Christmas may seem a long way off, but for furniture marketers eager to make a splash in sparkles and online, it’s never too early to start snapping those festive promotional photos, writes Press Loft founder Nicola Snell…
As I write this column, I’m preparing for summer vacation with my family, and I feel like the sun is finally ready to make its debut – so you might be surprised to hear that, professionally, all I think and talk about is almost Christmas!
But it’s certainly not just gift or home accessories brands that can capitalize on Christmas media coverage – furniture companies can also use Christmas as a way to generate features.
At Press Loft, we closely monitor the Christmas activity of our community of select brands, journalists and influencers over the past three years, and see that headlines start Christmas earlier and in greater numbers each year. . We’ve also identified key themes and tips for furniture retailers to increase coverage and make the most of festive marketing opportunities for Christmas 2022…
Tendencies
The key to getting your products featured before Christmas is to predict what an audience will want to read or see, and therefore what the journalist is likely to write about. Trends are an effective way to do this (we regularly publish trend reports online if you don’t know where to start).
For furniture brands in particular, it can be a bit more difficult (but certainly not impossible) to cover the ground than your counterparts in the gift industry, as sofas aren’t a particularly common gift! The trick is knowing how to position your product in a hook.
Some key topics we see in the press every year for furniture brands are “Sprucing up your space before Christmas” and “Preparing your home for guests”. This could include, “Five cool ideas for your guest room”, “Top table setting tips”, “How to give your guest room a hotel vibe”, “How to make sure you have enough seating for Christmas”, “Lighting tips for holiday ‘ambience’ and ‘Design your living room/hallway/bathroom in three easy steps’, to name but a few.
Not only are these angles a great way to showcase your products, but they can also help build brand authority if you can nominate an expert on your team for an interview or commentary.
Sustainability and the cost of living crisis are two social elements that are expected to dominate conversations this Christmas. If you have products that help with warmth, reduce electricity use, or help people save costs, people will want to know about them. If you offer a Christmas rental option or have versatile/transformative products (such as a coffee table that extends to be used as a full-height table or innovative versions of a sofa bed), so shout it from the rooftops.
With all of this in mind, we expect that Christmas-based articles can start publishing even earlier than usual, to help people think about the season earlier and, more importantly, to spread the costs – so now is the time to think about how you want to position your products for the press.
The good move
Christmas is the busiest time of year for journalists, with some telling me they receive up to 300 emails and press releases a day. For your best chance of standing out among the crowd, you need to make sure your image library is styled to perfection.
When it comes to furniture in particular, accessories are essential, as your products themselves are not necessarily festive. You can consider using fairy lights, balls, decorative stars, wreaths, festive tablescapes, candles and Christmas trees in the corner of a room. These props all work well for bringing a festive touch, which can mean your snaps end up in the Christmas editions of publications.
Remember that style accessories are secondary and your product should remain the hero. A simple but effective trick that we use is the “strabismus test”. A quick tip is to simply squint at the screen or page and make sure the product is still the dominant asset in the shot.
It’s important to know that for many magazine and newspaper titles, budgets are tighter than ever, resulting in less editorial shoots, which would have been the norm before. This means that with the right image, the chances of your brand image being considered the featured image of an editorial have never been higher.
In my last column, I talked about the importance of imagery, and that rings especially true at Christmas. The same standard rules apply – minimum 300 dpi and top notch lighting. Also remember that while they look great on social media and on your own website, for press you’ll want image versions without any templates.
When it comes to Christmas, we would encourage a professional photo shoot over a personal photo shoot. Professional shoots are, of course, expensive, but usually worth it at this time of year. To make the investment more meaningful, really think about your upcoming campaigns, activities, and seasons, and rotate and remove props accordingly to get shots for all.
Chronology
As with any PR activity, timing is everything – and it’s especially important to understand when journalists and influencers are likely to be working on relevant stories in order to generate the most coverage. They can be classified into two categories:
• Long lead – think of your glossy magazines. They will start working on Christmas as early as June, and will have well and truly put their items to bed by September. The sooner you can start communicating with these journalists, the better – especially since these longer leads tend to be the ones most furniture retailers and designers want to be.
• Short lead – this covers everything from newspapers to broadcasts, and from bloggers to online versions of monthly magazines. They will work at Christmas closer to the holiday season. However, it is still important to engage with them no later than early October if you can.
If you can’t wait to start Christmas PR, but want more advice, visit our website for tons of free patterns, guidelines, and tips!
Pictured: Desenio