PressList updated with a new Compose window and an editable sender
Ever since we introduced PressList it is under constant improvement. Today we introduced some new stuff we hope you’ll like.
Editable sender
We made the sender adjustable for every message. Just edit the name and email address and we’ll use those to send your message. An example use-case would be when you want to switch between your personal address and your regular company address.
A new Compose window
To fit this, plus all the other stuff we recently introduced, into one elegant screen we also improved the Compose window. It is a lot bigger and cleaner than the old one. Check out what the new Compose window looks like:
Design updated on PressDoc and PressRoom pages
You might have already noticed that we updated the design on the PressDoc and PressRoom pages. Since a picture or webpage is worth a 1000 (or more) words we would like to show you the new design.
Why does GLOG home like Pressdoc?
Could you build yourself a house? We think you could!
That is exactly what our company, gloghome.com, does – we design houses and house building plans so more people could build their homes by themselves. In terms of human history, using high cost contractors is a relevantly new trend – all our ancestors built their own homes, so why don’t we?
Our paths crossed with PressDoc’s (PD) when we were searching for someone to distribute our message to a wider audience and help us manage press releases more easily. In addition, one of the members of our team had previously used PD himself so we decided to give it a try. And a good decision it was.
Besides PD’s contemporary design, the tool was relatively easy to use. And even though the setting up of the sub-account or “pressroom”, as PD calls it, took some time, it eventually paid off. Integration with and to social media was a breeze. In addition, PD themselves published our messages in their social media channels.
I most enjoyed the PD’s personal approach. Shortly after registering, for example, I received an (non-automated) email from a representative of PD asking if everything was okay – in the era of Internet business such personal approach is not very common. So in terms of recommendation: I definitely do!
When our trial at PD ended, I got a Skype call from a guy called Victor. He asked me about my general thoughts about PD and wanted to know how I was satisfied with them. Besides having a really constructive conversation about press releases tools in general, he made a lot of notes and hopefully, when our company is big enough to use the full potential of PD, the updates will already be there.
The guest blogger, George Zhordania is Head of Sales at gloghome.com – professional building plans for the non-professional builders. Solid 10 years of experience in client relations and communication. Glog Home tweets under the @gloghome handle.
The PressDoc Pitch: Episode 5 – The Bad Pitch
As we have learned so far in our series, bad media pitching not only does not get you covered, but can also ruin a potential relation with a journalist or blogger. For this episode of “The Good, the Bad and the PressDoc Pitch” we thought we delve deeper into the ‘bad pitch’ subject with an expert on the matter. Kevin Dugan, journalist and PR expert, gathers on his Bad Pitch Blog some of the worst examples of bad media relations for educational purposes. We talked to him on how to prevent starring on his blog.
- From your experience, which email pitches do journalists pay attention to, and what makes them read the press release?
Pitching success boils down to relevance. In fact, the list is more important than the pitch. If it’s relevant? It can be long. It can have large attachments. I don’t care because I’m focused on the relevant content and not how it was packaged.
How often is it relevant? Rarely.
Unfortunately, everyone seems to spend hours crafting the pitch and minutes creating the list. It should be the opposite. Online audience identification tools are used for scale instead of for accuracy and insight. And this assumes someone is creating a pitch in the first place. Far too many publicists just send a news release. But the release isn’t the pitch, it supports the pitch. It’s background. When I only get a news release? I know it’s a mass pitch. That makes it 10 times less likely I will read that email.
“In fact, the list is more important than the pitch.”
- What’s your advice to people new to pitching on how to effectively pitch journalists?
The more time you spend building the list and using it to inform your pitch, the better. If more time is spent by a person than a machine on the list, it will increase the pitch’s effectiveness. In fact, I am willing to bet that if the entire media relations industry did this, the industry could pitch half as many people and earn more coverage. Currently, I’m convinced there are publicists that do keyword searches on an online media database. And without reviewing the results to even note if there are duplicate contacts, they send the entire list a news release.
- Can you recall some of the worst pitches you ever received or heard of?
One of my favorite bad pitches was one of the first sent to the Bad Pitch blog. It was so bad, Gawker picked it up. Someone was so in love with alliteration, they tied their news to a hurricane and the title of a porn movie. Um, they’re a data recovery service.
- What are you thoughts on personalized email pitches versus mass press release distribution services?
A couple of thoughts on this topic. First and most importantly, accuracy and relevance wins over scale every time as far as I’m concerned. As far as only sending out a press release, would you only send out a resume if you were looking for a job?
