Why Affiliate Links are Important For Pitching Gift Guides
Consumer outlets like BuzzFeed, Good Housekeeping, Real Simple, NY Magazine’s The Strategist and others find the products to feature in their holiday gift guides during the summer. Holiday gift guides are a major focus for our consumer product clients during the latter half of the year, and our strategy begins as early as June. For this series on holiday gift guide pitching, we’ll share some of our tricks to get products at the top of journalists’ inboxes and explain why affiliate links are necessary if you’re pitching for inclusion in gift guide roundups.
As an independent seller you can sell products through affiliates like Target, Walmart, Nordstrom, and Etsy. Amazon is, of course, the biggest player for affiliate links. If you’ve worked with media before, you may have seen them asking for “major retailer affiliate links” or something similar - and these brands are what they’re referring to. Major retailers have e-commerce affiliate programs that allow people to receive a portion of each sale, and larger media outlets often now have this built into their revenue model.
For smaller, more independent retailers who aren’t partnered with major retailers or on Amazon, Skimlinks is a popular option. You’ll need to partner with an affiliate network like Share a Sale to be “Skimlinks Friendly.”
Regardless of the affiliate option you choose, it’s important to understand that affiliate partnerships are extremely helpful in having your product featured in roundups and major media outlets – and there are some opportunities you could miss out on without an affiliate...
Once you’re affiliate-ready, here are 8 steps to getting featured in holiday gift guides.
Step 1: Select your most “giftable” items to pitch. Choose two or three products that can fit gift angles for Mom, Dad, siblings, your self-care routine, best friend, coworker, significant other, etc. Will your product be ready to ship for the holiday shopping season? Don’t forget that you’ll need to be ready when people start their shopping – mid-October at latest.
Step 2: Get your ducks in a row. Now is the time for background work. You want to be sure your social presence and company website are up to snuff because it’s the first place both journalists and consumers encounter your brand. Your website should align with the aesthetic of the products you’re pitching. This is when you want to double check your website copy for typos, publish updated product photography, get those new headshots in, etc.
Step 3: Research. Take a look at gift guides from the past year to get a sense of trends, price points, roundup angles, and pertinent contacts. Write down a list of outlets you’d like to be featured in.
HOT TIP: This year, it might be helpful to look at gift guides from 2020 and 2019. That way, you’re covering mid-pandemic trends along with more evergreen gifting angles. Use this research in your pitching! Personalize your intros to note that you’ve come across the journalist’s gift guide content and thought your product(s) might pique their interest.
Step 4: Strike while the iron’s hot. For print deadlines July and August are prime time for gift guide pitching, and past that you can still pitch online outlets. Earned digital media functions with a shorter turnaround.
Step 5: Keep it simple. And we mean it. Like in any email pitch, the description paragraph is making its visual impact in about a two-second time frame, so it needs to grab the editor’s attention as efficiently as possible. Streamline your descriptions to 2-3 sentences about what makes your product(s) special. Open with a quick one-sentence brand story, and then list your product details in some digestible variation of the following:
Product Name (hyperlink to website shop)
Price and Affiliate Links
2-3 Sentence Description
Hi-Res Images
Step 6: What gifts do your products work for? The more angles you can fill, the more likely your product is to be featured. Compile a list of gift guide types and write pitches for as many as you can manage. Gift roundups can even inform the subject lines and wording to use in your pitch. And this is where your affiliate partnership will pack the most punch. A common gifting theme is “Best Gifts for ____ on Amazon.” Often, journalists will search their inboxes for products that work for the gift guides they’re working on when it works best for their schedule. You want to be able to fit into as many of these trends as possible, be the most findable pitch.
Examples of evergreen gifting angles:
Great gifts for mom/dad/sister/grandad/baby, etc.
Gifts under $20/$50/$100
Eco-friendly or sustainable gifts
Gifts that give back/gifts that keep on giving
Last-minute gifts
Virtual gifts
Step 7: Do something different! If you’re working on something charitable, include that. If you’re willing to offer a limited edition product or include a gift with purchase, your email might get more clicks.
Step 8: Persist! Following up can feel redundant, but a few targeted follow ups (without being annoying or over the top) can be the best way to get your pitches and your products seen. Restructure the wording of your pitch, refresh with new images, rinse, and repeat.
If this all seems overwhelming or outside your expertise, you could consider working with a PR agency or consultant on a holiday gift list project. Look for agencies or consultants who represent products that complement yours, have a proven track record for placing gift guide items, and have a strategy in mind when it comes to positioning your product!
Need help working on pitching your products for holiday gift guides? Contact us at kristen@sevenhillscommunications.com to get started!