Pitching For Christmas Gift Guides

Yep, it’s that time again. But unlike the familiar echo of Mariah Carey and Wham!, Christmas gift guides are not always what they seem.

What was once purely about inspiring readers – while sometimes, too, pleasing advertisers – now also represents complex SEO and e-commerce strategy. No doubt this makes navigating them increasingly harder for brands (of which there are more and more competing for our attention). Sigh.

But it also spells opportunity. Gift guides now tend to be regularly updated on digital platforms (in order to rank / remain relevant / optimise revenue), multiplying the chances of inclusion within them.

And from my point of view – via beauty at Harper’s Bazaar – this doesn’t only mean refreshed gift guide content between now and the 24^th of December; it’s an on-going situation. I’ve mentioned this before, but for any newbies to this newsletter, I’ll reiterate: beauty gifting has grown from being a seasonal novelty (remember when it was always socks for dads and ‘smellies’ for mums?) to a year-round proposition. We now gift beauty for Mother’s and Father’s Day, during religious festivals and at baby showers and hen parties, not to mention birthdays. In line, the ‘ultimate beauty gifting list’ I write is regularly updated – pre-Christmas, but also at other times of the year. Of course, every publication has their own strategy around gifting. But while pitching can feel like a stab in the dark, you needn’t feel like it’s a one-and-done chance anymore.

As ever, a smart way to get cut-through is via face time with journalists, so all hail the Roxhill Beauty Club happening next week, which gives PRs the chance to do just that via live speed pitching sessions. At the event I’ll also be participating in a Q&A titled ‘How to pitch digital beauty ideas’, which will certainly touch on Christmas and gifting. I hope to see you there.