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Offering a must-have product or service is one of the most effective ways to attract customers to your small business during the holiday season, but only if they know that you've got it. While print, mail and Internet campaigns are traditional marketing strategies that you can use to highlight your business's unique products or services, don't overlook opportunities to get one of your business's products or services in a gift list story (Best Gift for under $25, Top Gifts for Golfers and so on) in local media. This may be one of the best holiday marketing strategies that your small business hasn't tried.
If you haven't targeted media gift list stories as part of your holiday marketing strategy, here are six tips for how to take advantage of this powerful (and free) technique.
Prepare a pitch for your product or service. It should, of course, lead with the product or service name and description. In addition, include you business's name, address, telephone number, hours, email address and website address. Highlight what sets your product or service apart (Is it new? Is it only available from your business? Does it do something quicker, better, in a unique way? Is it green, organic or healthy?) and for whom it would be the perfect gift (a sports lover, cook, college student, favorite uncle, etc.). Be sure to include the price and any other relevant details, such as shipping cost or color choices, as well as a picture, if you have one.
Get the word out. During November and December, local newspapers, regional radio and television programs, and websites often run stories highlighting unique, innovative or special gifts. Send each your gift description with a note describing why you believe that it would be perfect for inclusion in a "Best Gifts for the Holidays" story. If you have any personal contacts in the local media, alert them to your pitch, since they may be able to help you get it to the right person on staff.
Emphasize the local angle. Local media, by definition, prefers to focus on and support local businesses, so be sure to emphasize the local angle in your pitch for your product or service. If it is locally made, only available locally, only available locally at your business, or the brainchild of a local inventor be sure to point that out. Also, if there is something about it that has local appeal (for example, it targets fans of a local or regional sports team), make that known.
Be charitable. Another way to set your product or service apart and attract media attention for it is to link it to a local nonprofit by contributing a percentage of each sale to that group.
Focus on mass-market price points. Unless your business targets only the upscale market, spotlight gifts at moderate price points for two reasons. First, it is far more likely the local media will do a story about gifts for less than $50 or $25 than one on gifts for more than $100. Second, the market for moderately priced gifts is far larger than for premium-priced items.
Don't limit yourself to just one item. While you don't want to overwhelm your media contacts with holiday gift ideas, you can increase your chances of having an item included in a gift list story by offering several items at different price points that target different gift recipients. Also, invite your media contacts to reach out to you for other gift ideas for their stories.
There is, of course, no guarantee that you will get your product or service featured in a media gift list story, but this is a low risk, potentially high return marketing strategy for the effort it requires.
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