Episode 181: How To Get Featured In Mother's Day Gift Guides
Want to get your product featured in Mother’s Day gift guides but don’t know how to pitch the media? In this episode, I break down proven PR strategies for small businesses to land free media coverage—no agency required. You’ll learn how to write a strong PR pitch, find the right journalists and editors, and position your product as a must-have Mother’s Day gift.
Whether you’re selling skincare, food, fashion, or wellness products, these public relations tips will help you get noticed and featured. I also share real-life success stories and insider resources like Substack, Source of Sources, and email tracking tools you can use to pitch with confidence.
🎁 Plus: A step-by-step guide to stand out in crowded inboxes and get your product featured in high-intent shopping roundups.
Crafting the Perfect PR Pitch for Mother's Day (and Beyond)
Substack for finding journalist opportunities before publication
Source of Sources (replacing HARO) for daily journalist requests
Research publication-specific gift guide parameters
Focus on 1-2 standout items rather than your entire product line
Use email tracking software to monitor if journalists open emails
Building credibility to compete with larger brands
Getting featured in gift guides provides small businesses year-round visibility without expensive ads. Research publication opportunities, craft targeted pitches, and follow up strategically to secure media coverage—even with a single product. PR is a numbers game where persistence builds credibility.
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: What's up, small business heroes? Welcome back to Small Business PR. I'm your host, Gloria Chou, and it's my mission to make PR, marketing, and visibility accessible for the rest of us, especially the small business owners. So at the time of recording, we are all talking about Mother's Day in my PR accelerator program. And people are getting featured left and right. So if you have something that would be perfect for a Mother's Day gift guide, and it doesn't have to be a physical product, it can be an experience, it can be a culinary thing, you might want to listen up and take notes.
00:00:26 Gloria: So Mother's Day gift guides, there are so many ways to get in front of your customers who are looking for the perfect item, whether it's for themselves, for a new mother, an older mother, or an expecting mother. And there are so many different ways that you can find out what journalists are writing. There are a couple free tools that you can use.
00:00:42 Gloria: The first one is Perplexity. So Perplexity AI actually had another podcast episode about this called Three PR Tools You Should Use. But Perplexity is a great Google search replacement. It's actually replaced my Google search because it's really good for researching all of the answers and coming up with an accumulative answer for you without you having to click and read every single article on Google.
00:01:06 Gloria: So the reason why I like Perplexity is that not only is it more advanced than Google and it cuts your time for research in half, you can simply type in Perplexity, "What type of gift guides does Apartment Therapy write?" Or "What types of gift guides does Women's Health write?" Right, so if you know that your audience reads a certain magazine or an outlet, it would be perfect to see what categories.
00:01:27 Gloria: So for example, if Women's Health writes gift guides that are under $100 only, and if you make a luxury gift, then maybe it won't be a good fit for Mother's Day. But if you make something that's super lux and there are magazines who write high end lux gifts, then you want to put that into Perplexity so you can see what are the buckets and categories. And be creative with this.
00:01:47 Gloria: Now, writers are turning out stories- with the digital landscape, they're turning out stories every single day. So there's not just gifts for mom, a general category, but there's like gifts for vegan moms, gifts for yoga moms, gifts for elder moms, gifts for book lover moms. Do you know what I mean? So there, I promise you, there are literally so many different ways that you can make your product or experience fit.
00:02:08 Gloria: I'll give you an example. We had someone who is a bourgeois photographer. Now, it might not be the most traditional gift that you might think of when it comes to Mother's Day, but she was able to get featured in Well+Good for a self-care Valentine's Day gift guide.
00:02:20 Gloria: So along the same vein, think about what you can do for Mother's Day that maybe is out of the box, but could be a Mother's Day gift guide. It could be sauces, it could be wines, it could be spices, it could be apparel, fashion, books, accessories, knowledge, health, all of those things. So I encourage you to think outside the box.
