Our Christmas tree arrived this week – all 10ft of it – and although I’m 6ft 5, I still looked like Clark W. Griswold’s understudy in Christmas Vacation. (Which is, by the way, the greatest Christmas film of all time. Happy to debate.)
As I stood next to this towering beast for a photo, my PR brain kicked into gear – because Christmas tree farms are quietly sitting on some brilliant PR opportunities and most of them never tap into them.
Here are three quick PR lessons any business can learn from a Christmas tree farm:
1) Use Your Built-In Seasons
Tree farms don’t need to invent a news moment – December delivers it on a sleigh.
Most businesses have their own quiet “seasons” too: New customer cycles, industry moments, regulatory changes, predictable questions.
If something repeats every year or every quarter, the media love it.
Seasonality = relevance.
2) Your Everyday Routine Is Someone Else’s Story
A tree takes 8–12 years to grow. Most people don’t know that.
A PR-able story is often the thing you take for granted: The craft, the patience, the quirky tradition, the behind-the-scenes process.
Tree farmers don’t just sell trees. They grow Christmas – and that’s a story begging to be told.
What are you doing every day that your audience would find fascinating?
3) Pictures Sell What Words Can’t
Tree farms are full of effortless photo moments – and the media love a good festive visual. A single strong image can get coverage where a paragraph never would.
The same goes for any brand: If the story is visual, show it.
Photos create context, scale, emotion… and clicks. (And yes, the 10ft-tree-vs-Greg photo does all three.)
These three ideas alone could give a Christmas tree farm more local and regional coverage than they’ve ever had – and they apply beautifully to founders, specialists and entrepreneurs too.
But there’s actually one PR angle most tree farms completely miss, and it’s the one that would get them featured every single December without fail. I break it down for subscribers only – along with simple tips you can use immediately in your own content and PR.
Want The Full Version? Get the subscriber edition with:
- The expert angle the media actively want every December
- A practical checklist for turning your business moments into press opportunities
- The behind-the-scenes story of the 10ft tree delivery
- And the one line that transforms an everyday task into a media hook
And before you head off to rewatch your favourite Christmas film… What’s your go-to festive movie?
I’ve nailed my colours to the mast with Christmas Vacation – what’s yours?