Simple Ways to Find Media Contacts for Father’s Day
Gift-giving holidays like Father’s Day are a great time to grab media attention for your business. People are naturally going to look for gift ideas and the media is ready to snag the views with a killer gift guide.
The only thing standing in the way of your business being featured in the media is a simple conversation between you and the right media contact.
But wait, how do you do that?!
What publications will write a Father’s Day gift guide?
Who do I contact?
How do I contact them?
Where is their contact information?!
These questions may seem daunting at first, but from experience I can tell you that it is super simple to find the answer to all of them and be well on your way to land your products in a Father’s Day gift guide.
But first, you should know…
The window to land your products in Father’s Day gift guides is about to close. Even though we still have several weeks until the holiday, most publications wrap up their gift guides in advance so they have time to edit, get everything approved, and publish it in time for their audience to shop.
Let me be clear: there is still time to get into the publications that publish daily and even some TV programs will still have last-minute spots available for Father’s Day segments. But you need to get on this now!
What publications will write a Father’s Day gift guide?
The short answer to this is: probably the same ones that published a gift guide last year. If you search your local papers and favorite blogs for Father’s Day gift guides in 2019 and come up with a hit, they most likely are going to publish a Father’s Day gift guide in 2020.
Of course, some publications are going to publish a gift guide for the first time this year, but I would not prioritize an outlet that hasn’t in the past over one that is likely to do it again. It’s fine to reach out to a publication even if they have never published a gift guide, but just be aware that it’s a little bit more of a gamble.
Who do I contact?
Some publications only have one or two writers. Some publications have a lot. Other publications rely on a mix of staff and freelance writers. So how do you know who the right person is to contact?
Start with the same person who published the Father’s Day gift guide last year.
How do I contact them?
Email.
The industry standard is to make your first contact by email. If you don’t get a response, you can send a follow-up email. And sometimes it’s appropriate to make a follow-up phone call, but only after you have initially sent your first communication via email.
Where is their contact information?
Most of the time, a journalist, reporter, producer, blogger, or influencer will keep their contact information publicly available. You can usually find it in one of these common places:
Their bio page on the publication’s website
The masthead on the publication’s website
Their Twitter bio
Their personal website
If you want more detailed information about finding media contacts, including my cheat sheet, check out this freebie you can download now.
Father’s Day Media Contacts Freebie
Remember, you can find contacts just like a publicist.
Most people know that PR is all about relationships with the media and the best publicists have a large network of media contacts. This is true, but what they don’t tell you is that the media is always changing, which means that experienced publicists are using the same strategies as someone who just started PR (like you) to find the best media contacts for whatever client they are working on.
I can tell you this with certainty because I’m one of those publicists with 10 years of experience turning to Google every day in order to find the best media contacts for my client’s goals.
There’s no reason you can’t do this too.