If you’re an existing product business, chances are you'll make an average 50% of your yearly sales in that last quarter, with a substantial part coming in the lead-up to Christmas. How can you capitalise on that and drive more people to your site? Increase your exposure so that people buy more products? Today Nicole is joined by Rosie Davies, founder of PR Dispatch, and they are going to be talking about getting press coverage for your business, particularly focusing on Christmas and getting into gift guides.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• When pitching your product business to journalists the key thing you need to include is good  imagery. Include high-quality product images or videos that can be used alongside the article, making it more visually appealing. You also want to include some Lifestyle shots and some Behind the Brand shots to show off who you are. 
• It can be scary reaching out to someone for press coverage but it can be as simple as identifying a journalist who regularly posts features which fit within your niche. Then getting in touch with them and saying what your business does, who you are, and why it’s relevant. If you have a personal story to tell the better. This is who I am and how I overcame this problem. 
• To get your product into the Christmas lists and publications you really need to be pitching yourself in July. Monthly magazines will be compiling between July and September, weekly publications will be compiling between September and the end of October. Then the dailies and online will be compiled from October to just before Christmas. 
• Look at last year's gift guides, you’ll be surprised how many categories your product will actually fit into. 
• Themes that come up every year are gifts under certain price points, secret Santa gifts, stocking fillers, her, him, kids. You also see changing themes such as in 2020 there were lists for people who had started working from home. Most will be from small businesses but some lists are only small companies or ethical and sustainable brands. 
• Don’t find the contacts yourself, get access to press contacts databases because the person doing the lists will change pretty much every year. 

BEST MOMENTS
‘You are never ever too small to do PR. You should be doing PR for the lifetime of your business’
‘Journalists are looking for interesting stories and you’re helping them’
‘Last year there were over 29,000 products featured in Christmas gift guides’
‘About 60% of those products are just from small businesses’
‘It’s not about sales, it’s about brand awareness’

EPISODE RESOURCES
PR Dispatch
Rosie | PR Memberships (@prdispatch) • Instagram photos and videos
PR Dispatch will be hosting a free workshop on the 29th of June at 10am, covering How to use the summer to get press for Christmas 2023. Register your free place here.
Join PR Dispatch for the Christmas gift guide membership tour 10am, on 6th July to to guarantee a 2023 Christmas gift guide PR membership. Book your space on the tour here. You can learn more about PR Dispatch's fastest-selling Christmas gift guide PR membership here.
Watch PR Dispatch's ''10 steps to getting your products featured in the Christmas gift guides'' workshop. Access here.
Want your e-commerce business to reach thousands of new people this Christmas? PR Dispatch has written this piece explaining how you can, for free.

ABOUT THE GUEST
Rosie Davies-Smith is the founder of PR Dispatch, the UK’s first affordable PR membership platform supporting over 450 product-based e-commerce businesses to do their PR in-house.
After running a PR agency for over a decade, Rosie founded PR Dispatch in 2017 to give brands the insights, support and press contacts they need to succeed in PR for just 3% of PR agency retainer fees. Members include startup founders that do it themselves, established brands that delegate their PR to their team and in-house marketing teams at larger e-com businesses.
Thousands of pieces of both product and profile press have been generated through PR Dispatch. PR memberships start at £60/mo.

ABOUT THE HOST
Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. She now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses.
Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

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