If you make and sell any kind of consumer-focussed retail product, summer presents an unmissable chance to get your creations seen (and purchased) by the largest audience of consumers imaginable.

Why? Because while we’re wondering how to stay cool in the heat, the editors and writers at the country’s most widely-read glossy magazines are thinking about a different time of year entirely; the festive season.

The content we see in magazines is planned months ahead – usually two or three, but for special editions like a Christmas issue, planning can begin five or even six months before the publishing date.

A big part of most Christmas editions is a gift guide, and summer is traditionally the time that editors begin seeking out and bookmarking potential products to include. If you only start to consider your Christmas product PR plans in October or November, you’ll be missing the boat entirely.

August is therefore the ideal time to begin pitching your products to the magazines you’d love to be featured in, while July is a great time to get organised so that you have everything ready for your pitch.

Use July to take perfect high-res press shots, compile product descriptions, prepare samples to send out (journalists will almost always want to see and test the product themselves), and research the kind of magazines that are most likely to feature your product.

There are lots of ways to connect with your dream magazines – skim through to pinpoint key journalists and find them on Twitter or Instagram, check hashtags on social media for product requests and gift guides, or send them a good old fashioned email; it will have to be impeccably crafted though; some editors get hundreds of pitches a day.

Happy pitching!