Episode 57: How to Pitch Your Product for Shopping Guides with Emily Cieslak
What's the best way to make your target customers finally purchase your product?
Do you publish it on your website? Post on your social media accounts? Perhaps, you might have already considered going into retail.
Finally, how can you really be of service to people through your products?
As business founders of products, these are the questions you try to answer daily.
But let's face it: your small business cannot compete yet with other industry leaders if, in the first place, you and your product are not heard, seen, or valued.
That is why you need to leverage the power of the journalists!
They have a broader and more intimate reach to your market than you could have really imagined at first.
Now, that doesn't mean you'll be begging journalists to write about your story or your products in their publications.
In some cases, you may have already turned to other people for help.
Despite the many resources that tell you how to pitch your products before journalists, you still wonder why many founders receive more rejections and no responses than a journalist's 'yes.'
So, what does it take for journalists to recognize you finally?
The truth is—it all boils down to how you can creatively and uniquely pitch before journalists.
Your pitch before a journalist shouldn't even be about your story or your product alone; rather, it must concentrate on how your product can be relevant and how it can be valuable to the journalist's audience.
This makes the business founders' pitches have their products featured in shopping guides. Their winning pitches are credible, relevant, and unique.
Before you craft that winning pitch, you should consider other important pitching elements irresistible to journalists.
It is no coincidence that, in this episode, we are bringing Emily Cieslak, a commerce editor. This way, you can hear it straight from a journalist who'll share some of the most critical insights and tips to get your products featured in shopping guides.
"That's the biggest mistake. It's trying to just email the same pitch to as many people as possible and not really understanding. Every magazine is slightly different, has a different voice, a different tone, and covers different products. Just know who you're pitching."
-Emily Cieslak
Emily Cieslak has worked on many sides of the fashion industry, empowering her to tackle fashion topics from an insider's angle. Now, as a commerce editor at Dotdash Meredith, Emily combines her knowledge of retail and styling expertise when covering new trends and offering readers advice on how to shop for and style themselves.
If you're thinking of pitching for a product guide or something that's seasonal, this episode is for you. Access the journalist's mind on what comprises the winning pitches that help business founders get their products featured on shopping guides.
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
Practical steps to prepare for pitching your product
Understanding what shopping guides are really for
What makes a great pitch according to a journalist
The biggest pitching mistakes of most business founders
How you should connect to a journalist before and after your pitch
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.gloriachou.com/masterclass.
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Gloria Chou on LinkedIn: Gloria Chou
Join Gloria Chou's PR Community: Small Biz Pros: By Gloria Chou
Follow Emily Cieslack on Instagram: @emilycieslack
Connect with Emily Cieslack: emilycieslak.webstarts.com
Additional Resources:
Join the Small Biz PR Pros FB group
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Here’s a glance at this episode…
[6:57] I think the biggest mistake is not knowing the publication they write for and what they write about. It just makes you feel you obviously did not research me.
[7:56] Just because you pitched me doesn't mean I will write about it. You have to or give me an opportunity to test it out or something like that.
[9:12] I think as consumers, we're overwhelmed. I think consumers are just more picky about what they buy now.
[13:21] People have different values, and again, it was the same as beauty is. Some people value cruelty-free over vegan. Those are actually two different things. It's thinking about what I guess, 'Who are you targeting with your product? What type of consumer?'
[15:02] I feel having a very long subject that's not very direct can be misleading and I might not open that page. So, I think it's better to be more simple and direct in your subject. What are you writing about specifically?
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Emily Cieslak 0:00
There's so many products out there. So just because you pitched me doesn't mean I will write about it. Give me an opportunity to test it out or something like that.
Gloria Chou 0:07
Hey friends, I'm Gloria Chou, small business PR expert, award-winning pitch writer and your unofficial hype woman. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people get the recognition they deserve. And that starts with feeling more confident to go bigger with your message. So on this podcast, I will share with you the untraditional, yet proven strategies for PR marketing and creating more opportunity in your business. If you are ready to take control of your narrative and be your most unapologetic and confident self, you're in the right place. This is the Small Business PR podcast.
Gloria Chou 0:39
What's up everyone? I'm so excited to have the one and only, Emily Cieslack on our show. She covers all things fashion and commerce. So if you're thinking of pitching for a product guide, or maybe something that's seasonal, this episode is for you. So a little bit about Emily, she has worked on all sides of the fashion industry, and she has written for some of the top tier outlets that you might have heard of called Byrdie, Real Simple Magazine, The Knot, The Philadelphia Citizen. Currently, she is a commerce editor at InStyle magazine. So welcome to the show.
