Why you need to act now to get on Christmas gift guides

Christmas feels a long way off in September, but when it comes to PR and media relations, the festive season is firmly on the horizon for media outlets currently compiling their gift guides. 

These insightful articles provide readers with inspiration about which presents to buy for loved ones, family members, friends and others close to them. 

The benefits of inclusion in a gift guide includes increased product sales, positive brand awareness via third party endorsement and search engine optimisation (SEO) enhancement through backlinks. 

If you want your products to be considered for this year’s gift guides, you need to act now – read on for some of our top tips. 

What is a gift guide? 

Gift guides feature in-print, and online, across a variety of media outlets, ranging from national newspapers, lifestyle magazines and special interest publications. 

They provide a platform for businesses to showcase their products, or services, in an editorial style which spells out their features to persuade readers to make a purchase. 

Gift guides are often targeted at particular audiences, eg gifts for children, gifts for car enthusiasts, gifts for girlfriends, so it’s important to know which media outlets, and their readership, are appropriate for your business. 

Some gift guides receive commission from the supplying business. However, as an agency, we see huge benefits for our clients in focusing on securing earned media which doesn’t involve this additional budgetary requirement, although we will advise the best course of action if it is a consideration. 

Make gift guides part of your PR and media relations strategy 

Featuring in a gift guide can be an important element in the marketing mix. 

Not only will it provide valuable media exposure, but can be shared by the publication’s social media channels, while also giving opportunity for content creation through detailed descriptions of the product or service that is being promoted. 

Gift guides offer year-round opportunities 

While this blog highlights Christmas, it’s sensible to remember that there are gift guide opportunities throughout the year, for example, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  

If you’re targeting overseas publications, then bear in mind that some dedicated days, such as the previously mentioned Father’s Day, fall on different calendar dates elsewhere around the world. 

Gift guides in action 

In the previous festive season, we successfully secured inclusion for two automotive clients in the UK’s favourite car magazine Auto Express. 

Leading driving experience provider TrackDays.co.uk and car diagnostic experts OBDeleven both showcased their products in the popular ‘Best car-themed Christmas gifts for under £50 2024’ which appeared in-print and online. 

The digital coverage also featured sought-after backlinks from a high domain website, thereby boosting SEO, while appealing to a key demographic. 

This is just one example of numerous gift guide inclusions we’ve obtained using our PR and media relations services for clients over the years. 

Want to make the most of Christmas gift guides with an experienced marketing agency partner? 

Gift guides provide a perfect platform to showcase products or services, and feature in a wide variety of media outlets. 

If your organisation could benefit from our PR and marketing expertise in securing valuable gift guide coverage, then we’d love to hear from you. 

For a free consultation, no obligation chat, please get in touch with us here.