Now we’re into July you may have started to hear PR folk, lifestyle bloggers and journalists talking about #ChristmasinJuly.
What?!?!? Christmas in July??
What on earth does that mean? (and don’t worry this doesn’t mean you need to start your Christmas shopping already!)
It is basically a phenomena in traditional media coverage, particularly in the glossy consumer magazines ( Vogue, Delicious, Red, Good Housekeeping etc.)
These magazines are published monthly and have lead-times of up to six months. This means the editorial is finalised a couple of months before publication, and they hit the shelves up to a month before their publication date. So they work on the Christmas editions in July, ready to be published in November, hence #ChristmasinJuly.
Christmas is such a major opportunity for small business owners, who are wanting to take control of building their own PR relationships and putting themselves out there in a really considered and organised way.
Finding a way to get your festive ranges in front of key journalists ahead of their lead-times is key to success. It will allow you to reach hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people and also gives you a huge rubber stamp of approval because your product has been picked to be featured.
Sounds pretty great right?
How does it work?
Although we say Christmas in July – it is more of a 6 month run up to Christmas, starting in July.
Not all media has the same lead times.
The longest are the consumer magazines at a 6 month lead time, and then the national newspaper supplements working at about 3 months out. Then you have bloggers and influencers who may still be looking for ideas in October/November time. So lots of opportunities ahead!
Traditionally in PR, we would take the product to the journalist, literally, by hosting press shows in the buildings of major magazine publishers in London. The chance for attendees to interact and engage with the brand is vital, so the press shows need to be creative to bring the brand to life and maximise chances of coverage. Of course, #ChristmasinJuly during Covid times is likely to be different as press shows move online but the premise is still the same.
My own experience of these shows includes working on the Christmas press show for Quality Street. With Quality Street’s strapline ‘what’s your favourite’; a cocktail flairer produced Quality Street themed cocktails and journalists were invited to bet toffee pennies on their favourite on a roulette table. Profiles created by a chocolate therapist engaged journalists in seeing what their favourite said about them. And, of course, there were lots of samples to try!
However, these PR shows are not the only way to get coverage into gift guides, and you don’t even need a PR agency to do it for you!
YOU can put yourself forward for it by pitching to the publications with your product information and related high quality images, so they can decide whether or not to feature you.
General rule of thumb for gift guides?
If you don’t ask – you don’t get!
How can you prepare to pitch?
In order for you to put yourself forward for these gift guides you have to get organised and plan ahead!
- Decide NOW (in July), what products you want to have in your range at Christmas or perhaps which are your strongest products you want to put forward to promote.
- Create your promotional material, so when it comes to sending your pitch out, you can do immediately.
All you need is:
- Your email pitch
- 1 page information on your product
- Images all captioned and sized
Once you have these prepared you will just need to adapt them slightly for the different types of publications or requests from journalists.
How will it transform your business?
The obvious transformation is the benefits to your credibility and visibility if you get featured.
But what other benefits can be seen?
A. Preparing for gift guides really focuses your mind on what it is that you are going to be promoting for Christmas. PR is all about getting the right information to the right person at the right time, and preparing for Christmas gift guides is ALL about that. There is a definite need for your product information at that point of time to hit those deadlines so you can be featured in October/November. You become focused, your business is focused and you are entering the Summer knowing you have that piece of the puzzle covered. Additional benefits of this is reducing overwhelm, increasing your confidence, being organised and feeling wonderful!
B. It will also transform your planning for your promotions throughout the year. Yes you need to prepare for Christmas now, but then that is closely followed by Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day….. and the same process applies to all of these events. Once you learn how to plan for 6 months in advance for Christmas, you can repeat on a rolling basis to plan for all the other calendar events that are relevant to you and your business.
These gift guides are absolutely vital for product based businesses and preparing for them will give you such clarity and confidence to pitch on repeat, meaning more sales and success is on horizon for you!
….and if you want to see what’s likely to be hot this Christmas, make sure you check out #ChristmasinJuly on Instagram and Twitter for a sneak peek…..
📣 And if you want to work with me 1:1 on this, sign up for my 2-hour Cheerleader PR Strategy Sessions 📣.
Book now here.
Here’s where you can catch the replay of my Instagram live session covering all of the above!