Emily Cieslak 1:12
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Gloria Chou 1:15
So we interview lots of really amazing writers and journalists, can you just tell us what does it mean to be a commerce editor?
Emily Cieslak 1:23
Yeah, so as on the commerce team, we focus on writing buying guides for different products. So we look at SEO and what are consumers Googling and shopping for online. And so we write round ups, like I write about best jeans or best sandals, white sneakers. We call these evergreen round ups because they're things that people will buy again and again throughout the year. It's not just only for like one month or something. We constantly look back and update if we feel like there's a better product out there. Or with fashion, a lot of times things can go out of stock. We're making sure that we have the best product selection. We also include like expert insights, like how do you use this product? How do you style this type of outfit? And so, it's kind of like a service article. We want to help the readers find the best item and know how to use it, too.
Gloria Chou 2:22
Oh, so many good things out there. We, on our podcast, and also in my PR Starter Pack community, we not only have people who make apparel, but we also have experts like dermatologists and things like that. So I love what you said about finding the experts. Before we go into actually how you find these roundups, can you give me an example of just how many opportunities there are? How many articles do you actually publish about a certain type of product or apparel?
Emily Cieslak 2:50
Right now we're working on a lot of summer-related beauty or fashion articles. So a lot of swimsuit round ups, cover ups, sandals, beach bags. I wrote something about bucket hats. So we do both the staple pieces like that you are always wearing but also like bucket hats as more of like a trend-driven article. But we, looking on search, we saw that enough people are searching for it and buying it. So it was like a worthwhile investment to write about that.
Gloria Chou 3:22
I love that you use SEO because that's something I also tell my audience to think about what's trending right now. So how can people like get because obviously, we don't know your editorial calendar. I have no idea what you're going to publish. But how can I like prepare myself for getting my little tiny apparel brand to get featured?
Emily Cieslak 3:39
Yeah, I mean, definitely we work ahead. I'm not writing about winter or fashion yet. But I feel like sometimes I got articles for like a bucket hat, and I already wrote that article. I would say maybe like one or two months ahead and start thinking about what type of roundups these sites might be writing about and pitching them and maybe offering to send them a sample of the product for them to try out themselves. And if they like it, they might recommend it. I think sometimes I get pitches. And it's like something that right now it's not relevant, but maybe in a few months, I'll write about it, or I could write about it later.
Gloria Chou 4:21
So tell me a little bit about like peeking inside of your mailbox. I interviewed someone from Business Insider, and she has a really organized way of actually putting like labels on the emails. Now as a small business owner, they might think, 'oh my godthis person hates me they're not responding.' But are you actually reading the emails and filing it away for later?
Emily Cieslak 4:41
Yeah, it's like we get so many pitches, so we can't respond to each and every single one and that doesn't mean like that we don't open them and we don't read them. Yeah, I usually keep, I have a pitch folder and an expert folder. And yeah, I keep a lot of things for future instances because especially if someone's like, 'Oh, we have a dermatologist you could talk to. I might not be writing about beauty topic right now. But then a week, a few weeks later, I might need to, so I might go back and see who I've got pitches from and what topics they are experts in. I mean, it's hard. I feel like we do get so many pitches, so it's hard for us to always respond and it's a lot of different factors being at play.
Gloria Chou 5:37
I love that you said you never know when it's gonna come in handy. So I can tell when I might be pitching.
Emily Cieslak 5:43
Yeah, no, that's so true. And it's you, sometimes I don't even know 'Oh, I didn't know I'm gonna write about bucket hats, and now I'm like, 'Oh, wait, I can go back and see.' I try not to delete those emails because you never know.
Gloria Chou 5:56
Yeah, I love that. So you do the product roundup. That is like the Holy Grail. I feel like for so many of my founders, they would love to be in a product round up not only just to get in front of their customers, but to do that with credibility. So you've already said that there are so many opportunities all year round, definitely pitch early. Another question is, you get so many pitches. So can you just very kind of, macro-broad strokes, what do all of the great pitches have in common? Or what do all of the awful pitches have in common?