00:02:36 Gloria: Another way you can find out what journalists are writing is subscribing to their Substack. Now, Substack is a gold mine for finding out what journalists are writing before it even hits the stands. And in my PR program, I am scouring the internet to curate the best and latest PR opportunities for our members that I post every single day. But you can get started by yourself.
00:02:56 Gloria: So if you, for example, make candles, then you on Substack can do a search for someone who writes about lifestyle and home decor and all these things. And once you subscribe to one writer's Substack, then it automatically pops up other recommended Substacks. So that's a great way to go down a Substack rabbit hole because so many bloggers and writers and journalists are actually using Substack now to tell their readers first before anywhere else what stories they're working on and the deadline and exactly how to pitch them with clear instructions.
00:03:28 Gloria: We had people get featured in 24 hours just by responding to one of these Substack inquiries. So in my program, we have a list of all of the ones that you should follow, but you can definitely get started by doing this.
00:03:38 Gloria: Another way, you can see what are the gift guides is by signing up for Source of Sources. Now this has replaced HARO, which stands for Help a Reporter Out, which is no longer. But you can go to www.sourceofsources.com and it'll give you three emails every day of dozens of various journalists requests.
00:03:57 Gloria: Now, not all of them will be about gift guides. Some of them will be about talking to a health insurance specialist or a personal finance person, but there are usually every single day at least two to three product focused giftable shopping list things that you can qualify for. Just today, I shared one with our PR Accelerator members and one was on Home and Garden and two of them were for mom's gift guides and they ran the gamut between travel, outdoor, lifestyle, home, food and beauty. So that's another free way that you can figure out what writers are writing for Mother's Day.
00:04:31 Gloria: And this works not just for Mother's Day, it could be for Earth Day, it could be for National Hot Sauce Day. I'm just recording this at the time when Mother's Day is around the corner. And so that's why this one is focused. But all the tips here you can appropriate and use for other times, because if you have a product that's perfect for anyone, giftable for any time, then don't just confine yourself to Mother's Day, right? It could be any day. We had people get really creative with, you know, on National Ice Cream Day, for example, or National Best Friends Day. So there's really a blue ocean of opportunity.
00:05:00 Gloria: Now, so let's talk about, you've found the journalist. And for example, you found a perfect gift guide and a journalist. Now what do you do, right? What you want to do is not send the journalist a list of the brochure of all of your products. It's the quickest way to get your email thrown in the garbage or spam. What you want to do is pick the one or two items that are standout for that season.
00:05:21 Gloria: So this season is Mother's Day. Do you have something that's perfect for Mother's Day? Now Mother's Day comes around time of Q2. So we're talking about spring, summer things, maybe something fresh, citrusy. If you're doing skincare, maybe not something that's super oily and heavy. If you're doing food and wine, maybe something that is about outdoor spring floral. We actually have someone who is an independent baker in Vermont and she makes floral inspired macaroons. And so in the program, we helped her write a pitch about floral inspired out of the box Mother's Day gifts. Now, so those are also great ideas.
00:05:54 Gloria: Now, when you're writing your pitch, remember it's not about listing just the benefits and features. It's also about why it's specific and perfect for that season. So I talked about picking one or two standout items. Do you have any limited time bundles or discounts? Put that in there, right? The pitch should be very succinct and concise and not ramble on and on like you're talking to a customer. You want to just give them what they need.
00:06:18 Gloria: For example, if you are responding to an inquiry on Sources of Sources or Substack, they give you exactly what they need. But if you have access to an even wider range of media contacts, then you can start pitching on your own even without these tools. You can figure out what is the best product that's perfect for this seaso and in the subject line, you want to write "Samples available," if you have samples available, "Samples available, best organic XYZ for under $30," right? Whatever that is.
00:06:47 Gloria: "Best multipurpose skin oil for spring." I'm just making up these subject lines. We have people in all different industries, but the subject line- and by the way, I have a subject line training in the PR program, it needs to not have your name, the word pitch or your company name. So you really want to make it concise. So something like "Samples available XYZ perfect for Mother's Day under $30," or a hundred dollars or whatever that is.
