Episode 139: 10 Best Ways to Get Into Product Gift Guides for Free (Part 2)
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:
How getting featured in gift guides and product lists can boost your sales, SEO, and street cred!
Aligning the pitch with the angle to capture journalist's attention.
The power of local media and building a solid presence in your community.
Why being seen and trusted is key for small businesses.
The nitty gritty of pitching process and connecting with journalists.
In the competitive world of small business, being seen and trusted is the name of the game! When you tap into the right angles, craft killer pitches, and build relationships with journalists, your PR game gets a serious boost and let your brand out there for everyone to see!
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, welcome back to Small Business PR, where we make PR and marketing super accessible for all the scrappy business entrepreneurs out there, because I believe as small businesses, we all deserve to be seen, heard and valued. So we're going to share things that the agencies won't tell you. We're going to share PR strategies and proven visibility insights that you can't Google.
00:00:20 Gloria: So this is part two of a two part series. The first one last week was how to get into any product gift guide. I shared the five out of 10 best ideas and angles that our members have used to get featured in Forbes, Allure, Apartment Therapy, Martha Stewart Living, Southern Living, and so many more. And today we're gonna go over the last five. But just a quick recap, anyone who has anything that can be giftable, and by the way, you can make a digital product and it can be giftable, I encourage you to think about getting into a gift guide, product guide, best of list.
00:00:49 Gloria: There's a most powerful way to get sales, SEO, credibility, because ads and social media are not credible, and they don't give you backlinks and they don't build your SEO. So getting featured in a coveted gift guide like top 10 gifts this season is the holy grail if you will. Everyone's trying to do it and we have people who have been able to master this and get featured every season, every month for various gift guides. And there's so many categories.
00:01:12 Gloria: So why stop yourself from saying, well, my gift is only or my product is only good for Q4 because I promise you after listening to this, you're going to realize there are so many opportunities for you to make sales every quarter. I want to go over quickly the top 10 angles, which I talked about. So today we're going to go over the last five, but the 10 most popular in our program, at least of gift guide categories that people have gotten featured in are these 10.
00:01:37 Gloria: So there are seasonal gift guides, there's a holiday celebration ones. The third one is unique innovative ingredients or first of its kind. The fourth one is anything around sustainability, eco-friendliness, you know, non-toxic, zero waste, self-care, wellness. This is a huge category. And most of our product owners are probably pitching this one as well. The fifth one is around trends in social media and celebrities. Maybe it's a cheaper alternative to a luxury brand. Those are all great gift guide categories, too.
00:02:05 Gloria: Number six is highlighting product makers who are diverse, who are first in their community to do something. If you're a woman of color, for example, inventing a product or doing a product that is traditionally white male dominated that would be a gift guide category as well. So the seventh one is going against the grain, contrarian beliefs. Those are also great gift guide ideas, how to get your product featured that works. And I'll give you some examples as we go on. Number eight, which is one I love, is around travel on the go.
00:02:33 Gloria: So think about minis, think about TSA approved packaging, think about multipurpose, how your one product can double as two, three, four things to lighten the travel load because who wants to pay for checked luggage, right? Number nine is anything local artisanal, maybe you work with artisans in a country and then you give back to them. That would be an angle as well. If you give back to a local charity, if you have a partnership with a local community, that's your jam. That's going to be your angle. And we have people in our PR program doing this as well.
00:03:02 Gloria: And the last one is anything around family, pets, children. We have a lot of people who are making products for these categories. So last week I talked about the first five. Now I'm going to go on to talk about the last few. So last time we talked about, we ended with trends in social media. So we ended with number five, and I'm gonna continue with number six, which is anything around diversity, inclusion, shattering the status quo.
00:03:30 Gloria: So we have people in our program, mainly women of color who are really disrupting the status for their industry because traditionally it was dominated by people who didn't look like them. So those are all sort of great categories, buying from API founders, best Black female owned small businesses to shop for, this Black History Month, all of these things. And we also have people who make culturally inclusive toys or toys and books for conscious parents. So those are all categories that have been seen in the media and you can definitely pitch.