Emily Cieslak 6:27
I think the biggest mistake is not knowing the publication they write for and what they write about. I still get pitches that are so unrelated to what I write about. Sometimes it's not a product, or sometimes it's a product I just don't write about. Sometimes I get, I don't want to call anyone out, but it's just not fashion. It's not beauty-related. And I've never even written about that category. It just makes you feel you obviously did not research me. I also think even within that, it's like, there's so many different types of fashion and beauty articles. I write about commerce, so I'm not really writing about new fashion news, or fashion events, or a celebrity sighting. So that stuff is still important. And I might read it and be, 'Oh, this is good to know. JLo wore this yesterday, but I'm not the one that's going to cover that. So again, know who this person is. What do they write about? And what type of articles they write about? I think sometimes I get pitches for products, where it's very, it feels very one-sided where they just pitch you the product, and they think you'll write about it. It's sort of like nothing being it's kind a two-way street. What am I getting out of this? And yeah, there's so many products out there. So just because you pitched me doesn't mean I will write about it. You have to or give me an opportunity to test it out or something like that.
Gloria Chou 8:03
Yeah, I love what you said. It's a two way street. Because I always do think that if you can cold pitch anyone, you're planting the seeds of cultivating a really important relationship. So let's do that. How can someone be of service for you when they are selling a product?
Emily Cieslak 8:18
Yeah, so I think, I really like talking to experts. And I think more and more magazines are focusing on that too. It's like, including like stylists and dermatologists. Sometimes if a company pitches me, and they're like, 'We have this product too, but you could also talk to the founder about jewelry in general or something like that.' That's helpful for me. Sometimes I then reach out and I'm like, 'Oh, I can't promise I'll write about this specific product. But if I could speak with your founder, or whoever I think might be useful.' That's a great way I think to build a relationship.
Gloria Chou 8:59
Yeah, what if it's just, let's say, if I make a swimsuit, so many swimsuits out there, how can I make my pitch relevant, unique? Is it about the uniqueness? Is it about the season? How, where do I even start?
Emily Cieslak 9:12
Yeah, there's so many products out there. I think as consumers, we're overwhelmed. I think consumers are just more picky about what they buy now. So I think, yeah, it's kind of setting, describing what about your product sets it apart. I also think it's a lot about now quality and inclusivity. When we're writing these roundups, we want to include products that people from all sizes can wear. If a product is only available from small to extra large, we might not include it or it might not be the best overall product because we know that it's cutting out a big portion of consumers. And yeah, we want to stand for products and brands that really champion that too. So yeah, I think being able to speak to those differences. What about your product is special?
Gloria Chou 10:08
Yeah, I love the inclusivity. Should, let's say if I, back to the swimwear example, should I also just come out and say, we are unique because we offer all of these sizes. For example, like Rihanna Pro Filt'r Foundation has so many different shades.
Emily Cieslak 10:25
Oh, yeah, no, I think that's a great factor. We often in beauty articles, we actually call that out sometimes. Yeah, we look in their foundation roundup how many shades there are. So if there's only, I don't know, like 10 shades we also are like that kind of looks bad. We don't know. Our editor might be 'I don't want you to do this.'
Gloria Chou 10:47
I love what you said about inclusivity. That's also what we're about, as you know, most of my founders are women of color. Another thing about fashion, and when I think about a fashion pitch, I think about sustainability. You might think, I don't know. I feel like sustainability has already been covered so many times. So how can we still make sustainability relevant and fresh and something you care about?
Emily Cieslak 11:08
Yeah. I think that is a big, important factor, and that's a great way to stand out as a brand. Because, for instance, workout clothes, I feel there's so many different brands of leggings and sports bras, but some of the ones that are getting a lot of attention are the ones that have either recycled materials or materials made from water bottles and stuff like that. I think it's great to call that out, and that's sometimes that's a category we have is best recycled product or best sustainable. So yeah, I think even thinking about that, maybe Google if you sell swimsuits. Google best swimsuits and see what magazines? How do they write about them? What categories do they list? And see where your product might fit in.
Gloria Chou 11:58
Right. Because the stainability is so, it's such a macro-topic. How can we bring something new to it? For example, can you give me an example of ,obviously, most fashion now should be sustainable, what are some of the unique angles within sustainability that you're looking out for that piques your interest?
