Tips for Holiday PR Planning

2020 is moving quickly, and before we know it, the holiday season will be upon us. When it comes to planning public relations strategies for your brand, you can never get started too soon, particularly when it comes to the holidays. As a public relations professional, one thing I know to be true is how eager publication writers and editors are to find new, interesting ways to provide their readers with engaging and trending holiday recipes and methods of cooking.

Whether you’re in the process of planning your Q4 PR strategy or waiting for the right moment to sit down and think it through, following are our tips to help you maximize public relations for your brand presence with trade and consumer media.

Tips to Maximize Your Public Relations Brand Presence This Holiday Season:

Create News Angles That Align with the Season

When thinking through news to share about your business, be sure to plan with a calendar in mind. If your brand doesn’t have major news to share – i.e. product launches, company announcements, etc. – a great way to stir up media attention is to create angles that align with a season. Plan to pitch your angle about a month ahead of your publish date goal so the writer has time to include within online coverage. If this is for print, plan to pitch about 4 months ahead of time. These angles can include:

  • Unique recipes and ways in which to use the product to feed a crowd (i.e. holiday parties) 
  • Entertainment tips that are interesting and are new and inspiring
  • Giving and sharing ideas positioning your product as the perfect gift

Make the Most of Holiday-Centric Packaging

When the holiday season arrives, store shelves are typically glittered with special holiday packaging to represent the season. New packaging, whether a refresh or for a particular time of year, is a great way to get in front of media and share the news. Tying it in with unique ways to use the product and sharing recipes for the next season provides writers with additional angles and ways to mention your brand in a future piece.

Prepare Your Assets & Messaging In Advance

When pitching consumer media for holiday stories, it’s important to keep in mind the content for the holiday issues are determined in advance, sometimes up to 6 months before it goes to print! For the larger, feature stories found in the middle of the magazine, reach out to writers as early as June for consideration. For front of book mentions, those are usually compiled about a month from when the issue goes to print as it is largely trend focused.

Navigating the news cycle towards the end of a calendar year is an ever-important element of a well-rounded annual marketing campaign so use these tips to help you amplify your brand presence!  If you don’t have a media contact to reach out to, we talk to editors at major publications every day and would love to help. 

Schedule a call with our PR team to brainstorm how we can elevate your brand to trade and national media this holiday season!

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