00:03:59 Gloria: So for example, we have someone who makes swimsuits for older women and she got featured in an article called 14 Amazing Swimsuits for Older Women. We also have someone who is Indian-American and she makes gifts for Diwali, which is an Indian celebration of light. And so she got featured in an article called 14 Dazzling Delicious Diwali Gifts. And she makes this chickpea recipe, which is from her homeland of India. And she's able to provide a gluten-free recipe alternative for a lot of people's dietary needs.
00:04:32 Gloria: We have another one, another person who got featured for an article about AI and how she was able to disrupt the status quo and combat racism and biases in AI. And this is not technically like a gift guide one, but it's still shattering the status quo because she is a Black woman in AI. The seventh one is something that is also quite similar. It's contrarian or going against popular belief.
00:04:56 Gloria: So for example, yeah, we have someone who makes a skincare tool that goes against the 13 step, you know, crazy skincare rituals and her whole thing is about minimalizing it. So the topic or the angle she can pitch is multi-use skincare tools for people who hate 10 step routines. So if you are a skincare minimalist, then that would be for you. You see how that's kind of going against a different trend, right?
00:05:21 Gloria: We had someone else who's doing an ingredient that is surprising. For example, if there's certain recipes or food and wine things with a certain ingredient, but she's using something else, that would be something to pitch. For example, if there's a clothing material that is usually not commonly seen for that piece of clothing, that you can also pitch that too. It could also be like an article around like Y, X is a new Z.
00:05:51 Gloria: You can talk about what's happening with the older trend and why what you're doing is in line with the new trend. So that's really what I mean by going against the grain, shattering the status quo, talking about maybe trends that you don't necessarily agree with and offering a different solution.
00:06:07 Gloria: So the eighth one is a travel on the go TSA approved angle. This one works all year round because people are traveling all year round. It's not just spring break or Q4, which, you know, those are great ones, too. But think about what are the products that you're making that can make people's travel more comfortable. Maybe it's one piece of clothing that is multipurpose. Maybe it's one thing in your toiletry bag that can replace 10 items.
00:06:33 Gloria: We have someone who makes a multipurpose moisture stick that can double as like 20 different things from hair to your cuticles to skin to face to lip balm. That would be something to pitch. If you make something in minis, or if you have a special promo with minis or a different bundle that you decided that is perfect for traveling, then pitch that because that is something that people will love. And there's a lot of gift guide and product categories around this travel on the go friendly thing.
00:07:01 Gloria: I'll give you some examples. For example, an idea could be, you know, small toys to help your toddler to keep quiet on long flights. Or it could be like ADHD travel friendly must haves for your next vacation under $25. Another idea could be why this 10, this is actually one that I wrote for one of our members, why this 10 in one all purpose moisture stick is the TSA approved must have the season. Do you see how this is all kind of aligned with what people are going through when they travel? So think lightweight, think multi-purpose, think on the go, think minis, think TSA approved in terms of the fluid, that the ounce restriction, all those things are great.
00:07:39 Gloria: The next one is anything involving local communities, charities, giving back, artisans. We have someone who makes natural woven baskets by supporting these artisans who are female Thai women, Thai artisans basically. And so she gives them a means and she gives them like a percentage of every sale to help with education, to help with all these initiatives to elevate women in these villages. So that could be a great one too.
00:08:05 Gloria: We also have someone who is an OG member. She has gotten featured nearly 20 times now using our program. And she curates a box with one book and one snack item and she started during COVID, it's called Read It and Eat Box. And she's been featured on local TV. Now she's even opening a brick and mortar store. She's been featured on TechCrunch, on CanvasRebel, on so many different gift guides.
00:08:28 Gloria: And her whole thing was about how, with every sale, that she gives back to a local hunger initiative to fight hunger in her local community. And she was actually featured recently on local TV for the second time about her initiatives because now she started a book fair.
00:08:44 Gloria: I love following her journey. I love how she's able to take this one product and pitch it all year round. And one of the angles that she did pitch was the local angle giving back. So I'll give you some other examples. So anything that's about supporting local city artisans or shopping small, anything about your city. So it could be like events for art lovers this month, or it could be where to get the best ice cream in LA. And that's actually a member win.