Emily Cieslak 12:16
Yeah, I feel like going to beauty. I think there's a lot of different terms when it comes to clean beauty. There's vegan, and cruelty-free or the packaging might be the sustainable part of a beauty item. And so yeah, that's kind it's..I think we're trying to step away from just a blanket term, but be kind of see, 'Is this sustainable packaging?' So there's different roundups about that. And then with fashion, it's maybe some products also have a good program where you can recycle the item, or you could bring it back and get a discount and be able to buy something else. So it's another angle of what in terms of sustainability. What is it? Because I think some consumers, maybe they don't really are looking having something recycled, made from recycled materials is great, but maybe they want to buy something that was a vintage piece. People have different values, and again, it was the same as a beauty is. Some people value cruelty free over vegan. Those are actually two different things. So yeah, it's thinking about what I guess, 'Who are you targeting with your product? What type of consumer?'
Gloria Chou 13:40
So what about layering the levels of uniqueness, if you will. Because unique as a word is so subjective for one person. So what if it's something that say it's a zero waste soap brand? Not so unique in the sense that there's a lot of zero waste products. But what if the founder's story is interesting? Or what if they donate to an interesting charity? Could that be a bullet point in the pitch as well?
Emily Cieslak 14:04
Yeah, I think it definitely helps. And yeah, I think that we can think of it what matters to a consumer and what is going to cause them to purchase something over something else? So yeah, we tried to also include a specific number of brands like women-owned brands, or black- owned brands. So that's another great aspect. And we try to think about the overall picture. If we know we're promoting products that actually are sustainable or give back, that speaks well on everyone.
Gloria Chou 14:43
Yeah, I love that. So, I teach a pitching method in my PR Masterclass, but if you were to just come on stage andteach my audience what a really good pitch would be very simple. So what would the subject line say? What would the email look like? And can you kind of just run me through the structure of like, what would be like a, like a good pitch.
Emily Cieslak 15:02
I think specifically for me,as a commerce editor writer, I look a lot at in the subject. What is this product? Is it sunscreen? Or is it a swimsuit? So I feel having a very long subject that's not very direct can be misleading and just I might not open that page. So I think it's better to be more simple and direct in your subject. You could say, I don't know, 'new swimsuit line launches,' or 'don't try to hide.' What are you writing about specifically?
Gloria Chou 15:37
So can it be like this: 'sustainable swimwear line is from made from algae' or something like that?
Emily Cieslak 15:44
Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. I think it'd be 'Oh, sustainable swimwear.' If I'm writing about swimwear or something, I'm 'Oh, yeah. That's a cool one to look at.' Then I think with the pitch, you want to, it's a balance between not being too long that the person can't read all of it, but also, obviously, you need some information. So yeah, and I think links tothe founder's page and links to the website, links to where you can buy this product. Is it only sold on your website? Or do you sell it like at Nordstrom or Amazon? I guess, just fill it up with the essential information. Because we don't read all of it if it's very long.
Gloria Chou 16:29
Yeah. So for example, I always say don't put your unpublished autobiography on there. I don't want to know you or about your founder.
Emily Cieslak 16:39
Yeah. You can briefly mention 'Oh, coming from the healthcare industry so and so, started this brand, whatever. But yeah, I don't need the full bio. I can always go to the website and click on that if I want that information.
Gloria Chou 16:54
Yeah, I always like them to start off with relevance. So since we are in swimwear season, or since travel is. You think leading with that is good?
Emily Cieslak 17:02
Yeah, that really helps them. Maybe also, if there was some event, like the Grammys, I don't know. It's something kind of like a tie in. Yeah, but that does help. I think don't try to, but it's, don't try to hide the main part of your pitch either. Maybe have one sentence that's leading into it, but then get into the body.
Emily Cieslak 17:05
So can the sentence be like, 'This swimwear line is perfect for this season because 1,2,3.'
Emily Cieslak 17:33
Yeah, that's great. I think that reminds me, I think also thinking about in terms of fashion, like different body types. And so I get pitches where it's like this is a good bra for at large cups or small cups. And that's also another thing that can distinguish you from other brands and products.
Gloria Chou 17:51
Yeah. So I think another problem that a lot of founders have is they have a wide range of products. So how do they know how much to stuff into one pitch? Should they focus on one thing, like their best seller or talk about everything they have?