00:07:13 Gloria: And then in the email, you want to talk about why it's perfect. So for example, you can say, "As we approach Mother's Day and springtime travel season, my multi-purpose travel carry on luggage that will help you cut your packing weight in half will prevent mothers and travelers from having to pay the excess luggage fees." And so that's just another example.
00:07:36 Gloria: And so you want to talk about why it's great, not just for moms, but the season that we're in. And then you want to give a couple bullet points. I like bullet points because it makes the email look cleaner. It breaks up big blocks of text and just easier on the eyes for journalists. You want to put the product specs. So for example, does it come in different sizes? Is it available on Amazon, Etsy? Is it only available on your website? Is it available for shipping or is it made to order?
00:08:00 Gloria: All of those things they're going to want to know. So the more information you can give them that's relevant to the consumer, how many days for shipping, how much is it for shipping? Is it a waitlist only? All those things and the pricing and where they can get it. You want to put all of that there. And I also like to put one photo. Now don't put a huge photo. It's going to obviously trigger their spam filter. It's going to have a really big size to download.
00:08:23 Gloria: What you can do is have a compressed but high quality version of one photo. And that one photo, by the way, can be two photos that you put into Canva, which is a software for graphic design. You can put two photos side by side and make it one image. So that's kind of a way to get around if you want more than one image and your product is something that is visually people need to see it. If it's a really pretty notebook, for example, or something aesthetic, you want to put that there.
00:08:46 Gloria: If it has a pretty packaging or the way that it arrives, some packaging is biodegradable, some of them have plant seeds in there, put that in there. All the different nuts and bolts about why this would be perfect for Mother's Day. And then you can conclude one or two sentences about your unique founder story. So are you a BIPOC founder? Are you a mother and daughter team? Are you someone who made this from an ancient Arduvetic recipe from your grandmother's house in Nepal?
00:09:11 Gloria: Whatever that is, again, don't go crazy. Don't have an autobiography of three paragraphs, but you can put into one or two sentences or a couple bullet points on why this is different, why this is independent. And again, journalists love to feature female founders and indie fresh voices. They don't wanna just be the spokespeople for Macy's or Nordstrom's or the big box stores. So if you are not found on Amazon, if you make things in small batches, or you only locally source ingredients, say that in there, right? If you are different than anyone else, because instead of using certain materials, you're using better materials, put that in there.
00:09:47 Gloria: So there you have it. That's kind of how the pitch is. And in the program, I have over 50 proven templates of all the ways you can become a better writer to get that yes and we actually audit your pitch and it helped me write your pitch. But this is kind of a 20,000 foot level of how I would pitch.
00:10:01 Gloria: Now, a couple of things. Make sure that if you have something that has a sample that you're willing to offer that. A lot of times the writers will want to try and see it before they recommend it. Now, be careful of fake influencers wanting free merchandise from you. That's not really from a legitimate source. So you want to vet to see what's the outlet and if it's really going to move the needle for you, if you're offering a sample that is going to be costly.
00:10:25 Gloria: Now, if you have something that is a little bit lower cost to manufacture, then you can be a little bit more lenient with how you offer the samples. But if you make some really luxurious, let's say perfume, right? And again, you can give them a little sample size, but if you make speakers, you're not going to give them a sample of speakers, but you can give them a behind the scenes look or a video of the speaker experience.
00:10:48 Gloria: So those are kind of all the things that I would put in there. I wouldn't go crazy with all the customer testimonials. That you can link to. What I like to do is wrap up the email and say, "Would this be a fit for your audience? Happy to send samples," and then put a hyperlink where they can find out more. And that way you don't have to burden the journalist with reading through too much. And then that way they can click and find out more. So those are all the ways that the email can stand out and have all the different ways for the journalists to quickly decide, yes, this is a fit or this is not a fit.
