EP355: Holiday Publicity Push: PR Success Tips for Jewelry and Product Businesses with Nora Wolf
Getting publicity for your jewelry brand is a crucial element of a robust marketing strategy, and the holiday season is the most important time to do it.
The top publications have a very long lead time for their holiday content. If you want to take advantage of opportunities to get your products featured in holiday gift guides, now is the time to start thinking about your PR strategy.
I sat down with PR expert Nora Wolf to discuss how to prepare for the holiday season and craft email pitches that will get your products noticed by editors.
Nora is a designer at heart. She studied art and design at school, and discovered PR to be the perfect blend of her communication talent and love for fashion.
She worked in the industry for four years before starting her own public relations firm, Wolf PR. Since then, she’s never looked back.
Wolf PR has been a huge success. She and her team work with design companies to get their products featured in publications year-round. While she loves the fast-paced nature of working with big-name brands, she also wanted to find a way to connect with smaller, independent companies who don’t have the budget for a traditional PR team.
“There are so many amazing designer who this isn’t a good fit for,” she explains, “that doesn’t mean they don’t have good stories or that they’re not interesting to the media.”
So, she founded Wolf Craft, providing PR support to independent businesses without the hefty retainer.
Her very first order of business was to create resources for the most important time of the year for makers: the holiday season.
I partnered with Nora to host her upcoming virtual workshop, How to Increase Brand Awareness with Holiday Gift Guide Press
This one-time event on June 7 will teach you everything you need to know about getting your products featured this holiday season.
Grab your seat before it’s full!
Getting PR for Your Jewelry Brand During the Holiday Season
While year-round PR is great for any brand, having a solid PR strategy for the holidays is absolutely non-negotiable for any designer trying to grow their business.
That’s because of holiday gift guides.
During the holidays, publications that might normally have nothing to do with your product are looking for exceptional brands to feature in their seasonal holiday gift guides. On top of that, traditional fashion and jewelry publications are going to have even more opportunities than usual.
It’s the best time to get your product featured and connect with editors.
PR is a long-game. It’s not so much about getting immediate sales, but rather establishing public credibility for your brand and getting more eyes on your product. Once you’ve proven yourself to a publication, it’s much easier to build a continuing relationship with them, and it opens the door to future opportunities.
How to Find Publications That Want to Feature Your Products
Research is a key part of a good PR strategy. Nora and her team do research every single day for their clients.
Some key questions to ask are…
- Does this publication feature products in my pricepoint?
- Does this publication feature products in my niche/genre?
- Does this publication align with my brand?
- Does my dream client read this publication?
Publications tend to be design-oriented, so pay attention to the choices the editors make and think about how your product would appeal to their audience.
This is a big part of the PR process that we didn’t have time to cover on the podcast, but she’ll walk you through it step-by-step in her workshop on June 7, so don’t forget to register!
Craft the Perfect Pitch
One of the most common questions Nora gets asked is, “How do I pitch my product?”
She says empathy is key.
Editors are almost always overworked and underpaid. They should be able to scan your email quickly and see…
- A professional photo of your product.
- Your contact information.
- What makes your product a good fit for the publication’s audience.
Long-winded emails about how badly you want to be featured will wind up in the trash. Keep it simple, keep it brief, and focus on the value you can offer to the editor and their audience.
Listen to the full episode above for more of Nora’s expertise on how to communicate your product in a way that’s palatable to the media.
There’s a lot more to PR than what we had time to cover in our short interview, so don’t forget to register for Nora’s workshop, How to Increase Brand Awareness with Holiday Gift Guide Press.
During this workshop you’ll learn:
- Why the holidays have 5x the amount of press opportunities
- Why gift guides should be your media outreach priority if you sell products
- How gift guide press can *supercharge* your end of year sales goals
- When to pitch gift guides editors so you don't miss out on this great media opportunity
- 5 insider publicist tips so you're sure your product is ready for gift guide outreach
It’s going to be a one-time virtual event on June 7, so don’t miss your chance to secure a spot and participate in a live Q&A with PR experts!
xo, Tracy
Sponsor Spotlight!
Links:
Live Workshop: How to Increase Brand Awareness with Holiday Gift Guide Press
More Resources for Jewelry Designers