00:09:08 Gloria: We have someone who makes handmade vegan ice cream and she was featured on the like top section of LA Weekly and LA Magazine because she is LA local and you can find her stuff in LA's most premium supermarkets. So she was featured in an article called Where to Get the Best Ice Cream in LA. Another one that's a real member win from one of our clients who got featured and she used the angle seven sneaky good spots to shop for swimwear in Dallas. So this is a local one, right?
00:09:36 Gloria: So there's all these different buckets of media. There's local, there's national, international and a lot of times we kind of overlook the local one but the local hometown stories are probably the lower hanging fruit that you really should go for like right away because what's better than like getting in your local hometown newspaper it's such a source of pride and our members have been able to do it over and over again and really establish themselves as someone who's giving back, as someone who is a changemaker and someone that people should be proud of because they're from that local city.
00:10:05 Gloria: The last one of the 10 angles around gift guides and product angles is anything around like family, children, parent, even bridal. So think about like different different demographics. And we actually had a member who got featured with this exact pitch, which is 40 best gifts for your mother-in-law who was hard to shop for. I love that. I love how it's unique, how it's a little bit nuanced and not super general. I love gift guides that combine various things.
00:10:33 Gloria: So this is not just 40 gifts from moms, but it's 40 gifts from mother-in-law. And then they actually went one step further and got featured in one that's called, you know, mother-in-law who's hard to shop for. All those ones are good. And for example, like what to get the bride that has everything. Those are great gift guide categories. Something that's like, you know, beachwear for new moms that they can comfortably wear confidently for under $50. That's a great one.
00:10:55 Gloria: You know, for new moms. Another one, it's you know, could be around wellness services or activities that the whole family can enjoy together on your cross-country trip. We have a lot of people who make pet products as well. So articles and gift guides like, you know, five underrated products. You didn't know your dog needed.
00:11:12 Gloria: We have someone who makes pet bombs for chafing and to protect the dog's paws in the wintertime when there's a salt to melt the snow. So that could be a good one too. So think about all the ways that you can make your product, whether it's for family, for pets, for brides, using these angles that I talked about to get featured.
00:11:31 Gloria: Now the angles will sound like an article and that it should because you're basically giving the journalist a suggestion on what the story will be like. So when you're pitching, you don't wanna put, in the subject line, your name, your company, please feature me, because they know it's a pitch. You want the subject line to be almost reading like an article of what that would be like. So all of the things that I said here.
00:11:53 Gloria: If you wanna go even deeper, obviously, in our program, we teach you exactly what to pitch, how to pitch, who to pitch, we have a database for you, we have actual journalists who write these gift guides from Forbes to Elle, from Cosmo, they come into our program and they meet our members and they tell them, hey, here's what I'm writing this season. And they actually give you not only their personal contact so that you can pitch them and connect with them, but they also reveal what are some of the pitches that they're getting in their inbox.
00:12:18 Gloria: It's an unprecedented way to learn from a journalist, get access to a journalist, and get one-on-one direct coaching from me while having the support of our members. So you can find out more about it in the link below. And if you have any questions about this, I know I gave you a lot to think about, you probably have a lot of ideas now, which is great. And now it's time for you to sit down and pick the best angles so you can start to put pen on paper, get that pitch flushed out and start sending.
00:12:42 Gloria: If you have any questions, I'm here for you. You can DM me anytime at GloriaChouPR. And I look forward to seeing you inside of our program where we can help you really actualize and make this into reality and start pitching. Because everything you want is on the other side of the send button. Until next time, thank you so much.
00:12:59 Gloria: Oh, and one more thing. If you know of any small businesses who make products who would love to be in a gift guide, who could find this helpful, please share this with them. So hopefully all of us small business makers, curators, creators can get seen, heard, and valued in the media without having to pay for ads and agencies. And together we are really disrupting the status quo. That is why my business exists. That is why this podcast exists, is to make these things accessible and there's no gate keeping here. Thank you all so much and until next time.
00:13:28 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.
00:13:56 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.