Even though pumpkin spice products and cozy sweaters just hit the shelves, most journalists and PR pros have already moved on to the biggest shopping event of the year: the holiday season. For PR pros with consumer-facing clients, the guidelines around holiday gift guide pitching are often outlined by editors to streamline the selection process. But for those of us with B2B clients, it’s less clear how our clients’ services fit into the holiday season news cycle.
Following are four strategies for inserting B2B companies into retail reporters’ holiday coverage:
- Leverage Company Data. Does your client have any unique data it can share with journalists? If so, now is the time to leverage it. When clients analyze their data to develop newsworthy statistics or trends, it almost always drives results, but holiday-related statistics can hit a grand slam. This data could include trending products, year-over-year spending habits, or how in-store sales compare to e-commerce sales across geographic areas.
- Promote Holiday-Themed Customer Success Stories. How are your clients’ products or services helping retail customers prepare for the holiday season? If there’s an interesting story to tell, see if your clients’ customers are willing to participate in a case study or speak with the media about how it has helped them during the holiday season.
- Create a Branded, Holiday-themed Infographic. Compelling graphics present important points in a clear, concise way that is sure to capture attention. If you’re not familiar with Photoshop, you can create an infographic with easy-to-use tools like Easel.ly or Piktochart. Then publish it on your client’s website to increase traffic. Studies show that web traffic tends to increase by 12 percent after publishing an infographic.
- Offer End-of-Year Predictions. The New Year brings a multitude of stories and lists predicting which trends are in store for the coming year. Work with company executives to compile a list of unique, well-founded trend predictions for their industry that can encompass everything from new innovations to market consolidations. Be sure to ground your predictions in fact or current trends to back-up your claims.
The holidays offer an excellent platform to drive media results as long as you creatively tailor your strategy to fit your B2B clients’ unique brand story. These are just a few of the strategies that you can tailor to hit a grand slam this holiday season.