Retail Diary Confidential: Retail 101 - Gift Guide Strategies and an interview with Lindy Segal
Sharing strategies to get your products featured in gift guides, why gift guides are a smart marketing tool and an interview with freelance journalist and Substack author Lindy Segal
Retail 101: Gift Guide Strategies
As part of the Retail Diary Q4 content I’m excited to share a new series. I’ve interviewed industry leaders across a variety of Retail, Fashion, Beauty and Marketing areas. I’ll highlight their answers and then dig a little deeper into Retail 101 insights. First up is
who is a freelance journalist and the author of the Substack. Then we will take a peek behind the curtain of Gift Guides and the strategies for why they exist, the benefit of being featured and various use cases.This week I’ve noticed a bit of Gift Guide fatigue.
(Claire and Erica) who share on their podcast fun gift guide episodes, announced they wouldn’t be highlighting gift guides this year. While I am bummed, I think we are seeing content pivot slightly this year. Whether it is recommendations, Q&A in chats or wishlists, gift guides and the content are not going anywhere since it is a major selling and engagement tool for revenue and marketing.The Holiday Files: From Pitches to Personal Picks with Lindy Segal
, freelance writer & editor and author of Retail Diary: Briefly explain what your role is. What areas do you support, what categories do you cover and your favorite part of your job.
Lindy Segal: I write for outlets including Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, and Allure, mostly covering beauty but I'll also cover occasional fashion and lifestyle trends as well. I also have my Substack, , where I interview tastemakers about their current obsessions—it's almost two years old now and been so rewarding to have something that's entirely my own! It's a little corny, but my favorite part of my job is publishing a piece I'm proud of. A lot of publishing these days is SEO-based and can feel redundant. But when I write something I can't wait for it to publish—via freelancing or in Gatekeeping–it makes it worthwhile.
Retail Diary: How early do you start planning for the holiday season in your role, and what's typically the first thing you focus on?
Lindy Segal: As a freelance editor I started getting pitches back in July. I got my first gift guide assignment in August—and I'm still getting those and working on updates. It used to be that print was long-lead and digital was short, but now everyone works pretty far in advance. For my newsletter, I started asking guests for their gift recommendations during the summer. I save them myself all year long, and that's just because it's how I am as a gift giver anyway. It's my best gift-shopping tip: When you see something someone will like, take a screenshot or save it to a folder on your IG. Then when the holidays roll around you've already done some of the work.
Retail Diary: What's your favorite part about preparing for Q4 in your job? Is there something that gets you particularly excited each year?
Lindy Segal: There tend to be some fun events around this time. It can be hard to pick and choose as freelancers go on their own dime, but a lot of them really are worth it and are so much fun. The week between Christmas and New Year's is also pretty much the only time I feel like I can really take off work, as my inbox is so quiet. I love that feeling!
Retail Diary: Any tips or ideas for coming up with original holiday key items, strategies or plans year after year?
Lindy Segal: I think people are really craving authenticity (cringe word, I know) and personal POV amid all the Amazon click-fests. For example, I was a little nervous about doing a gift guide for Gatekeeping last year because there are so many out there, but it ended up being one of my top newsletters of the year. This year I implemented more gift guides into my edit calendar. (You can check out The 2024 Gatekeeping Gift Guide here including an item I love to gift.)
Retail Diary: If you could give one piece of advice to someone in your industry about holiday preparation, what would it be?
Lindy Segal: Take time for yourself and others. It's counterintuitive but it can feel really sad and machine-like and thankless to sell things or market things during the holiday season, so I really think you have to take a step back and remember it's all just stuff.
Retail Diary: What gifts are you on the hunt for this season? Something exciting to gift and something from your own wish list.
Lindy Segal: Giving: I think we all know the Glossier fragrances are hot, hot, hot this season, and the trio is a relatively good deal.
Asking for: I'm recently obsessed with the Offhours Homecoat and just want to snuggle up in it with my dog all winter long!
Next, let’s get into the details of Gift Guides. How to get your product selected, different use cases of Gift Guides and what metrics you should be tracking and focus on improving.
Gift Guide Strategies: A Behind-the-Scenes Look
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