Episode 138: 10 Best Ways to get into a product gift guides for free (part 1)
From helping thousands of product businesses get featured in the hottest gift guides and magazines such as Oprah's favorite things, BuzzFeed, Elle and more, I am sharing the 10 best ways to get your product in your dream magazine in front of thousands of eager customers! This is the BEST way to get more sales and grow your product biz without ads or social media, so this is a MUST LISTEN if you make a product!
Here’s What We Cover and More:
Boosting small businesses with gift guides, product lists, and best-of lists.
Why seasonal themes, holidays, and celebrations are a blast for pitching your products!
Showcasing unique and innovative products to grab media attention
Trend of sustainability, wellness, and self-care in gift guides and product lists
Aligning products with social media trends, pop culture, and celebrity influences
Value of contrarian angles, travel-friendly products, travel-friendly products, and local gems!
In the digital age where advertising can seem like the only way to get noticed, small businesses are often at a crossroads. Remember, whether it's your unique story, a nod to sustainability, or simply capitalizing on the latest trends, there's a way to make your product stand out. And the best part? You can do it without spending a fortune on ads!
Product Businesses! Download my free HOW TO GET INTO A GIFT GUIDE/PRODUCT ROUND UP roadmap for free HERE to get more sales and traffic to your site this season.
If you want to land your first feature for free without any connections, I want to invite you to watch my PR Secrets Masterclass, where I reveal the exact methods thousands of bootstrapping small businesses use to hack their own PR and go from unknown to being a credible and sought-after industry expert. Register now at www.gloriachoupr.com/masterclass.
Resources Mentioned:
Join the PR Secrets Masterclass
Join the Small Biz PR Pros Facebook Group
DM the word “PITCH” to us on Instagram to get a pitching freebie https://www.instagram.com/gloriachoupr
Connect with Gloria Chou on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gloriaychou
Join Gloria Chou's PR Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/428633254951941
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Transcript
00:00:00 Gloria: Hey, small business heroes, this is going to be a juicy episode. So I think I'm going to have to make it part one and part two. But if you make a product and you want to get more sales and get more people through the door by getting into the season's hottest gift guide, product roundup, product recommendations, best of lists. And we have many people in our program who are doing this every day. You're going to listen to this. We have the 10 best angles, the best proven ideas to get your product featured for free in a gift guide.
00:00:25 Gloria: Now, that's the best way to stop doing social media ads and get more sales organically so that you learn how to get in front of more people without paying endlessly for ads and without hoping that one of your reels go viral. Because that's not... let's be honest, it's not sustainable, doesn't give you SEO, and it's not a long-term strategy. But getting into a gift guide is because that backlink, that feature will keep giving you traffic to your website.
00:00:47 Gloria: So without further ado, I want to list out the 10 best angles for any product maker to get featured in the media around gift guides, product lists, best of lists, you name it. I'm gonna just list all 10 and we can go through them one by one. The first one is a seasonal angle. Second one is holidays and celebrations. So, you know, that's your typical like Mother's Day gift guide or gifts for her, gifts for him, Black Friday, holiday wish list, things like that. Number three is a story and gift list around unique gifts, innovative gifts, and first of its kind gifts. Those are also really popular.
00:01:19 Gloria: The fourth one is sustainability angles. So if you make something that's non-toxic, clean, ethical, fair trade, that is going to be your jam. And all the things around kind of wellness and self-care, which is obviously a booming industry, there's lots of gift guides and stories around that. The fifth one is just basically talking about a trend in social media. And can we relate something you're doing to pop culture or a celebrity trend? Any kind of trend is a great way to pitch your product.
00:01:46 Gloria: Now the sixth one is if we are celebrating diversity, if you're a woman of color owned business, if you are shattering the status quo, we have a lot of founders who are kind of the first woman of color to be in a predominantly white male dominated industry, then that would be something to pitch as well. Now, angle number seven is a contrarian angle. It's going against the grain, is maybe doing something differently. And I really like that going against the popular belief because that's very aligned with what I do as well, trying to shatter the status quo.
00:02:16 Gloria: Now, angle eight, to get into a gift guide or a product guide, is I travel on the go. TSA approved, muIti-purpose, I love these, especially when it comes to like summertime travel, spring break, and also winter escapes. We have a lot of founders who make multipurpose bath and body skincare, haircare things where one item can be reused for many different things. And who doesn't love that? Because that way, not only do you have less luggage weight, you might also be able to avoid paying for checked luggage. And we all don't want to pay for checked luggage these days. So I love these angles around travel, mini TSA approach.
00:02:52 Gloria: The ninth angle is anything that's local. So anything that's about local communities, maybe you make stuff with local artisans. We have someone who makes these beautiful, eco-friendly baskets, and she partners with women in Thailand. So that would be an angle. And then she also gives back to support women in these villages. So anything that's local, artisanal, charitable, community-based, that's also an angle.
