Why You Should Start Thinking About Your Christmas PR Campaigns Now!

As summer winds down and the crisp days of September settle in, it might feel early to start thinking about Christmas. However, for savvy businesses, September is the perfect time to plan and launch your Christmas PR campaigns ahead of the festive season. 

And don’t take our word for it. According to recent research, 41% of Brits say it's never too early for brands to start showcasing festive items while another report states a full two-thirds of Brits (69%) will have started Christmas shopping in August this year with three-quarters of Brits (77%) starting in September, and 85% by October.

But it’s not just consumers! The media begins to prepare for Christmas even earlier too.

Therefore if you wait until December to brainstorm ideas or execute your strategy, you could be left behind in the frenzy. Instead, by starting now, you can capitalise on opportunities, and drive brand awareness and those important links that can lead to increased sales, engagement, and loyalty.

Benefits of Early Christmas PR Planning:

• Get featured in gift guides
• Build brand awareness before the competition
• Secure collaborations with influencers
• Optimise SEO for festive searches relevant to your band

Here’s why businesses should start thinking about their Christmas PR campaigns now:

Timing is Everything: Build Early Awareness 

A well-timed Christmas PR campaign can put your brand in front of early planners when they are beginning to research products, gift ideas, and services.

Journalists begin asking for products to review around this time, and when they write up Christmas gift guides later in the year, they will often mention products that they have already reviewed or written about. So starting early it gives you a better chance of securing media placement in authoritative publications, as journalists and influencers will be inundated with pitches closer to December.

Top tip: A good idea is to use a “foot-in-the-door” technique with your audience by promoting smaller, Christmas-themed teasers in your marketing and PR strategies in  September and October. Once people start engaging with your brand early, they’re more likely to engage with your larger campaigns, offers or products when the festive season is in full swing.

More Time for Creative, Strategic Execution

Christmas PR campaigns require time for ideation, content creation, influencer collaborations, and outreach. By beginning now, you allow yourself ample time to think creatively, avoid rushing through details, and execute your strategy with precision. 

Once you know the ideas you’re working on, it’s a good idea to get advanced by prepping your content. Think content calendars (ideally month by month from now to December) press releases, media lists, any high-resolution product imagery and any creative assets you may need.

In PR, the run-up to Christmas always gets super busy, so being ahead of the curve and putting together your festive content now may feel strange but is so worth it in the long run.

And it’s not just product PR, it can be a piece of content that has a Christmas theme, or is linked to Christmas of some sort. For instance, around this time of year, we start outreaching content for our client Whitehead Monckton, who provides family and employment law services. With Christmas being a time for Christmas parties we have content ready to outreach with tips on how employers can avoid legal issues during the Christmas Party season or provide stats and advice around divorce post the festive season (searches and enquiries for divorce skyrocket at this time of year). So emailing journalists useful, planned, content ahead of time means you’re more likely to gain coverage and be used as a source for journalists covering these topics. 

Top Tip: Use the "Scarcity Principle" in your early Christmas PR campaign outreach. Offering exclusive holiday-themed content now creates a sense of urgency, motivating customers and journalists to act quickly rather than waiting until December when competition for attention peaks.

Take Advantage of SEO: Climb the Festive Search Ladder

Google loves fresh content, and starting your Digital PR Christmas campaigns now will allow you to create high-quality, optimised content that has time to rank well. 

Producing blog posts, guides, or interactive content related to the festive season now can ensure that by the time consumers start searching for gifts, decorations, or services, your brand appears in those search results.

As we know those important relevant and quality links also help with your SEO efforts - so it’s a win-win! 

Get Ahead of Competitors

Most businesses make the mistake of ramping up their Christmas PR campaigns in November. However, if you start in September and set those deadlines early, you have the chance to be one of the first to capture consumer attention. 

This head start allows your brand to become familiar to your audience by the time the festive shopping spree begins. (Hello John Lewis and Coca-Cola!) It also gives you the space to experiment with different Christmas PR tactics and make adjustments before the competition heats up.

Reflect on past Christmas PR campaigns

It’s worth thinking about what previous trends have worked well (and those that haven’t!) in the PR and marketing space over the festive period. Some journalists prefer certain campaigns over others, so don’t miss out on your Christmas PR coverage by trying to be *too* different.

Think about how your client can sit within a viral trend or a tried and tested method – for example, can you jump on a festive TikTok trend and lend some expert comment, could you run a festive survey that relates to your brand ahead of Christmas or could you launch the ultimate dream job perhaps?

Seasonal trends are always an obvious starter if you are creating a reactive piece of content for your digital PR campaign. Take a look at TikTok or Instagram or Google trends and see if there are any notable changes you’ve seen either throughout the year or from last year’s Christmas season. You coulda also analyse ONS reports or get an FOI request out early to find some other data points that no one has picked up on yet.

For our client Everypaw Pet Insurance we found that there was a trend on TikTok that pet owners were driving around their neighbourhoods to look at Christmas lights with their pets in their cars. However, we asked Everypaw’s in-house about this trend, who came back to us warning people to not do this as subjecting them to long periods in the car can be dangerous, especially if they are anxious or not used to long car journeys. We secured 

Christmas PR Campaigns Are No Longer Just About December

It’s important to remember the festive season expands beyond just December, especially in the digital world where Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and pre-Christmas sales often begin in November—or even earlier. By planning your digital PR now, you can create a cohesive campaign that takes advantage of these pre-holiday events, allowing you to stretch your messaging and promotions across several months and help marry up with other channels such as paid and SEO. 

Top Tip: Utilise the "Social Proof" tactic by sharing success stories from early shoppers or customers who participated in your Christmas promotions. Positive reviews, testimonials, and user-generated content can help build credibility and trust in your brand, encouraging others to jump on board early.

But it’s not just about Christmas, New Year presents so much opportunity for seasonal content and it’s usually very different from what works for the Christmas period. 

Use a keyword planner for data stats and get ahead ready for January. Topics such as these are always a hit:

• Finance topics such as money-saving ideas
• “New Year, New Me” content
• Fitness and Wellbeing
• Blue Monday
• Industry Trends

For our client Complete Pilates, we start outreaching thought leadership style content and top tips where Helen O’Leary, clinical director of Complete Pilates, lends her thoughts on what will be trending in the Pilates world come the New Year or offering her top tips on how to train safely as you head back to the gym after the New Year as well as promoting health and wellbeing in a positive way rather than the typical ‘’how to lose weight by doing these exercises” type advice.

Have a look to see what competitors are up to, what they have done in previous years and what you could learn from them. Try and enhance previous campaigns by offering a unique data set. There are a lot of similar ideas out there, so use this to help you with your ideation process.

Top tip: Use "Framing" to shape your customers' perception of the services you offer. By framing your campaign early you can nudge consumers to start engaging with you and purchasing sooner rather than later.

Key Takeaways

In summary, planning your Digital PR Christmas campaigns now may seem premature, but in reality, September is the perfect time to get started. From securing media placements in gift guides or leveraging a data-led campaign ie: a survey to release in the build-up to the Christmas season gives you a critical edge over your competitors. 

Through behavioural nudges like scarcity, social proof, and anchoring, you can subtly guide your audience's actions while creating a well-timed campaign that maximises engagement.

By beginning today, your business will be well-prepared for the most wonderful—and profitable—time of the year. Don’t wait until the holiday rush to stand out—start crafting your Christmas Digital PR strategy now, and watch your efforts pay off when it counts the most.

If you're looking for support with your digital PR campaigns this festive season and beyond, we'd love to help. Our team can create a customised Digital PR strategy designed to deliver impactful results and help you stand out from the competition.