How long do you think reporters have been working on all of those holiday buying guides that you’ve been seeing since November? You might be shocked to discover that most of last month’s “hot new gift items” were pitched to the media last spring or summer. If you want to secure your product’s spot on next year’s lists, you’d better start getting organized now.

No, I’m not necessarily recommending that you send a Christmas pitch to the media in April (although we’ve done that!). Instead, I’m saying that you’ve got to start early in the year to lay the groundwork. First, you’ve got to sell the media on the idea that yours is the perfect product for their audience. Get them excited about it. Start the buzz by getting them to write some preliminary stories to prime the sales pump.

Then in late spring or early summer, go back to those reporters with all the reasons why your product should be in a holiday buying guide. If you’re really good, you’ll present the media with multiple gift angles and ideas.

We call this a layered approach to PR, and after 20+ years, we’re really good at it. Our publicists pick up the phones and talk with their contacts at the various media outlets around the country. They are good at knowing what buttons to push to secure a placement.

If we know that you want to be mentioned in a holiday buying guide, we’ll help you build media momentum. But we need enough time to craft a quality, professional campaign. If you wait until next November to call us, there won’t be much we can do to get your story out there in time for Black Friday.

My best advice is for you to pick up the phone right now and call us. Let’s start strategizing about how to call more attention to your product during the 2012 holiday buying season.