Wolf Craft - Gift Guide Wins + TWO BIG CHANGES!

TWO BIG CHANGES!
You're going to notice our emails slow down for the next couple of months, probably only coming out once a month instead of every other week. The reason for this is that Kristen had a baby last week! We're so happy to welcome young Logan to the world!

The other change is highlighted in this week's more-lengthy-than-usual intro:

Starting out 2022 by thinking about the end of 2021. Gift guides, specifically. This is work that my other company, Wolf PR, starts talking about with our clients in May and start doing outreach for in JULY! And because we do this so early, and so regularly our clients don't get jelly of their peers in December because our clients are in the gift guides.

Did that happen to you at all this gift guide season? Did you see any gift guides where your peers or competitors were included, but your work wasn't? Did you get a little... jelly?

If you've been subscribed to our newsletter for a while, you know that we created a course that's all about how to pitch for holiday gift guides. And we're so happy to share some big wins from folks who have taken the course and let us know about their placements. We also wanted to share some tips, because when don't we?

We have an announcement too! Basically the GG course is wildly underpriced. We also noticed it needs a new module. One that when we created the course this module wasn't so important, but now it's critical. The biggest thing missing is more info about how to use affiliate links while pitching for gift guides. We're planning on adding that module for the GG course, updating it by end of April at the latest.

The coolest part about the GG course is that you can really extrapolate the info here, and use it for pitching Mother's Day, Back to School, Valentine's Day, etc. It centers on GG's but there is a wealth of knowledge for general product pitching. The same thing is going to happen with these affiliate links info- good info for gift guides *and* year round pitching.

We hate a hard sell. We hate being sales-y. With that said, here is the info as straightforward as I can be.
The course has lifetime access, if you own it already, you're gonna get an upgrade. (ding ding!)
If you don't own it and you buy it now, you'll get the upgraded module as soon as its completed. If you wait until we're promoting the course in a few months, it's gonna be at a brand new, higher price.
TL;DR- buy now at the cheaper price, get updated affiliate link info as soon as it's made! Wait to buy, you'll pay more for the same info. Here is the link.

And now on to the GG placements from past Holiday Gift Guide Course folks placed themselves. No PR professional needed.

Thread & Whisk in Martha Stewart

Congrats to Thread & Whisk who placed their Baker's Tote in Martha Stewart!

PR Pro Tip
Pay attention to themes

It's no surprise that Martha Stewart had a theme around home bakers. Often publications will center the theme around the gift receiver.

Thread & Whisk in Real Simple

Thread & Whisk knocked it out of the park and managed to land a second gift guide placement, this one in Real Simple. You'll notice this is not a standard gg feature, but a holiday feature around the entertaining season. Pitching for gift guides often also get's you on editor's radar for all the stories they are working on.

PR Pro Tip
Photos, photos, phots

Thread and Wisk's great lifestyle shot may have been the reason their product was not only featured in the round up but also at the top of the article, used for the header.

Carmen Ellis in Goop

Carmen Ellis got a gift guide placement in a big deal publication, GOOP! This time the GOOP team clearly called in one of Carmen's planters for a photoshoot they put together around a theme.

PR Pro Tip
Be ready to send in samples

It's a good idea to call out if you have samples available to send in for photoshoots in your initial pitch email. It opens your work up to more possibilities.

Carmen Ellis in Goop (twice!)

Carmen Ellis getting included in GOOP's editors picks under gifts for mom reminds us to again think about who a product could be for because so many guides are themed around this.

PR Pro Tip
Take styled silhouette shots

Solo-against-white, e-comm photos, white sweeps... this kind of photo has many names and that's probably because it is the most common and used type of product photography. Light styling (in this case the flowers) can really make the image ready for editorial inclusion.

Show, Don't Tell

Inspired by the great press above and want to put pitching holiday gift guides on your 2022 goals, but still unsure how to even get started?

The biggest time of year for consumer spending is the holidays. Many of my retainer clients make the *majority* of their sales in the four weeks before Christmas. What’s interesting is how this trend trickles down into press opportunities. The holidays are also when we secure 3-5x the amount of press placements for our clients that sell products.

Why? Because holiday gift guides have more products per page than any other media features. But, to successfully secure these placements you have to start working on holiday gift guides early. In this post I talk about how and why the timing for pitching for gift guides is so different than all other pitching.

Thanks for giving us some time in your inbox! If you have any questions send us a note, we'll always reply.

Cheers,
Nora & Kirsten

PS - If you liked the newsletter, we’d be so happy if you shared it with others who might find it useful. Anyone new can subscribe here.

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