples of affiliate pitches that work. Email us at info@toptierconsulting.NET and we’ll get you set up with that!

~Workshop Testimonials That Made Us Blush

“This was one of the best and most informative webinars I've ever watched. There are so many takeaways I will be applying for holiday pitching and beyond! Thank you so much for setting this up.” — Monica McShaffrey, Senior Account Executive, Uproar PR

“We all know the media landscape is shifting, and understanding how affiliate platforms operate is essential to helping our brands land continuous coverage. TTC's 'Christmas in July' workshop is a must-attend for PR professionals wanting to up their affiliate marketing game and get ahead of the ever-so-competitive gift guide season. Jill and Nicole took the time to explain how gift guide assignment works, which offered great insight to help with pitch development, and answered everyone's questions thoughtfully and thoroughly. Sarah's deep dive into affiliate marketing was exceptional, easy to understand, and offered a new perspective I am eager to incorporate into my business strategy and share with my clients."
— Dana Lewis, CEO/Founder Dana Lewis Public Relations

Sign Up for Our September Holiday Gift Guide Workshop for Tips on Perfecting Your Pitches

This workshop is Part 2 of our incredibly popular Christmas in July Affiliate Marketing workshop. Between these 2 workshops, you’ll learn every insider secret you need to have an amazing season of editorial placements galore!

Here’s what you’ll get in this upcoming workshop with Jill & Nicole (yes, Nicole is breaking her mat leave for this one hour only!):

HGG best practices pitching tips from 2 journalists who write holiday gift guides for top-tier publications all season long (and have for years!)
A checklist of everything you should include in your HGG pitches
Advice for how to make YOUR pitch stand out in a writer’s crowded inbox
Tips for getting your SOURCES included in holiday gift guides (great for clients who don’t have products!)
Some examples of HGG pitches we’ve received that hit the mark
Open Q&A session in case we missed anything!

Here’s the info you need to sign up:

Date: Wednesday, Sept 20th

Time: 11 am PT/2 pm EST (this session will last one hour)

Can’t make it live? No worries. We’ll be sending the link out afterwards for people who pay to register so they can watch on their own time.

Rate: $49 Paid TTC Substack Subscribers; $99 Free TTC Subscribers
(you can always upgrade for the discount AND it’ll give you access to our weekly paid posts and monthly Top Tier Talks, too)

Ready to sign up? Send an email to info@toptierconsulting.NET and we’ll collect payment and send you the link for the Zoom session.

Questions about the session? Shoot us an email and we’ll answer them!

Now Onto This Week’s Topic: What NOT to Pitch in a Gift Guide Submission

There is never a time when a writer’s inbox is more full than around holiday gift guide season. During this time of year, we can easily go from getting 400 emails a day to thousands (yes you heard that right!).

When a publicist hears that a writer is working on a gift guide, it seems they will go to great lengths to pitch every and any client to try and make them fit. But is your client really a fit? Many times the answer is no.

As writers, you wouldn’t believe some of the stuff that publicists are hoping to cram into gift guides these days. Sadly, sending something that is clearly out of left field just clogs up a writer’s inbox, makes them equate seeing your name in their inbox with pitches that don’t hit the mark, and ultimately don’t give you much ROI on a pitch as it will likely just get instantly deleted.

Here’s an excerpt from that and one of our tips:

Tell writers about EVERYTHING unique about your clients

This time of the year, we may have 15 lipsticks being pitched to us a day, 12 different types of candles and 10 different yoga mats. What we’re looking for here is REALLY unique gifts. Make sure you really work the things that are unique about your client into your pitch. For instance, someone told us about a coffee company whose K-cups are biodegradable. That’s interesting.

Someone recently pitched a digital picture frame that also allows you to scan children’s art to be showcased on it — that makes them stand out over all the other digital picture frames we're getting pitched. If you have a t-shirt you’re pitching, tell us if it’s organic, the company has a program where they adopt an elephant in your name in Africa, etc. Let us know if the brand is women- or minority-owned. These details set you apart from the competition!

We’re gonna hop into all things NOT to pitch beyond the paywall, as these weekly Substacks are a perk for paid TTC members, but first we will leave you with this one teaser. When it comes to gift guide pitching:

Ask yourself, would my mom, sister, husband, father, grandma, or son want this for Christmas/Hanukkah?

If the answer to that question is no, then you’re probably pitching something that shouldn’t be in a gift guide submission.

That’s a great rule of thumb to start with. But we have a LOT more where that came from!

Not a paid subscriber? Upgrade your membership today to keep reading AND to receive access to our extensive archive of content AND the ability to join our monthly Top Tier Talks where both of us are on a Zoom with you to answer any questions that came up during the month. We also bring in experts to talk about all your burning subjects like affiliate marketing and beyond.
*Note: Our consulting sessions, workshops, Zooms and Substack newsletters are strictly educational. Signing up for anything has no bearing on landing coverage in any of our outlets. Our role is to finetune your approach and tactics so that you can apply these learnings when pitching other journalists.

Top Tier Consulting