Whether you’re just starting out as a small brand in the industry or have years of experience under your belt, a long-term PR strategy is vital to help generate better brand awareness, sales and recognition within your niche. For those of you who are new to the world of PR and marketing, we understand things can be a little daunting at first. To ease you in, we’ve pulled together a few top tips to help you maximise your reach in the months ahead!
Get your timing right
When it comes to securing a spot in your favourite publications, planning ahead of their lead times is crucial.
There are two main publication types that you need to be aware of: long lead and short lead. While both types will cover similar topics, they’ll be working on their features at different stages in the year. It’s important to get familiar with their general timelines to make sure you know when journalists are working on specific features, such as seasonal gift guides or key trends on the horizon.
- Long lead date: Quarterly, bi-monthly and monthly glossy magazines which typically work between 2-5 months ahead of key seasonal events. It’s important to have your high-res seasonal images available for journalists to download as early as possible so that you don’t miss out on the opportunity to be featured in publications such as Livingetc, House Beautiful, ELLE Decoration and more.
- Short lead date: These tend to be the weekly magazines, daily newspapers and online publications like Metro, Good Homes (online) and The Sunday Times. To secure a spot within these publications, we recommend having your images available and getting your press releases sent between one week to two months ahead of the specific season or event.
Have high-quality images ready and waiting
They say ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ and that couldn’t be more true when it comes to your PR. Your images are an extension of your brand identity, so it’s important to invest in crisp, high-resolution product photos that will both catch the journalist’s eye and make a statement if they make it to print.
It’s good to have a mixture of both cut-out and lifestyle images readily available for journalists to choose from. Cut-out images give journalists more flexibility when it comes to the layout of their features (say, for example, seasonal gift guides or a trend moodboard), so we see a slightly higher demand for these on Press Loft. With that being said, gorgeous lifestyle imagery can make your brand stand out from the crowd, so they still have an important part to play. Plus, we’ve been seeing more demand for these images in the last year or so.
One thing to note: if you’re pitching your product images directly to the press rather than hosting them in an image library like Press Loft, remember to label your files properly before hitting send! Journalists receive so many images in their inbox on a daily basis. By including the essential info, such as the brand name, design, website and prices, you’re not only ensuring that your images are easy to distinguish, but also providing all of the details needed for proper crediting if they’re featured. If you’re a Press Loft member, journalists receive all of these details automatically, so you don’t need to worry about a thing!
Keep an eye out for the latest trends
Taking time to research upcoming trends can be a pretty fun task to help shape your upcoming photoshoots, product-buying and PR strategy for the months ahead. There are a few different ways to identify relevant interior trends for the months and years ahead.
Trend forecasting services such as WGSN, Trend Bible, The Better Trends Co. and Pantone are a great place to start. These forecasting services provide the most up-to-date information on what colours and styles are predicted to dominate the industry over the next few years. While these services can be expensive, you can often find snippets of their forecasts on their social media channels or even in free demos to gain a little inspiration.
Traditional forecasters aren’t the only ones shaping trend direction in the digital sphere. Considering how influential social media can be with regards to our style choices in real life, new trends can essentially pop up overnight! Be sure to take note of any that catch your eye while scrolling on Instagram or TikTok so that you can capitalise on them early.
Design magazines like Architectural Digest, Elle Decoration, Vogue and Livingetc, along with interior blogs such as Mad About the House and Swoon Worthy are also great places to start when trend-spotting to find what’s currently making waves according to experts within the industry.
Still unsure where to start? Here at Press Loft, we curate trends weekly based on our own research and user-generated data so that you can stay in-the-know. If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up to our free trends alerts!
Introduce yourself with a press release
At its core, PR is all about story-telling, and what better way to do this than through a press release? A press release is not only a great way to shout about any new products or launches, but also an amazing tool to provide a little insight into who you are as a brand.
Journalists receive hundreds of releases every single day. Make sure to take some time to create something that will both communicate your message clearly and help you stand out from the crowd.
A few things to avoid when writing a release:
- Not including a short yet punchy headline that will grab journalists’ attention. Be sure to make the most out of attention-grabbing keywords and phrases like ‘new launch’, ‘Christmas must-haves’, ‘AW23 collection’ or utilise relevant trends you come across in your research. This way, journalists know exactly what you’re talking about before they even open the email.
- Not including images. Images are the second most important part of any press release and can make or break your chances of securing coverage. By including images within your press release, journalists can determine if your products are the perfect addition to any upcoming features right away.
- Going into too much detail. Press releases are best when they can convey all the necessary information in a way that is succinct and easy to understand, so don’t go overboard with the extra details.
- Focusing too much on the company and not enough on the product or service you’re offering.
We hope you find these tips and tricks helpful and feel ready to dive into the world of PR! Of course, if you ever have any questions, our friendly team is always more than happy to help and offer advice to help you get the coverage you deserve – just get in touch at info@pressloft.com.
What is Press Loft?
Press Loft is a PR platform specialising in the home, gift and lifestyle sectors that helps thousands of brands to get their products into the press. Their PR tools allow companies to easily secure press coverage and quality backlinks for SEO by connecting with their network of 24,000+ journalists, bloggers and influencers.
Did you know that we offer a FREE trial of our PR tools (including influencer outreach) for new brands? Click here to start your free trial and join over 1,000 brands already using Press Loft for their business.
