December is a very interesting month for an online outreach campaign. Right now, every campaign in the works for us has some sort of Christmas element to it: charity, gift giving, gift finders, gift guides, etc. In theory, it makes sense to have online outreach campaigns during this time of year. After all, more and more shoppers are staying in to purchase online, rather than go out and brave the hellish nightmare that is the mall. However, I’ve noticed a trend in our December campaigns doesn’t bode well for PR cheer…

Even though many online consumer campaigns are timely, newsworthy and (under normal circumstances) of interest to a blogger, it takes a lot more work to achieve any sort of placement than it would in months like March or September.

E-mail pitches that are normally replied to within hours take days (if they are replied to at all). They usually begin with “Melanie, I am SO sorry I wasn’t able to e-mail you back sooner. It’s been so busy here!” This is something I’m used to and I try to explain to clients and more traditional PR colleagues that bloggers, unlike feature journalists, aren’t scrambling for holiday stories. They already have their own in the form of family and friends. Product reviews and web site mentions get thrown to the wayside in exchange for their own brand of Christmas magic.

The fact of the matter is, people aren’t reading blogs as much as they’re reading reviews on Amazon. Online outreach campaigns are not perfect for every product just as much as they’re not perfect for every time of year. A campaign has to be really stellar to get through all the white noise of Christmas music and screaming toddlers. There are a few tactics that I think do this best:

  • Charity: People are generally in more of a giving mood and saying that your Client A is stopping world hunger or supporting climate change initiatives resonates very well. I haven’t seen a holiday charity campaign bomb yet.
  • Cutesy holiday virals: There’s a reason why I’ve had no less than seven Elf Yourself requests in my inbox. Before you ask, here’s mine. (Side note: As I typed in the URL to link to the site, it took nearly three minutes to load. Ya think maybe some other people are on it?)
  • Giveaways: These are generally a sure thing any time of year, but during the holidays who doesn’t want a little something for themselves too?

Maybe these seem a little too easy. I think they’re pretty much common sense, but then again I think most of digital PR is common sense, and I see way too many campaigns or ideas that make me scratch my head in wonderment. Stellar PR doesn’t have to be complicated, it just has to work.