00:03:15 Gloria: The last one is anything that is family, child, parent, and pet-friendly. We have a lot of people in our PR program who make gifts for pets, for elderly people, for children. So that's always going to be a beloved angle. You can pitch all year round, not just around the holidays. So those are the 10, and I'm gonna go through them one by one.
00:03:36 Gloria: So the first one I talked about is the seasonal angle. I love this angle because what is more relevant than with the season that we're in? So when I think about seasonal angles, I think about maybe changes in weather. I think about new year, new you. I think about end of year coziness. I think about spring, summer things. I think about winter like eczema and luxurious creams and coziness. So think about what are the seasons that we're in and pitch that.
00:04:03 Gloria: That's always gonna make your pitch super relevant to the journalist because the journalist is looking for products to recommend that people are looking for this season. And let's be honest, we're all consumers of products. So my beauty needs or my haircare needs or my whatever needs in summertime is different than the wintertime than different than the springtime. So if you make outdoor equipment, right, for barbecues, July 4th, graduation, those are great times to pitch that. So that's what I mean by a seasonal story.
00:04:30 Gloria: I'll give you some examples so that you can keep thinking about it and brainstorming. So for example, sunscreen, right, you can pitch something about sunscreen and the different types of sunscreen and which one to pick for what season. Because if you are doing water sports, that's going to be very different than if you're going to like a colder climate but still with a lot of sun, if you're skiing, for example.
00:04:51 Gloria: Also, we have a lot of eco-friendly, like vegan accessory makers. So that's also something to pitch around Earth Day, right? How can we reduce our environmental impact? How can we reduce waste? We also have a product founder who makes product that doesn't have any waste, which means that there's no packaging. And she was able to get featured on Apartment Therapy and Martha Stewart Living for all of the ways that we can reduce our waste this holiday season
00:05:16 Gloria: And also when you have a housewarming, how can you reduce waste? So not only does she get featured for gift guides, but also position herself as an expert in her field, giving people tips on how to be more environmentally friendly. Now seasonal gift guides. Another example is talking about the season of like maternity. So there's a lot of stuff around self-care for moms, for pregnant ladies, for new moms, all of those things.
00:05:40 Gloria: We also have angles for skincare gifts for in the winter time versus summertime. You know, 50 best skincare gifts under $25 or maybe a stocking stuffers. We also have a lot of people in swimwear and apparel. So we can talk about, you know, like what are the best swimsuits for curvy bodies of all shapes for X, Y, and Z season. Those are all the things that can make it seasonal and super relevant.
00:06:02 Gloria: Now the second angle of the 10 is holidays and celebration, which is very obvious. When you think about gift guides, that's probably what you think the most. So we're thinking Christmas gift guides, gifts for moms, Valentine's Day, birthdays, graduation, things like that. So we have people who make recipes. So it could be something around vegan cookbooks to make your Thanksgiving more diet friendly. Or it could be something around, we have people who make conversation and intimacy cards, and those are great around the holidays to connect with family.
00:06:34 Gloria: And it could also be around Valentine's Day for a reigniting that spark between your partner. We have someone who does very luxurious like hand creams and that could be a great mother's day gift guide. It could also be something around jewelry pieces that are not your grandmother's pearls. If you make something that's a unique take on a current trend, I know pearls are currently trending right now. So that could be something.
00:06:58 Gloria: It could also be something around like cultural holidays. So we have someone who makes diverse dolls and she makes dolls within various shades and skin tones and depicting, you know, Chinese, Indian, like all the different pan Asian diaspora for AAPI. And she was able to get featured on BuzzFeed for the most diverse dolls for lunar new year gifts. So there's no shortage of what you can gift, but just pick a season, pick a holiday and be specific around that.
00:07:25 Gloria: Because let's be honest, your product is going to be able to have multiple opportunities to pitch, not just for one holiday. So just think abundantly, know that you have many different options to pitch, but when you do, be clear about what you're pitching. Select the one or two products that are the most standout. Don't give them an entire product brochure. Pick the season's bestseller for whatever holiday or season you're trying to pitch.
00:07:48 Gloria: Now, number three, a great gift guide category is unique, innovative, and first of its kind. So we've all read those kind of unique gift ideas or gifts that you can't get at Zales or Walmart or Macy's. Those are really great around holidays and Mother's Day. A great way to pitch that is if you have something that's a unique formulation. So we have someone who makes skincare with mushroom elixir.
00:08:10 Gloria: So that could be really interesting and she could pitch for a unique gift guide of, you know, skincare ingredients you've never heard of. So those are what I mean by like innovative ways. If you make jewelry, that's very interesting and you combine different elements, that's not what normally people would expect. I would definitely pitch this category tool too, right? We also have people who are tech founders. And so maybe there's something that you have made to make people's lives better that you have innovated. So pitch that as well. And we have people who make a lot of skin care tools, whether it's microcurrent or gua sha or different kind of facial rollers. That would also be really interesting here too, kind of unique ways to spruce up your skin care routine, the summer or winter.
