The Holiday Public Relations Season Kicks off November 10th – Are You Ready?

There are few things as fun as holiday PR programming. No, really! Holiday PR is fun! There is so much to do! From product launches and pop-up shops, to gift guides and party tips, the last 8 weeks of the year provide PR pros a wide range of reasons, and platforms, to insert themselves into the news cycle, reaching and activating existing and new customers alike.

Timing is Everything.
But, like everything else, holiday public relations requires a lot of planning.

When it comes to creating impact with your holiday-related news, timing can be everything. Publications with a long lead date finalize their holiday PR content in August and September, well before the rest of the world is ready to celebrate the season.

Many PR professionals are unaware that November 10th is the unofficial kickoff of the holiday news season. This date allows public relations professionals to reach short lead and online publications as they begin prepping their copy for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the fun weeks that follow. This is when you will want to start your public-facing PR program to ensure coverage in as many publications as possible.

But let’s be honest, how do you secure editorial coverage during one of the most saturated times of the year?

Do some research!
A little research will go a long way when it comes to planning your holiday PR programming. Before you write your pitch, you need to answer these questions.

What is your industry focusing on this holiday season? What is hot? What is not?
What problems are they trying to solve? What does your holiday offering do differently?
What are reporters in your space writing about?
What are the influencers in your space looking for?

Then, when you are writing your actual news release, utilize Google Trends to help you identify the specific words you want to use in your headline. The more relevant the headline is to its intended audience, the more activity you will generate.

Treat Your Holiday PR Outreach Like A Present
Now that your timing is established it is time to think about your content story arc. Think of your holiday news as a present for the reporters you are pitching. What can you include that will surprise or delight them? What are you offering in your holiday announcement that their readers are looking for? Whether you are B2B and offering a holiday white paper, or a B2C brand selling a doll, you need to include enough information in your pitch that informs the reader and provides enough excitement to drive both editorial coverage and the social sharing needed for news discovery.

Here are just a handful of popular holiday news themes.

Tips for a better holiday, life or year
Gift ideas! Cards, services, products, donations, last-minute gifts by age and demographic
Economic tie-ins
Holiday socializing tie-ins
New toys and gadgets
Recipes and holiday foods
Holiday convenience opportunities
Customer spotlights
End of year wrap-ups
Holiday-related products
Non-profit donation requests
A new twist on an old offering
Look ahead/2018 trends

Utilize Story Arcs
If you are planning more than one PR outreach this holiday season, create a story arc. Story arcs are a series of content pieces distributed in a staggered cadence across one or several platforms designed to keep people interested in your content. Determine the full story you want to tell and then craft your content so that each piece builds upon the last, generating interest both as a standalone story, and as a completed story. Utilize as many tools as possible – from press releases to social retargeting to garner interest across audience types.

How does a story arc work with holiday programming? Consider your launch in stages. The first stage is awareness and discovery, so for this, you want to write a press release and send that out. This symbolizes the launch of your holiday programming and will serve as your anchor content. Don’t forget to include images and multimedia of your content – your news will be actively competing for the attention of reporters, so you need to make your news stand out from the rest. Multimedia will do this.

Amplify Your Work
Once your release has crossed the wire, leverage your website, social channels and ad networks to highlight the added benefits of your holiday program.

If this is a white paper, you want to show the important role the white paper plays in your target’s decision-making process. If it is a holiday food item, outline the variety of usage options, and the resulting delight from choosing this item. If it is a child’s toy, consider a story arc that outlines desire, usage, and scarcity. These story arcs will take your holiday launch from news release to an integrated story that piques the interest of readers no matter where they discover your news.

And don’t hesitate to take a page from today’s marketing playbooks. Facebook retargeting will allow you to communicate with your customers after they leave your website and contextual ad networks like Outbrain or Taboola are terrific when used to promote the editorial coverage you secured.

Take credit for your work.
One of the biggest mistakes PR pros make is not correctly accounting for all of the action generated from their holiday press release. In addition to measuring coverage of your news, PR professionals should also track multimedia views and shares, social activity, influencer shres, marketing channel registrations, social follower increases and of course, the steps readers are taking on the customer’s website. You generated a lot of actions, take credit for all of your work.