Thursday: From gift guides to Black Friday, lots of newly published stories.
Hi, everyone.
I’m sorry first of all for the delay in today’s email. Today has been A DAY.
I’ll get into all that another time, but now I’m trying to get my ducks in a row before I head to St. Martin tomorrow for the weekend (which will be exactly as delightful as it is to be writing it).
I have some good stuff for you today, from job leads to A TON of newly published content (I think about a half dozen stories, including a gift guide and a Black Friday deals roundup - just since yesterday), and even some pretty exciting listening material!
Listen while you work
My good friend Jill was a guest on the The Pitchin’ and Sippin’ Podcast with Lexie Smith of THEPRBAR and it’s SO great and insightful, I highly recommend you listen. I actually have a session coming up with them too in early December, so will keep you posted and share the link when it happens!
Newly Published
Since people are often asking about the status of stories from a while ago, and I only share stories in this newsletter that were published or updated in the current week, I have created a list of my author pages at various publications to which I contribute. Bookmark it and make your life a bit easier.
This list will live on my Substack URL and be updated as necessary. That way, you can see what I’m doing at any publication, at any time, from types of stories to general structure of stories to even volume and frequency of my content at that outlet.
This can also help you to target pitching a bit better. That makes your job easier, and mine too!
Forbes: Holiday Gift Guide 2022: The Best Gifts For Hot Cocoa Lovers
Her Money: The Best Black Friday Strategies You Need To Save Big
The Kitchn: Sam’s Club Lowered the Price on Its Hot Dog Combo, Sparking New Weiner War with Costco
Food Network: Panera’s New Bakery Milkshakes Are a Must for Anyone With a Sweet Tooth
Food Network: Get Your Free Reusable Red Cup at Starbucks on November 17
Forbes: Thanksgiving Cocktails To Be Thankful For This Holiday Season
Forbes: 15 Celebrity Chefs Share Their Favorite Tips For Easier Thanksgiving Prep
The Kitchn: Martha Stewart’s Hack for Making Your Own Cheesecloth Uses an Item You Already Have in Your House
Food Network: Popeyes’ New Blackened Chicken Sandwich May Just Reignite the Fast Food Chicken Wars
Food Network: Spam Drops New Figgy Pudding-flavored Meat for the Holidays
The Kitchn: This Hack for Using Leftover Pie Crust Will Produce Tasty Cookies in Less Than 15 Minutes
Southern Living: How To Travel With Food This Thanksgiving
Clean Plates: 10 Trader Joe’s Frozen Appetizers Perfect For Holiday Parties
Yahoo Life: Can you cook Thanksgiving dinner as a sheet pan meal? One chef says yes. Here's how.
The Kitchn: This Multifunctional Spoon Has Become a Mainstay in My Kitchen — And It’s Less than $10 on Amazon
Eat This, Not That: 7 Thanksgiving Side Dishes You Can Make in Your Air Fryer
Forbes: Holiday Gift Guide 2022: The Best Gifts For Seafood Lovers
Forbes: Holiday Gift Guide 2022: The Best Gear For A Starter Kitchen
Forbes: Holiday Gift Guide 2022: The Best Culinary Gifts For Fans Of The Royal Family
If you or your client are featured in any of these stories, I super appreciate any social media shares! Please remember to tag @alywalansky and the outlet.
Job Leads
Job leads are always welcome and encouraged. Please email me any time and I’m happy to support you in your search.
Plantedseed PR has an opening for an account executive with CPG experience. More info here.
Here’s what I’m working on:
Be sure to read the below list carefully. Many are stories I posted about yesterday, but some of yesterday's stories are no longer listed and a few new ones have been added since yesterday. This (below) is everything that is still a currently open opportunity as of today.
Please remember when pitching me: Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com - do NOT just hit reply on this newsletter, or there’s a good shot your email will be lost in the heap. Give your email a subject line that makes it clear which story you are pitching me for — it’ll help you in the long run.
Please consult my industry insights guides on submitting expert commentary, sending emails that will catch a journalist’s attention, how to craft pitches journalists will say ‘yes’ to, and the right and wrong way to submit photos, if you need any extra guidance before sending your pitches.
Forbes
Guess what? I’m working on more Forbes holiday gift guides! See the details below, as well as how to pitch me:
Great gifts for martini lovers - Yes, I want your vodka/gin pitches, but also good olives, pretty glasses, barware, maybe some sort of way to keep them extra cold?
As a reminder, the format for pitching this and any of my holiday gift guides is:
Name of product
Where sold (URL), price
description/why it is a fit for this particular topic
LINK to high res image
(and please make sure this item is in stock and available to ship before the holidays before pitching me.)
HelloGiggles
GIFT GUIDE ALERT: Sexy Stocking Stuffers You Can Buy Online. I’m looking for gifts that are great for partners and/or the BFF that needs to get her groove back. Please use the same parameters as the guides above when pitching.
