Gift Guide Insights

Though my inbox would suggest the holidays arrived weeks ago, Christmas is a distant 60 days away – plenty of time for digital media to publish and update gifting content.

As noted on Roxhill’s info page, I’m only interested in receiving beauty-related ideas. Ergo, the pitches I’ve received on doggy apparel, tequila, umbrellas, and chorizo (true story) were in vain. But beyond doing your research to reach the right person in a team, there are other ways to stand out for the right reasons.

Contemplate the story: is your offering sustainable, charitable, multi-use? Does it feel impossibly luxe, or achingly cool? Would it spark joy, lust, euphoria? Think practically, too. Offer samples and provide affiliate e-commerce links (where possible), and interesting imagery as well as product cut-outs.

These are just generic pointers; every digital publication has their own SEO and social strategy around gifting. So yes, pitching can feel like a stab in the dark. Sigh. But when it comes to beauty at Harper’s Bazaar, know that I’m always on the lookout.

In recent years beauty gifting has grown from being a seasonal novelty (who else got bath bombs in their stocking?) to a year-round proposition. Therefore, our ‘ultimate beauty gifting list’ is regularly updated – including, of course, pre-Christmas. We’ve also got guides focused on the best beauty hampers as well as fancy candles, both of which similarly perform well year-round. The round-ups of premium advent calendars, crackers and baubles are the only beauty gift guides we update solely for this time of year.

My last thought on the matter is to remind clients that other kinds of shoppable features can outperform gifting content. While gift guides represent the holy grail of coverage to some, bigger value often comes from being featured in stories that a publication is better known and loved for.