00:08:52 Gloria: The fourth angle is one around sustainability, eco-friendliness, wellness, self-care. This is a huge trend in gift guides and probably the category with the most articles written about it. And a lot of our founders are in this category, wellness, self-care, eco-friendly sustainability. And there are so many days that you can pitch this because this is a category that you can pitch and combine it with Mother's Day, for example, right?
00:09:17 Gloria: You can do something that is eco-friendly for mothers, or you can do something that is vegan-friendly for mothers, or you can do best self-care gifts during Valentine's Day. So that's why I love this category, because this can be pitched all year round for multiple holidays, not just for self-care because self-care, there's no expiration day on self-care. There's no month for self-care. Self-care is 24/7 all the time. I'll give you some examples of people who have gotten featured for that.
00:09:41 Gloria: So for example, you know, Fair Trade and 100% non-toxic everyday wear that go beyond sustainability. We have someone who makes resort dresses, who incorporates 100% natural dyeing techniques and doesn't include any harsh chemicals. So I would pitch that for her because she makes non-toxic eco-friendly, beautiful resort wear cotton dresses that are multi-purpose.
00:10:03 Gloria: A second one, it could be an angle around, 30 women owned vegan businesses to support today. That was actually a member win. Someone actually got featured with that. Another one is how to choose eco-friendly party supplies. That's also a real member in our PR program who got featured multiple times. So that kind of gives you an idea of what I mean by this angle.
00:10:24 Gloria: Now the fifth of 10 angles for gift guides is around trends around social media, what's trending and pop culture, celebrity. So you can think about it this way. We have a lot of people in bridal and makeup and hair. Great way is like, you know, how can you recreate someone's wedding glam look, or, you know, what are the trends this year around, you know, hosting or what are the trends around accessorizing, you know?
00:10:48 Gloria: So whatever that trend is, whether it's like a pillow bag or, you know, all of these different makeup trends, you can pitch that if you have a product that goes along to help them create that effect. So those are great ways. So for example, you know, like a trend right now is in pop culture, people have been watching the show White Lotus. So you can repurpose, you know, the, if you have swimsuits, it could be like three flattering swimsuits for your next White Lotus vacation. This is something that we actually wrote for a member.
00:11:14 Gloria: It could be something like, you know, three, you know, Hermes alternatives that are affordable and eco-friendly. So that's really great too is if you're offering an alternative
to a brand that people love. We have someone who makes bra cup inserts. And so the pitch we wrote for them was around what are the more affordable and eco-friendly Skims alternatives. Skims is Kim Kardashian's brand and I think her stuff is a little bit more higher priced. So we were able to do a pitch to get featured in a gift guide that's comparing what people love, which is Skims, but at a more affordable price.
00:11:50 Gloria: And you can do this for anything. It could be like, you know, your more affordable Sephora favorites or whatever that is. So hopefully this has given you something to think about. We will continue this in part two next week for the remaining five best gift guide categories, but I could talk about this all day and we have countless members who are pitching gift guides all year round, getting featured, building their SEO to the point where they're, they just have people coming to their website for gift guides and it's just a compounding effect.
00:12:19 Gloria: And we also have journalists who write these gift guides coming into our program to talk about exactly what they're looking for. And they actually share their personal email addresses and we allow our members to connect with them in the Facebook group, ask them questions and it's unprecedented access to a journalist. So if you're someone who has a gift and a product that people will love, that will make an impact.
00:12:41 Gloria: I hope you can join our program and it will be in the show notes here. And if you have any questions, let me know. I'm always available. My DMs are open at Gloria Chou PR. I cannot wait to see you next week for the remaining five angles out of the 10 best angles to get featured in a product gift guide.
00:12:59 Gloria: Hey, small business hero, did you know that you can get featured for free on outlets like Forbes, the New York Times, Marie Claire, PopSugar, and so many more, even if you're not yet launched or if you don't have any connections? That's right. That's why I invite you to watch my PR Secrets Masterclass, where I reveal the exact methods thousands of bootstrapping small businesses use to hack their own PR and go from unknown to being a credible and sought after industry expert.
13:27 Gloria: Now, if you want to land your first press feature, get on a podcast, secure a VIP speaking gig or just reach out to that very intimidating editor, this class will show you exactly how to do it. Register now at GloriaChouPR.com/Masterclass. That's Gloria Chou, C-H-O-U-P-R.com/Masterclass. So you can get featured in 30 days without spending a penny on ads or agencies. Best of all, this is completely free. So get in there and let's get you featured.