00:10:18 Gloria: So you want to vet to see what's the outlet and if it's really going to move the needle for you, if you're offering a sample that is going to be costly. Now, if you have something that is a little bit lower cost to manufacture, then you can be a little bit more lenient with how you offer the samples. But if you make some really luxurious, let's say perfume, right?
00:10:37 Gloria: And again, you can give them like a little sample size, but if you make speakers, you're not going to give them a sample of speakers, but you can give them a behind the scenes look or a video of the speaker experience. So those are kind of all the things that I would put in there. I wouldn't go crazy with all the customer testimonials that you can link to. What I like to do is wrap up the email and say, would this be a fit for your audience? Happy to send samples and then put a hyperlink where they can find out more. And that way you don't have to burden the journalist with reading through too much. And then that way they can click and find out more.
00:11:08 Gloria: So those are all the ways that the email can stand out and have all the different ways for the journalists to quickly decide, yes, this is a fit or this is not a fit. Now, a lot of people ask me, okay, I sent an email. Now what? So guess what? It's a numbers game, just like anything, pitching for wholesale and pitching for customers, right? So you want to send to a lot of people and journalists are not always going to respond. But I've talked to so many journalists and we actually have talked to your journalists in our program who actually tell us, you know, behind the scenes, here's what my inbox looks like.
00:11:36 Gloria: Here are examples of good and bad pitches. And what they will always say is that even though they don't respond to every single person, because that would be ridiculous, they would be spending all their time doing that, that they have a meticulous way of filing away categories. So just because you don't get a response doesn't mean that the journalist didn't tag your item for a future story. Because you never know when they're going to be tasked with something, they're going to go back to their inbox and do a quick search and boom. I've seen that happen over and over again. So don't worry if you don't hear back right away.
00:12:05 Gloria: Another pro tip, and I say this as well in my PR program is, you want to install an email tracking software. So I use Google and I use a Chrome extension. You can type in email tracking device and that way just tells you if a journalist is opening your emails or not. So you don't have to make a big drama in your head about, it's being open or that person hates me. A lot of times it could be a deliverability or an out of office issue. And that way you can just keep pressing send until they open it.
00:12:30 Gloria: Now, if they open it and they don't respond, what I love to do is actually send a follow-up on social media. And I give you all of their social media handles and information in our extensive global PR database in our program, which has over 172 categories. But you can find these people on Instagram if you kind of do a search. And what I like to do is drop them a really nice note and say something like, hey, I love that you covered XYZ. If you're doing a gift guy segment for Mother's Day, I sent you an email that I think would be perfect for your audience. So give them a compliment. Journalists are people after all. Engage with your content, right?
00:13:04 Gloria: And then what I would like to do is I have this like... I like things that come in threes. So I would do three follow-ups once a week. And if you don't hear back after the third time, you know what? It's all good. Move on. However, a way to keep reviving the conversation is by refreshing the angle. So just because the Mother's Day pitch for one journalist out of the tens or twenties that you didn't hear back, it doesn't mean that it's dead in the water. You can always go back and say, hey, now we're in summer back to school season.
00:13:34 Gloria: And since people are looking for XYZ, this would be perfect. Or you can say something like, hey, just wanted to let you know that we recently secured a partnership with this, you major outlet or hey, by the way, we just did a collab with this well known house household name, or hey, we just sold out of our best seller. So those are all the ways to keep the journalists up to date about what you're doing without it being monotonous, like a, following up, hey, just pushing this up, right.
00:14:02 Gloria: So again, you can follow up and sell an email tracker and try to refresh your angles because the news cycle and the times are always evolving. Now, a lot of you say, okay, well, you know, what if the journalist says, oh, well, it's not a fit, right? And I always say that's really good because first you hear silence and then you get a no, and then you get a yes. So if they say it's not a fit, then you would say, thank you so much. I love your articles. I'm going to keep following you on Substack and Engage. And you know, let me know if you're, you're ever covering this because my product would be perfect for back to school or winter season as well.
