"Beyond driving immediate sales, brands this year are angling to get into gift guides to help them with SEO and GEO, and build overall awareness in the long term. But, rather than taking a "spray and pray" approach, companies are getting more selective about who they pitch, and why, to increase the odds that they get into the most relevant gift guides for their brand. That includes pitching Substacks, developing relationships with human editors and finding the right niche audiences."
"Lauren Kleinman, founder at the public relations agency Dreamday, said gift guides are a key holiday strategy for more than 20 brands her team is working with this year. Many are using it to bolster their GEO strategies, she said, since AI-powered recommendations are increasingly drawing on third-party sites and editorial content to inform the results surfaced to users. Put simply, the more mentions a brand gets in trusted publications, the more likely it is that a ChatGPT user might see it."
Gift guides are being used to drive immediate holiday sales and to improve long-term SEO, GEO, and brand discovery through editorial mentions. Brands are shifting from broad pitching to selective outreach to the most relevant guides, targeting Substacks, niche audiences, and building relationships with human editors. AI-powered recommendation systems increasingly draw on third-party editorial content, so mentions in trusted publications influence how AI surfaces brands year-round. Newer brands especially rely on placement to gain credibility and post-holiday discovery benefits. Founders and PR teams are prioritizing direct pitching to increase odds of inclusion and to bolster credibility beyond December.
Read at Digiday
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