TODAY
I’m putting out feelers for a potential freebies/deals roundup for Today.com for NATIONAL COOKIE DAY, which will be observed on December 4. If you have anything that may be a fit at a chain cafe/restaurant, please email me with what the deal is, when it will be honored, and how to claim the deal.
Virtual consulting sessions...
Looking for a consult as you plan your next event or trip? Or just want someone to take a look at the pitches you’ve been sending and give some feedback?
I've been popping into a lot of PR team virtual meetings and some other fun stuff (This summer, I even joined in on an agency’s team retreat right here in Brooklyn — it was so fun and I made so many new friends!) and making myself available to answer all sorts of questions about pitching, events, and trips from a media perspective. I like to keep these things chill and comfortable and relaxed all by sharing perspective and learning from one another.
If you are interested in setting anything up for your own team in the coming months, please email me and we'll get something on the books! This is available for entire agencies or smaller group lunch and learn type concepts. If you are a freelance publicist and want to join in with a few other freelance publicist friends and set something up, we can do that as well!
On the fence over whether this is a good fit for your team? Here’s some feedback I received from people who I have worked with recently:
"Aly’s advice and insight is invaluable to our team, not only is she incredibly knowledgeable, she is approachable, generous, and kind too. While we read every one of her newsletters, we decided to go one step further and invited Aly to host a Q&A with our agency. During the session, we felt comfortable asking her everything and anything. She went above and beyond, providing examples and reasoning for each answer, and the team walked away with an abundance of new insight, tips, and tricks, plus a new confidence in handling some of the most crucial parts of our jobs." Sacha Bell, Rachel Harrison Communications
"Looking for a brilliant writer that always goes above and beyond? Look no further than Aly! She is an incredible teacher, tells it exactly how it is and is so generous in sharing her knowledge. She knows what she wants from publicists, is very clear on her needs and expectations, and how to best support one another. Most of all, her kind personality jumps off the page, and her giggle and smile are infectious. In this consistently changing world of media, it’s so refreshing to know someone so genuine.” Kirsten Wanket
“Aly spoke to our team to help us all gain a better understanding of the media side of our business. Whether it was the best ways to pitch media or understanding the editorial process of content, she gave us tremendous insight into a vital relationship for mutual success. We were thrilled and our team came away with not only a deeper understanding, but with greater empathy for our colleagues in the media market. Definitely would recommend Aly for any agency looking to better work with their media counterparts.” Dawn Britt, Founder/Managing Partner/CEO of OneSeven Agency
“Aly has very kindly agreed to join a few sessions for us talking to both smaller and larger internal groups, and it has been incredibly helpful for our team to understand more about her process, and garner best practices that we leverage as we work on various programs. From sharing dos and don’ts for virtual and in-person events to pitching tips, Aly is a pro and always so thoughtful in her responses. And her own first-hand knowledge has helped us all to better understand the work process for freelancers and how we can most effectively work with other freelancers like Aly. We always appreciate her time and insights!” Erin Delahanty, Edelman
“I would highly recommend booking a virtual consulting session with Aly for an agency of any size! She offers up to date perspective on everything from the affiliates to how to get your pitches read to timing your pitching correctly. These virtual consulting sessions literally save you time trying to figure out what the media is looking for and give your team an immediate edge. Aly took her time and answered questions from the team. She is super friendly and you can tell she genuinely wants to create a win-win relationship between the media and publicists. Our team loved having Aly on and we cannot wait to have her back! It was a blast!” Leah Cybulski, ChicExecs
“Aly was able to join our agency for a PR Perspectives chat and not only was it so much fun, but it was so informative! Keeping a pulse on the constantly changing media landscape is so important and we loved the insights and expertise Aly was able to share with us. Highly recommend setting up a chat with her!” Jennifer Haile, Dentsu Creative PR
“I am always looking for ways to share new ideas and learning opportunities with our team to improve how we pitch and offer value to journalists and in turn their audience. Aly's no nonsense approach gave us accessible advice about the best way to communicate to media, what formats works best, and basically how we can share our client news in a way that will get us noticed and included in stories. Would do again in a heartbeat!” Samantha Davidson, Say My Name Communications
“For my team’s first hybrid media event for a product launch in the COVID era, Aly quickly jumped on a Zoom and dropped great insights that drove many of the event elements. The direction she provided helped us increase attendance and gave her journalist colleagues a more memorable experience. It was a bonus that she was so easy and fun to talk to.” Apryl Ash, Approach Marketing
Now, it’s your turn! Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com to get something on my schedule.
Looking to up your affiliate marketing game?
Affiliate marketing is complicated, and it seems that the landscape keeps changing. If you are looking to be prepared for gift guide season and all other shopping-related content, you may want to try the Ultimate Masterclass and Introduction to Affiliate Marketing for Publicists. It's a brilliant course and it'll answer all your questions (including some you didn't know you had!)