Emily Cieslak 18:04
I think it'sgood to be specific, and maybe focus on that one thing you really want to pitch and you can always say, let's say, you're pitching a bra. And we have this is the main product. But you can also say, an art collection also has other intimate items. So, yeah. You can let the person know there's more to it. But I would focus on whatever you think is the strongest point or product you want to write about.
Gloria Chou 18:33
Yeah, I always say think about the season and then think about your best seller.
Emily Cieslak 18:37
Yeah, and what do you think is most likely for a brand or a magazine to write about?
Gloria Chou 18:44
Yeah, based on the previous.
Emily Cieslak 18:47
Yeah. And I think yeah, looking at what has this person written about before. What kind of format does their article take like? Where could you see your product fitting in?
Gloria Chou 19:00
What about price point? Where to find it? Whether or not there's a sale coming up and product photos, where does that all go in the pitch?
Emily Cieslak 19:08
I think price point is important. We try to, in our round ups, have a range of price points. We usually have a best budget or value item. So that's something that's a lot lower price point, but still good quality. And also a best splurge. So yeah, highlighting if that's a selling point of yours. We offer this at a really low price. I would definitely highlight that. And the part about where's this available is really important too, becausewe're trying to think about the consumer experience. Most people they feel comfortable shopping on Amazon or Nordstrom or websites that they are familiar with and have a good customer experience. So there's free shipping or free returns. And so if it's hard to find your product, or someone might not be, they're not, I don't know, I've never shopped on this website before, that can be like a decision disadvantage. Also stock is important. I don't think I mentioned that. But if a product is almost out of stock, and if it's something that it doesn't seem might come back, we might not include it, because we don't want someone to read the article, click on it and then not be able to buy.
Gloria Chou 20:26
Okay, you've given us so much. What about at the closing sentences? What is the best way? Should it be like, as your readers are looking for the best swimwear, 'I'm happy to send you a sample' or 'here's a link to high quality photos.' Or should they actually use it in the body of the email?
Emily Cieslak 20:41
Yeah, I think that's yeah, that's a good part. I think a lot of emails end that way. That's a good way to end it. And yeah, I might reach out and be 'I'm not sure if I'll write about this. But I would love a sample or speak to your expert. Photos are good, too. They're not... I feel the most important thing I think about and to be honest, in our roundups, we just include product images. We don't really includephoto shoots, stylized photos from brands. So that's not , at least for my type of articles. That's not a main consideration on it of what I think about.
Gloria Chou 21:23
Are there any pros and cons to hyperlinking it instead of embedding it directly in the email?
Emily Cieslak 21:29
I think linking it sometime. I think maybe include one or two images. But if you I think if there's too many images, then the email gets really long. And you don't want to scroll through everything. Maybe I wouldn't put text under the image, if it's a lot of it, because then I might not even read that part. Yeah, I think it's if I'm interested, I will probably click on the link, if you maybe include one image or a couple and then I can click on it and see more of it.
Gloria Chou 21:59
So a really important part of my pitching method. CPR stands for credibility. So that's when they would mention if someone else wore something similar or they've been featured before, or if they're bestsellers. So how much does that matter? And how much of that should they include in the pitch?
Emily Cieslak 22:15
Yeah, I think that does matter. I think, a celebrity tie in. This has been worn by these models or whatever is always good for fashion articles. I think for beauty products. Being able to establish. Maybe you can say, this has won an award like Allure best seller or something like that. There's some times they say, 'oh, it's an Amazon Best Seller. I feel that's a little bit less powerful, just because there's so many Amazon bestsellers and almost every product has five star reviews somewhere. So that's not always the biggest selling point. We do look at reviews online, what people are writing about the product. But that's not our main source of truth.
Gloria Chou 23:01
Yeah, because reviews can be fake as we all know.
Emily Cieslak 23:04
Right. There's always someone who loves a product, but also someone who hates it. So you have to take it with a grain of salt.
Gloria Chou 23:12
Exactly. So let's say the email is perfect. They listen to this podcast. They've gone and watched my PR Masterclass. They send you the email. What is the usual timeline of when you would respond to them? I always tell my audience to follow up, like after a week or ten days. How do you feel about follow ups? And then how soon would you get back to them for either an interview or there's no interview involved?
