How to Pitch and Get on Daily Candy, and Prepare for the Placement

BREAKING NEWS! Daily Candy has closed. Our 7 recommended  newsletter-based websites you should pitch now, including ones for Kids, Men, Fashion, Food, Gadgets, and more!
 

If you are planning to pitch Daily Candy, there are important factors you should know before you get on Daily Candy. Daily Candy looks for a specific type of product, and once featured in the coveted email and website, traffic to your website can shoot up, so you best be prepared.  A few Tin Shingle members have been featured on Daily Candy - and not just once! Tin Shingle member Amy Demas of Bestow Boutique was featured in Daily Candy, Rachel Dooley of Gemma Redux (at least twice, once in article and once as a produced video), and Jill Frechtman of Fretzels by Jill for a gift guide edition, and more! 

Here is the breakdown for how to get on Daily Candy. As an entrepreneur or emerging brand, this is totally possible for you, and can help leverage your brand to the next level! However, the latter is extremely important because as much as we fantasize about getting that hit, if you aren't prepared, it could break your brand.  

WHAT DAILY CANDY LOOKS FOR
They are looking for cool, unique, and more or less undiscovered and new products, websites, locations, and at times events.  If you're product has been featured all over tv, the web, or in several major magazines, the likelihood of you getting into Daily Candy is slim to none. 

WHAT DOES YOUR WEBSITE LOOK LIKE?
Another key?  Your website.  If your website doesn't convey your brands appeal the moment an editor visits it, or doesn't deliver the message you're trying to get across you may lose your chance for a feature.  Be sure your products are easy to find and your site is as cool and unique as your product.  This is your calling card!  (Needless to say sites without shopping carts should wait until they are more prepared before pitching). 

WAS YOUR PRODUCT RECENTLY FEATURED?
It's also important to be very honest with yourself about whether or not your product is something that is in the style of Daily Candy's past picks.  I have seen brands that have made it to O Magazine, Lucky Magazine, and more that were turned down by Daily Candy.  We all often think our product is the best, sassiest, most unique brand out there, but times like these require some honest reflection.  If you have been reading your daily emails from the Daily Candy crew, and honestly see your product as one that fits in with what they promote, if the season and timing is good for your brand, and you haven't been plastered all over the press already, then give your pitch a shot.

SO HOW DO YOU PITCH DAILY CANDY? 

• For starters never call the editors even if you somehow find a phone number.  Similar to most bloggers (and most editors) they do not want to be called by you.  An email pitch will suffice. 
• Do not pitch every editor in every city with your product.  Only email the Daily Candy Everywhere editor if your pitch is a nationally applicable brand, and if it's a more localized story such as  a local boutique or service, or if you are a local brand connected to the area from which you work, pitch the local editor. 
• Do you work with kids products or services?  Reach out to Daily Candy Kids.  Again do NOT reach out to multiple editors with the same pitch.  Several of them work in the NYC offices and you will quickly develop a relationship as a spammer. 
• Once you pitch, lay low.  Do not reach out again in a week or even two weeks. Trust that they have received your information and that they are considering if it's a good fit. If you want to check in wait a month, and then ping them not with a "did you get my information" email, but instead with some updated and interesting information about your brand or product.  Keep these emails short and sweet. 
• You are allowed 2 follow ups over the course of two months and then you must let it go!  Feel free to keep the editors on your media list for future emails, but know that they should be general.
• Do not stalk them monthly.  Remember, just like dating a guy, you know when they are interested.  Repeated emails wondering if old emails were lost does not help your cause!  For instance, Bestow Boutique was pitched once to Daily Candy's editor who covered them.  Once is often all it takes if you are the right fit. 
• Remember, if they don't love you for Daily Candy, there are plenty of other media fish in the sea!

IF YOU ARE READY TO PITCH DAILY CANDY...
What to send in that email?  Here's how:

• Send a brief description of your product, and introduce yourself.  
• Do not send a pitch over a paragraph long, and don't create a cute, Daily Candy-esque write up - that is their job! Instead, use your pitch to illustrate your uniqueness, how new you are, and do so thinking about what attracts people to reading Daily Candy - they want to find the hottest, newest, cutest stuff.  So paint that picture in your pitch. 
• Be sure you link to your website or product images to make it easy for them to see what makes your product pop!  Don't send a media kit with lists of press you've received, remember less is more in this case!

WHAT IF DAILY CANDY PICKS ME? 
In the words of Whitney Houston, "How will I know?"  If you are picked up by Daily Candy, it can change your brand for good or for bad, so be prepared.  You will receive an email from their editorial staff letting you know that you have been selected and when your story will "go live", as well as which newsletter you will be featured in.

Remember: Daily Candy promotes brands by city (check their site for all city listings) as well as promotes Daily Candy Everywhere, in which they promote websites or products that have a more universal appeal.  Daily Candy Everywhere products are also featured on the landing page of the website which gives even more reach, and is sent out to all subscribers.  Location-based Daily Candy entries are only sent to those who subscribe to that location's email list.

Knowing you will be featured is not enough.  When Bestow Boutique received the email, they didn't simply high five each other and wait with bated breath until their Monday feature.  They made the following necessary moves:

• Made sure their website and shopping cart could support even higher amounts of traffic and purchases.
• Checked with Daily Candy as to which products they'd be featuring or using images of in the newsletter and on the website in order to determine which ones to have extra stock of just in case.
• Figured out that they were in Daily Candy Everywhere and not just Daily Candy New York City - more traffic means more preparation!
• Prepared to blog about this, Twitter, use Facebook to promote the placement.
• Prepared to leverage the press:  Daily Candy can open doors to buyers, and press from other outlets ranging from Blogs to magazines.  The moment Daily Candy dropped Bestow could send this story to the other magazines they wanted to reach out to as they were instantly validated.
• Watch your Google Alerts - Daily Candy often leads to smaller blog hits that are great to track for your press book.

Godspeed entrepreneurs!  Assess your product and whether you think the effort will be worth your time, create a fantastic pitch, and deliver it to the correct editor. 

The good news is, Daily Candy is DAILY so your chances of getting covered if you are a great fit aren't impossible.  The other good news?  Deciding if you are a fit or not, making that pitch or two, and moving forward can also be great for your brand, as if this door doesn't open, it leaves you more time to focus on the hundreds of other great media opportunities for your brand.

Knowing how to pitch the media is a major step to securing press for your brand. At Tin Shingle, we empower small businesses, experts and young and established brands to make this happen through our unique membership program. Once you unlock membership, you can have instant access to Media Contacts at major magazines, Editorial Calendars, select PR Leads, an all-access pass to all classes in our .EDU Education Program, a connection to a trusted community of other businesses who are going through what you are experiencing as you grow your brand. Click here to learn more about membership with Tin Shingle.