How do you know if your products are right for the Christmas gift guides?
The UK Christmas press produces some of the most comprehensive Christmas gift guides in the world and thousands of people rely on the gift guides to find presents for their loved ones. What better way to get your products out there at this key sales time of the year, when people are actively searching for products to buy, than Christmas gift guide coverage?
The number of product features the press produce increases significantly in the lead up to Christmas. This is good news for you as a eCommerce business, because it means that there are vast opportunities to get your products featured in the press and reach more customers.
But how do you know if your products are right for the Christmas gift guides? And what are the editors compiling them actually looking for? In this blog post, we run you through some of last year’s gift guide themes and show you what products are typically relevant for Christmas press.
Look through previous Christmas gift guides
Coverage gained by two of our 2022 Christmas gift guide members
Browsing through last year’s Christmas gift guides, you’ll see what products the editors compiling the gift guides tend to like and what they’re typically looking for. You’ll discover the wide range of categories and themes and understand what products to focus on for them.
To give you an idea of the different categories from 2022 - last year The Telegraph, Woman & Home and The Guardian and Sheerluxe magazines each ran 'Best Christmas Gifts for Couples' guides, featuring products like homemade gin and cheese kits, his and hers pyjama sets, bed linen, pottery kits, cookware and kitchenware, chocolates, door mats, lifestyle subscription boxes, plus much more.
The Evening Standard ran an 'All-encompassing Christmas Gift Guide' featuring homeware, fashion, tech, beauty, food & drink and toys. Some products featured included a handmade cotton cushion cover, a therapy massager, socks, slippers, men's fashion, jewellery, food and drink hampers, fragrances and a kid's camera.
The Guardian’s Christmas gift guides included the 'Christmas Travel Gift Guide' and featured a water bottle made of recycled plastic, art photography prints inspired by travel, sustainable sunglasses plus more. They also ran a 'Best Christmas Food Gift guide' featuring, products like homemade sweets, biscuits and chutneys, and a 'Culture Christmas Gift Guide' featuring products such as cookbooks, jigsaw puzzles, tea towels, his and her clothing, and model kits.
Their 'Ultimate Feel Good gift guide' had many categories including stocking fillers, home, fitness, women, pets, food, kids, beauty, men and gifts for the person who has everything. Some of the many products featured included stationery, candles, multi toolkits, crafting kits, trekking poles, beard oil and scissors, potpourri, scarfs, dog beds, cat houses, and sourdough kits.
ELLE Magazine also ran a number of different themed Christmas gift guides. Their 'Eco Sustainable Gift Guide' featured vegan trainers and boots, a zero waste planner and journal, clothing and bags made from recycled materials, natural beauty products plus more. Other themes Elle ran included 'The Luxury Gift guide,' 'Boozy Gifts for Friends and Family,' 'The Ultimate Jewellery Guide,' 'This Year's Best Skincare Gift Sets,' 'Stocking Fillers for Her,' 'Indy Beauty Brands' and 'Secret Santa Gifts for Everyone in the Office.'
Good Housekeeping, Hello magazine and The Independent all ran 'Gifts for Teens' Christmas gift guides. Products featured included phone holders and charging hubs, cable protectors, 3D printing pens, personalised drinking bottles, personalised jewellery, cosmetics, headphones and stands, activity books, board games, watches, comic book kits plus more.
To recap, here is just a small selection of the many themes run by the 2022 Christmas guides:
⦁ Gifts for couples
⦁ Gifts for travellers
⦁ Eco-friendly and sustainable gifts
⦁ Food and drink gifts
⦁ Boozy gifts for friends and family
⦁ Ultimate jewellery gifts
⦁ Best skincare gifts
⦁ Stocking fillers
⦁ Indy brand gifts
⦁ Secret Santa gifts
⦁ Feel-good gifts
⦁ Gifts for the home
⦁ Gifts for pets
⦁ Gifts for kids/teens
⦁ Gifts for the person who has everything
As well as particular themes, the magazines and newspapers also run Christmas gift guides separated into different price ranges, for example, ‘Gifts under £50,’ or 'Gifts under £20' etc.
2. Establish your most relevant Christmas products
Coverage gained by one of our 2022 Christmas gift guide members
Once you’ve got an overview of the different themes, categories and price ranges, you’ll quickly be able to figure out whether you have products that are relevant and which of your products to pitch to the press.
You want to establish the products to focus on for the gift guides - it will make your life easier - but most importantly you will be doing the press a favour by showcasing your most ‘Christmas-worthy’ products. If you need to get your cut-out imagery sorted for Christmas press and your budget is limited, you only need to prioritise to get these pieces shot.
3. Smaller product range? No problem.
If you’ve got a bigger product range, your products will likely fit into a variety of different themes. However, having a small product range doesn’t necessarily mean fewer opportunities for Christmas PR. If your products are right for the gift guides, you could have just one or two products that do really well and get featured time and time again. Niche and relatively unique products generally tend to be popular with the Christmas press.
It doesn’t matter which of your products are picked up by the press - the main thing is to have your brand name and products in the gift guides so that you can stay on the radar of potential customers, increase awareness and boost your credibility. If a reader likes the look of your product, they will head to your website and browse your other products too. And if they purchase from you at Christmas, they’ll likely purchase from you again.
4. Christmas gift guide themes and categories are
lifestyle-led
It's important to remember that Christmas gift guide themes and categories are
lifestyle-led. For example, ‘Christmas Gifts for Gardeners' are not looking for lawnmowers, but for products like a 'Gardener Of The Year' mug, a seed subscription box, or a personalised garden shed sign. Basically, ‘giftable’ products that also look good on a magazine page or in an online gift guide.
If you want to pitch to the Christmas gift guides and gain coverage, you need to get ready now so that you don’t miss out on great coverage for your eCommerce business products.
Getting your products featured in the Christmas gift guides can help increase your brand awareness, reach a wider customer base, and increase your website traffic and sales, even long after Christmas is over.
Want to access more free tips and advice on how to get your business featured in the Christmas gift guides? Head to our downloads page: https://www.prdispatch.com/downloads
Want to get your product-based business featured in the Christmas gift guides?
On the 6th of July, we open our yearly 2023 Christmas gift guide PR membership - but we only have 120 memberships available. Last year we sold out of all our Christmas gift guide memberships in just 67 minutes and we expect the same this year. So make sure you secure your place on the tour, the only way to guarantee a 2023 Christmas gift guide PR membership.
The Christmas Gift Guide PR membership gives you everything you need to pitch your product to the Christmas press and you'll have access to 200+ UK Christmas press contacts for over 150 gift guides between July and December 2023 covering long-lead, short-lead and online magazines and newspapers.