00:14:36 Gloria: So even just getting that response, even if it's a no, it's a sign that you're getting somewhere. Trust me, I've seen this happen hundreds and hundreds of times. First, maybe you get a couple of silences and then you get nos and then you get a yes. And it's just always this like snowball effect. And before you know it, you are getting featured left and right and you become such a good writer and it's second nature to you to know how to pitch for these PR opportunities so that you are always planting the seeds for visibility in your business.
00:15:02 Gloria: Now, as we know, ads have risen 400 % in costs. The algorithm only shows your content to less than 20 % of your followers. So SEO and building that credibility through PR is the only way that we can weather the storms of any economy. We can have longevity in making sure that people see our things, but also trust our product enough to compete with a bigger brand, right? It's all about that. So those are some quick and dirty tips for Mother's Day, I hope that this has helped you.
00:15:33 Gloria: There are so many ways and seasons and dates that you can pitch for. And in our program, we have a calendar of all the different dates. But just because Mother's Day may be over, if you're listening to this afterwards, does not mean that you don't have an opportunity. There is literally a blue ocean of opportunities waiting for you. We had people who were dermatologists get featured around Halloween on a story about how your skin is being ruined by sugar. So think about all the relevant things that are fun and new, even a TikTok trend, right?
00:16:04 Gloria: We recently just worked with someone who bakes cupcakes and she says there's a viral TikTok trend called a little treat culture about indulgences. So be a good steward of the media, like monitor what's going on. And you can always pitch for that because journalism is also talking about relevance and what is news if it's not relevant. And as the news cycle evolves, so can your story and know you don't have to make a new product. You can have one product, but pitch for many different seasons.
00:16:28 Gloria: I've seen someone make one product and adapt it for all different things. She makes a home decor box. She got featured in Apartment Therapy and she got featured in Martha Stewart Living. And one of the headlines that she got featured in was like, best gifts for the newly divorced dad in your life. And the other one was how to give a gift for the hostess with the mostest. And another one was how to give a gift for your mom who loves cooking.
00:16:52 Gloria: So just because you have one product or a limited suite of products, or even if you don't make your products, doesn't mean that you automatically are disqualified for getting into these gift guides. Now, it's such a great and straightforward ROI to get into a gift guide because who's actually looking and clicking on that article unless they kind of want to buy something, right? Like if I'm looking for travel accessories, I'm not going to be clicking on an article for travel accessories unless I'm actively like ready to buy. So the buyer intent when someone is reading one of those gift guides is like a thousand times higher than a random person on Instagram who happens to see your post.
00:17:26 Gloria: So think about it that way. You think about how can I work smarter and not harder in my business? And how can I really leverage the power of PR? Because remember, there are so many podcasts, outlets, radio, TV, so many different forms of media who are looking for content and you're simply doing them a favor to pitch the right way.
00:17:44 Gloria: So if you love this episode, check out my other episodes. I'm constantly giving you all the latest tips on how independent small businesses and entrepreneurs can get featured without an agency. It's absolutely my mission to advocate for the rest of us because I think for the longest time, PR has not been made as accessible or available for a lot of us. And it's really like our time to be seen. So step into that frequency, own your power and say, fuck yeah, I deserve to be featured.
00:18:12 Gloria: I actually have a post-it note that I tell all of our new members to write and put on their computer. And I want them to write this phrase, which is, everything you want is on the other side of the send button. And it absolutely is true. When you flex your muscle to press send more often than not, you will go after so many opportunities because your business needs you to be its number one advocate, to be its number one cheerleader. So keep pressing that send. And before you know it, the yeses and the PR wins will be coming in.
00:18:40 Gloria: Now, if you know of another small business owner who could benefit from this episode, please send it to them. And as always, I so appreciate you being here. I really don't believe in any coincidences. So I really think that there's a reason why you are connected to this podcast and you're listening.
00:18:56 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.
00:19:24 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 pr.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.