Emily Cieslak 23:34
Yeah, so I think a week is a good amount of time, because if you do it any sooner, it might, just be I didn't, sometimes depending on how timely the pitches are what I'm working on, I might respond to it right away. Or sometimes on Fridays or Mondays, that's when I go through my inbox and see re-read things and be, is there anything I missed? And yeah, I think a week is a good amount of time, because that might be maybe I just missed it, or I kind of forgot to respond and that can bring it up. Or I said sometimes something doesn't work right now, but later it will so I feel a week also gives you time for maybe I got a new assignment, and now I need to write about this. Yeah, and I think maybe one or one to two follow ups is good. I feel any more than that. It's just that probably means I'm not gonna write about it, or at least not right now. I think most editors don't take the time to, say no. They're not going to reply. They don't have time for that.
Gloria Chou 24:41
Yeah, so let's say you're interested: how would you respond? Do you need to get on the phone with someone or what kind of research do you need to get that published?
Emily Cieslak 24:50
Yeah, so. Like an interview.
Gloria Chou 24:53
Yeah, so. Let's say someone pitches you what is required for it to be published?
Emily Cieslak 24:58
Yeah, I like to. I'm open to do both, email, interviews where I send them questions and I give them usually my deadline. So they know how fast they have to respond. Or sometimes I'm happy to do a phone call, or a Zoom interview, depending on the story and what questions I have. If it's a sample request, I tell them like, 'Oh, I'd maybe want to try this product.' And then they would hopefully help coordinate that. We can coordinate that together, and I think a lot of times, it takes a while for an article to get published. So I can interview you. It's not that I'm not going to write the article anymore, just with everything else going on, and might take a few weeks for you to see that actually go online.
Gloria Chou 25:50
Yeah, I mean, if you're busy, so they even get a response. That means they're doing pretty good.
Emily Cieslak 25:54
Yeah, yeah. And that means I read their stuff. And I'm like, interested.
Gloria Chou 25:58
Yeah. Okay, so now let's talk about. You've given us so many gems about the ins and outs of the pitching. For anyone that's listening, come back to this episode. It's literally like a masterclass on how to pitch a fashion and a commerce editor. Now, let's talk about things they should not do that you see all the time.
Emily Cieslak 26:17
Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing, like I said, is pitching something was just not relevant. I'm not. It's funny, I once did an internship actually at a showroom. So I was the PR person. I remember, my boss was just email, every editor, you can the same pitch. I think that's a big mistake. Because, you'rewasting your time. And, it's sometimes I just don't write about this topic or it's not the type of article I write. So I feel that's the biggest mistake. It's trying to just email the same pitch to as many people as possible and not really understanding. Every magazine is slightly different, has a different voice, a different tone, and covers different products. Just know who you're pitching. And I think, quality over quantity. Obviously, you want to reach a lot of people, but you also don't want to just generalize your pitch that someone might just be, 'Nope, this doesn't apply to.'
Gloria Chou 27:21
It doesn't mean that you have to spend hours crafting every pitch, but do your research. And it could be as simple as in the first sentence. 'Hey, since you covered this last year'
Emily Cieslak 27:32
Yeah. And actually going off of that, sometimes I get pitches, let's say I wrote that bucket hat story. So a week later, after it's published, someone pitches me and is, 'Oh, I saw you wrotethis article. I have a bucket hat. Maybe you could try it.' I get why they do that and I think it is a smart move. But at the same time, at least for me, I've already moved on to another topic. I'm not going to. It's not the priority anymore. So I probably won't respond and want to test your product, maybe in a year or a few months when I'm updating the story. But I've already moved on to a different topic.
Gloria Chou 28:12
Yeah, but at least we can ask, 'well, what are you covering? So then they can start.
Emily Cieslak 28:17
Or they could be like, maybe I wrote an article about work bags. I wrote an article about that. And they can be 'We also have other bags in case you're working on something else.' Yeah, that's a good tie in.
Gloria Chou 28:29
Yeah, I love that. It's seeing the world as window of opportunity and repositioning and not as a rejection, but how can I turn this into a conversation.
Emily Cieslak 28:38
Yeah, for sure.
Gloria Chou 28:40
Let's talk about gift guides. I know you don't really write gift guides. But when I think of commerce, I think about holidays, and Q4. Are there any tips or anything interesting about pitching during Q4?
Emily Cieslak 28:53
Yeah, that's all the sales are going on. All the gift guides. Yeah, I think it's somewhat similar. Think about what is this publication? What type of products do they write about? And I think if you look at a lot of gift guides, they're broken down into categories. This is the best gift for an outdoorsy person, or a book lover or something like that. So I think maybe thinking about your product, and what if I were an editor, how would I write this? What angle would I put on it? And maybe try to find publications that suit that would want to write about this is great for the wine loving connoisseur.
