Why your festive PR needs to start in summer

Seasons Greetings! As we enter August and get nearer to the final weeks of summer, I thought it would be the perfect time to talk to you about your Christmas PR strategy.

Really? You might be thinking. With your summer holiday just around the corner, is now really the time to be talking about Christmas? Well unfortunately… Yes! PR doesn’t take a summer break, and as soon as October rolls around and the countdown to peak season begins, you’ll be wishing upon a star that you had started sooner. 

There are many benefits to starting your festive PR in summer and by getting your Santa’s in row early, you’ll save time, resources, and brain power to deliver stellar PR campaigns. 

Journalists work months in advance

Journalists and bloggers usually begin work on their Christmas features months in advance. So if you want your products to appear in round-ups or gift guides, you need to pitch in early. There are 1000s of print and online products and gift guides produced in the UK each year, making them a popular PR activity leading up to Christmas, and the competition fierce. Product requests from journalists have been reported to be seen as early as June, so the quicker you start, the quicker you’ll make sure you’re securing top-level placements.

More time for planning and execution

Journalists work months ahead to ensure that they have plenty of time, and time is exactly what will help you succeed in your festive PR strategies. Starting your festive PR in summer will ensure you have a clear WIP timeline, and give you the opportunity to build a layered and staggered campaign strategy in the months leading up to the holidays. By having a clear plan to work towards, you’ll ensure nothing gets left until the last minute, leaving you calm, organised, and ready to hit the ground running. 

Beat the full inbox

By getting ahead, not only will it allow you and your team more breathing space, you’ll allow some for journalists too. Come October and November, journalists’ inboxes will be snowed under with pitches, so getting in early means your work will stand out in a quieter inbox, and will give your email a much higher chance of being read. By starting early, you can also build relationships and warm journalists up to your campaigns, rather than hoping to secure coverage in peak season, and in last-minute attempts to capture attention. 

Get ahead of your competitors

Many brands leave their festive PR too late. If you leave yours until the nights start getting shorter and the weather starts getting colder, you’ll likely have to scramble to pull something together in a short time, and leave yourself vulnerable to fewer opportunities. Starting in summer not only gives you an advantage, it puts you first in line, allowing you to secure those all-important placements before others have even begun getting into the Xmas spirit.  

You have more leg room to be creative

One final aspect is when you’re not in a time crunch, and under considerably less pressure, you will have time to experiment more and come up with fun and bold ideas. Planning ahead means you can explore unique PR angles, develop seasonal data stories, or plan brand activations with time and scope, rather than relying on the same Christmas stories from each year. 

The takeaway?

Christmas might feel a long way off when the sun’s still shining, but for PRs thinking ahead is one of our many strong points. By getting your Santa’s in a row this summer you are giving your brand or your clients the best chance at success while delivering campaigns that stand out, secure top-tier coverage, and create results worth celebrating! 

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