LemonLime is the proactive, done-for-you sales and marketing hire for small ecommerce teams that want brand visibility and new customers without the overhead of a PR agency. It continuously studies your business, your competitors, and your industry, then identifies and prepares relevant media and podcast opportunities—delivering them for your review each morning so you can act on the best ones the same day. Start here.
This is ideal for the ecommerce founder who has a great product but has never had the time to get press coverage for it. For now, the founder and their team are using up all their sales and marketing bandwidth to run paid ads and create organic content. Thus, earned media will probably fall down the list of things to do and get left to languish indefinitely. A single well-placed feature can generate more traffic than months of ad spend.
Earned press coverage is one of the few growth channels that continue to pay off long after a story is published. And unlike other channels, you don’t have to write a big check to an agency to get it.
On this page
- Why earned media works differently than paid for ecommerce brands
- What journalists, podcast hosts, and gift guide editors actually want from ecommerce pitches
- How to build a media target list for your ecommerce store without agency help
- Writing a pitch that gets a response from a product journalist or editor
- Gift guide placements, podcast appearances, and niche media: how each channel works for ecommerce
- How LemonLime surfaces PR and media opportunities for small ecommerce teams
- FAQ
Why earned media works differently than paid for ecommerce brands
Ads can be a stop start cost in the short term whereas Press coverage has a long tail of value and continues to add value after publication.
Articles published in niche magazines and podcasts can remain indexed on the Internet for months to come and even get shared. For a lean team, spending money on ads indefinitely is unsustainable.
The trust dimension is just as significant. Ninety-two percent of consumers globally say they trust earned media—recommendations, editorial coverage, and word-of-mouth—above all other forms of advertising, a figure Nielsen tracked rising eighteen points since 2007. A sponsored Instagram post is obviously sponsored by you. A product review in a relevant publication has been deemed worthy of your editor’s readers by an editor.
Ecommerce sites experience this credibility gap in full force. For example, the conversion rates for referred editorial traffic far exceed those for cold paid traffic. This is because the reader arrives already with trust established for the author and publication.
Most small ecommerce founders do not attempt earned media because the process feels opaque and takes a long time. Thus it is easily put off by founders who are busy managing inventory, fulfilling orders and providing customer service.
What journalists, podcast hosts, and gift guide editors actually want from ecommerce pitches
They want to look good in front of their audience.
A product journalist covering sustainable home goods is not looking for a product that is "high quality." They are looking for a product their readers will thank them for discovering. Your pitch should frame your product from their point of view, not yours.
Similar to the work of podcast hosts. The hosts book guests in order to have interesting conversation with listeners and provide them with practical value. If you sell a skincare product, pitching "my skincare journey" is forgettable. Pitching "the ingredient supply chain problem no one in skincare talks about" gives them a reason to say yes.
The gift guide editors work under a tight deadline. They are interested in the products that are being sent to them, as well as how they look in photos. They are also concerned with the price point of the products. In building a list of items, or a “curated list” of items, the editors need to trust that a product looks great in photos, will arrive on time, and fits within the theme of the gift guide that they are creating.
How to build a media target list for your ecommerce store without agency help
Start with what is already being written about.
Search Google for "[your product category] + gift guide" and "[your product category] + review site." Note which publications, blogs, and podcasts consistently appear. These outlets already have an audience of people interested in your category of interest. Much more powerful than a general press database.
Most bylines contain links to the author’s profile or social media accounts. Check out the author of recent articles of interest to you and read through some of their recent work. Authors tend to write within a certain angle and your product is likely to be of interest to them. For example, a writer who writes about eco-friendly kitchenware is going to be a very different pitch target than a writer who writes about the latest and greatest in kitchen gadgets under $50 even if they are writing for the same publication.
Search within Apple Podcasts or within Spotify for podcasts dealing with the core problem of your product. Then filter by most recent episodes, and sort by highest interaction with their audience (e.g. reviews, social activity). Number of episodes does matter, but less so than the above two criteria.
This is a simple spreadsheet to organize the outlets. For each outlet, list the outlet name, the contact name, email or pitch form URL, angle or focus, and right story hook note. 50 well-researched targets will be far more effective than 500 poorly-researched, copy-and-pasted targets.
Writing a pitch that gets a response from a product journalist or editor
Shorter is better. Almost always.
A good pitch is 3 to 5 sentences in the email body. The best pitch starts with the story hook of why a product is relevant to a particular audience at a particular time. Then, there is a sentence or two of product context, and finally, an offer of a sample, a short interview, etc. to use in a particular article, unique data points, etc.
Subject lines should be concrete, not clever. "Sustainable dog collar made from ocean plastic—ready for your July gift guide" will outperform "A product your readers will love." Editors scan subject lines in under two seconds. Give them enough to decide immediately.
Personalization is NOT flattery. Reading through a journalist’s work and even pointing out a gap in their coverage recently can prove that you’re not sending out identical emails to hundreds of other journalists. That gets noticed.
