How to budget for a winning holiday gift guide season

Even what once were considered “short lead” digital publishers work on features months in advance.

Similar to your digital advertising spend, the competition is incredibly high for gift guides. You’re not just competing against the brands in your space. You’re competing against EVERY brand targeting that consumer archetype or demographic.

It’s an inconvenient truth that performance marketing and the big return on digital spends have become a race to the bottom. Brand A outspends you for that small space on my phone, so you need to outspend them. It doesn’t matter if brand A is trying to sell toilet paper or surf wax. You both want to be on my screen. Space is limited, and the highest bidder wins.

PR outreach is underutilized and underbudgeted compared to performance marketing, even as brands continue to throw dollars at their digital spending in a race to the CMP and CPA eyeballs. Especially when you consider that studies have shown more than 90% of consumers trust earned media. How many people “trust” advertising?

But how much time or fee should you spend? After 20+ years in PR – working in #HumbleBrag tech, snowboarding, wellness, finance, and general consumer products – I’ve come up with the perfect formula for budgeting a successful holiday gift guide push.