Gloria Chou 29:37
Yeah, so yeah. I love that.
Emily Cieslak 29:39
And yeah, and again, it's the same thing. Price point. Thinking about how easy it is to buy. Is it something that someone can add to their Amazon cart? Or do they have to go to a completely different website? So yeah, all those different factors.
Gloria Chou 29:53
Can you tell me an example of a very small bootstrapping unknown? Maybe a mompreneur, who like pitched their product, and you gave them a platform on InStyle. And it completely changed their business.
Emily Cieslak 30:07
Yeah, I think have a good one. I run through an article this was for I think Real Simple. It was about period panties. And so that's I feel like a smaller product category. There's lesser known brands. And so I think I got a pitch from a brand that I didn't like really heard about before, but it was just compelling. They offered to give me a sample, and so I tried it. And then I think I talked to my editor, and she was yeah, you could write a whole roundup about different products like that. And so, yeah, I included it. I haven't heard too much about the impact, but I think it definitely helped. And, since that was more of like, a niche topic, I was I was willing to try every product that was in that category.
Gloria Chou 30:59
Yeah, I think for so many people. It's not just about the article. It's about what's possible for them, and then believing that they deserve to be seen, heard and valued. So that's why I do what I do. I'm so glad. Is there anything that's really piquing your interest right now, other than sustainability and inclusivity? What other trends are you seeing in fashion journalism and what's going on in the news?
Emily Cieslak 31:23
Yeah, I feel consumers have they really want practical items. So things that they can wear, both to work, but also, on the weekends. I think that's a trend in itself. How practical and versatile something is. What else? I think, people just want stuff that stands for something. If a product is aligned with a social cause, or something like that, which is also important. And, I think Tiktok, social media is constantly a source of inspiration. I even sometimes look at that to find experts, see who posted. I searched up a term like bucket hats. Actually, that's how I found some sources I was looking at, like, who tagged bucket hats, and what were they talking about within that category?
Gloria Chou 32:19
Yeah. In terms of SEO, I know, before we got on here, you're talking about you actually look at trends, not based on only what they pitch you but also SEO keywords. So would you recommend every person listening, who is doing something that's e-commerce apparel to actually do that research themselves before pitching?
Emily Cieslak 32:36
Oh, yeah, I think that's really helpful, because it shows you a lot about what people are searching for. And also, when we do this, too, we look at SEO, but also the questions people ask around a product. Trying to think of a good example. I will. Yeah, I'm writing about white jeans right now. So I know that one popular question is, how do I keep them clean? And so that could even be an angle. If a brand I don't know, has a product that is good at resisting stains or is a cleaner? They could be, 'oh, yeah, this is a really popular search term. And we have a product that fights that issue.
Gloria Chou 33:20
That's very compelling. That's a yes. It's saying, it's not like, 'Oh, well, this is me saying to put my product on there. It's what all these other internet people are searching for. So you have to cover that.
Emily Cieslak 33:32
Yeah, exactly. We look at that, too. It's, what are people searching for about this product? And we also look at what other sites have written about something. So yeah, it's, you got to keep everything in mind, the big picture.
Gloria Chou 33:47
And thinking creatively. Even if you don't do white jeans, it might be a white travel bag or white bucket hat. And you can relate it to what people are searching which isstain fighting materials. So there you go,
Emily Cieslak 33:58
Yeah, that's always like a good angle, too.
Gloria Chou 34:01
Yeah, I guess get creative. Well, thank you so much, Emily! You have given us so many gems. You've talked to us about what you're looking forward to writing about. I know that it's going to be absolutely game-changing advice. So how can people find you? How can people read about what you're covering and what you're looking to write about this season?
Emily Cieslak 34:21
Yeah, so you can. My instagram. You can reach me there. It's just like @ my name. So @emilycieslack. Then I don't know, my email. I have like my work email but also like a personal email. So I don't know if that's going to be linked in the podcast. But yeah, that's like a good way to pitch me and just reach out.
Gloria Chou 34:42
Yeah, and your Instagram is @emilycieslack. It's C-I-E-S-L-A-C-K. Yes. Thank you so much for being on the show.
Gloria Chou 34:52
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