Simply put, holiday gift guides are the biggest press opportunity of the year for products, and these placements can have a big impact on your end-of-year sales goals. We heard from Nora Wolf (founder of Wolf PR and Wolf Craft) about how to gain maximum holiday gift guide pitching success. Read the recap below, and check out Nora's full course on pitching gift guides here. 

Key takeaways: 

• Gift guides are different from any other kind of product placement outreach because of the amount of opportunities. There are more products per page and more publications to pitch for this one month out of the year!
• Lead times expand considerably, meaning they start sometimes months earlier, and issues close earlier than all other months.
• Researching is critical, especially because you're looking to work with publications you've never pitched before. Invest in Readly or Apple News+ to look at past gift guide issues and pay attention to metrics like price point, market, and even size. 
• Some print publications will publish their gift guide on their digital platform ahead of the print release. After you have identified your top priority print publications, research their online platforms. You may notice that more products or guides are included online where editors are not restricted by page space.
• During the holidays ‘giftable’ items, especially for consumables, are very popular. A coffee company is not just selling a pound of coffee, but rather a sampler, or coffee with two mugs. You may have to work with your client to re-merchandise an existing product to make it ‘giftable’.
• Don't sleep on regional titles. Local and regional publications are really important during gift guide season, it is easier to secure a spot and they have a dedicated readership who often like to shop local. If, for example, you have a Canadian brand, Canadian publications LOVE to include things made in Canada or available at a local retailer.
• During gift guide season, fashion publications often will include non-fashion items.