Follow up once about 5-7 days after the first email with a simple one sentence follow up. This will total 2 contacts. Follow up any more and it will start to damage the relationship before it has even had a chance to develop.
Gift guide placements, podcast appearances, and niche media: how each channel works for ecommerce
These three channels are different and need to be timed separately.
Gift guides for December are usually planned out on the editorial calendar 2-4 months in advance. Major publications can start to work on their holiday gift guides as early as late summer, so it’s best to pitch your December feature by late August. If you’re looking to pitch a feature for Valentine’s Day, you can pitch as early as in early December, but missing the window by a few weeks means you’ll have to wait a whole year to pitch it again.
Podcast appearances have a longer runway and are very flexible. While print/digital editorial can take a few months to come out, typically shows book guests 2-6 weeks in advance. Therefore, even a first-time founder can get comfortable with press and start with podcast appearances. A 20 minute founder interview on a niche show with 5,000 engaged listeners is probably worth more than a single mention in a very broad but unqualified audience in a publication.
Niche media: These are the typical publications like industry newsletters, community blogs, trade publications and even review sites focused on a vertical. Most people underestimate their value. One feature in a small circulation community newsletter can generate more conversions from true and passionate buyers in your niche than coverage in a mass-market publication that doesn’t even focus on your category of buyers. Start with identifying 2-3 publications that your best customers read.
None of these channels require an agency. They require research, a clear pitch, and consistent follow-through over weeks and months.
How LemonLime surfaces PR and media opportunities for small ecommerce teams
Most founders have a great product and a great story. They don’t have hours to research, to write press releases and to follow up on press opportunities on a weekly basis and run a company at the same time.
LemonLime continuously studies a company's category, competitors, content, and positioning. When a media, podcast, or coverage opportunity becomes relevant to that specific business, it surfaces the opportunity and prepares the pitch or outreach needed to pursue it. The resulting work is then sent to the founder in a Relevance-Filtered Email at 9:00 AM local time to read.
The customer reviews the prepared pitch, decides whether to send it, and triggers the outreach. LemonLime selects the appropriate channel—email, LinkedIn, Instagram, and others—based on the opportunity.
In addition to earned media, there are a variety of growth opportunities that have been identified across businesses and over time. For example, creator partnerships, ambassador programs, giveaways, events, speaking opportunities and more. The goal is to identify the most valuable action for the business today, rather than going through a generic list of opportunities.
Getting started takes under two minutes—business name, website, and current priorities. No internal data connection is required. The first delivery arrives the following morning at 9:00 AM.
The Business plan is available for $999 per month and includes the full setup for one company with the full capability set. There is no minimum contract and there are no obligations. Any new customer who is not happy or does not see clear value receives a full refund. Customers with multiple distinct brands can be set up on a Portfolio plan for $2,499 per month.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far in advance should I pitch my product to holiday gift guides?
For December holiday gift guides, you should pitch by late August — major publications begin planning their editorial calendars 2–4 months out. Missing that window means waiting a full year to try again. The same logic applies to Valentine's Day: pitch in early December. Timing is one of the most common reasons a solid pitch gets ignored, so mark your calendar and build outreach into your schedule well ahead of each seasonal moment.
What should my PR pitch email actually say to get a journalist to respond?
Keep it to 3–5 sentences. Open with a story hook — why your product is relevant to their specific audience right now. Follow with one or two sentences of product context, then close with a concrete offer like a sample or interview. Avoid generic subject lines. Something like 'Sustainable dog collar made from ocean plastic — ready for your July gift guide' will outperform 'A product your readers will love' every time. Personalization signals you actually read their work.
Is a niche podcast with a small audience actually worth pitching as an ecommerce founder?
Yes — often more than a large general-interest show. A niche podcast with 5,000 engaged listeners who match your buyer profile will almost always outperform a broad show where your product category is irrelevant to most of the audience. Look for shows with consistent publishing schedules, strong listener reviews, and active social communities. Engagement and audience fit matter far more than raw download numbers when evaluating whether a podcast appearance will drive real results.
How do I build a media list for my ecommerce store without paying for a PR database?
Start by searching Google for '[your product category] + gift guide' and '[your product category] + review site.' The outlets that consistently appear already have audiences interested in your category. Then read the bylines of relevant articles and research each author's recent work and angle. Do the same on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Build a simple spreadsheet with outlet name, contact, pitch form URL, editorial angle, and story hook. Fifty well-researched contacts will outperform 500 generic ones.
What does LemonLime actually do to help me get media coverage, and how does it get started?
LemonLime studies your category, competitors, and positioning, then surfaces relevant media, podcast, and gift guide opportunities — along with the prepared pitch needed to pursue each one. You review what's been prepared each morning and decide what to act on. It does not require access to your internal company data to get started. Setup takes under two minutes: business name, website, and current priorities. The first delivery arrives the following morning at 9:00 AM. You can sign up at https://lemonlime.com/signup.