A press release is not a pitch. I know some find success with mass email pitches. But I think it really depends on the type of news. As soon as I get a pitch and it starts with “Hi,” or “Dear Editor/Blogger” it really doesn’t matter what the pitch is about. Since I know it’s a mass email, I’ve already assumed it’s off target. And 99 times out of 100? I’m right.
“First and most importantly, accuracy and relevance wins over scale every time.”
Kevin Dugan is the co-author of the Bad Pitch Blog, winner of an Award of Commendation in the Blog category from the Public Relations Society of America and a listed member of the AdAge “Power 150“. He tweets under the @prblog and @badpitch handles.
This Q&A was first published as a guest post by our friends at PRNewser.
PressList update: you can now send a test email
A couple of weeks ago we introduced PressList, making distribution of your PressDoc to your contacts easy. Since the launch we received a lot of feedback, thanks for that. A lot of our users wanted the option to send a test email to themselves before sending out the email to their contacts.
We listened and build this for you. You can now send a test email to yourself to check the links and the layout of the email you will send to your PressList. You will find the test email feature on the bottom left of the email compose window. Click the button to send a test email to the email address you use to login.
The PressDoc Pitch: Episode 4 – Pitching in the Fashion World
The high visual impact of PressDocs goes really well with the PR efforts of the fashion industry. Seeing that our designated fashion archive is growing significantly, we wanted to investigate if the fashion world plays by different media pitching rules. For this episode we talked to fashion PR expert and award winner blogger Crosby Noricks.
- From your experience, which are the email pitches that fashion journalists give attention to, and what makes them read the press release?
Fashion editors respond to pitches that are succinct and focused on how the brand or service is a fit for their readership. I don’t think fashion journalists often read press releases, but when they do, it’s to ensure they understand the full scope of the information/news (the who what why when where and how).
“Ensure you have a clear ask in your pitch and don’t attach anything to your email.”
- What’s your advice to people new to media pitching in the fashion world?
Spend time researching the publication before reaching out. Ensure you have a clear ask in your pitch and don’t attach anything to your email.
- Can you recall some of the worst pitches you ever received or heard of?
The worst pitches are impersonal, irrelevant and poorly worded.
- What are you thoughts on personalised email pitches VS mass press release distribution services?
I always recommend personalized communication as opposed to mass distribution. The only time I see value in mass distribution is for investor relations or in order to disseminate information quickly during a time-crunch – like getting photos out to editors after a fashion show, where you are working on a less than 24-hour turnaround. However, mass pitching should never be an alternative to one-on-one relationship building.
Crosby Noricks is a fashion PR and marketing expert, founder of popular Fashion PR blog PR Couture. You can follow her on Twitter @crosbynoricks
The PressDoc Pitch: Episode 3 – Tips From Publicity Expert Joan Stewart
Publicity can be defined as the act of attracting media’s attention. Because that is what we are after with our email pitches, for today’s episode of “The Good, the Bad and the PressDoc Pitch“ we talked to Joan Stewart. She ranks in the top when querying Google for ‘publicity expert’, and runs the popular blog The Publicity Hound.
Don’t forget that with our new plans you can now send more email pitches every month! Here we go.
- From your experience, which are the email pitches that journalists give attention to, and what makes them read the press release?
In general, journalists hate press releases but understand that they are a necessary evil. You usually do NOT get a big story or major publicity from a press release. You DO get it from a customised pitch. A press release should be used as backup material that you can offer to the journalist if they like your short pitch. They should also be used online and, if you can afford it, distributed through a major press release distribution service, so you can reach consumers directly. Gone are the days when we have to rely on traditional media for publicity.
You cannot “make” anyone read anything. You can help push them to read it by creating a customised pitch that is perfect for their audience. If you don’t know their audience, you shouldn’t be pitching.
- What’s your advice to people new to pitching on how to effectively pitch journalists?
Research. Research. Research! Google the reporter’s or blogger’s name and see who else they write for. Read their blog! Read articles they’ve written. I’m astonished at how many people pitch me without reading my posts. Go onto the social media sites and see if they have profiles there. If so, connect to them and share their content. Pay attention to what they are commenting on. Also, never create a one-size-fits-all pitch and send it to everyone. Journalists can smell these from 20 paces. Their audiences are more niched and fragmented than other and a cookie-cutter press release that is supposed to serve everyone ends up serving no one.
- Can you recall some of the worst pitches you ever received or heard of?
“Ms. Stewart: I would love to write for your blog. Can you tell me what topics you would like me to write about?”
Answer: No, I can’t. I have no idea who you are. I have no idea whether you have expertise in any areas my audience cares about. Read my blog and you’ll know. If you read my blog, you will also know how to pitch me.
- What are you thoughts on personalised email pitches VS mass press release distribution services?
Customised pitches are absolutely imperative if you want someone to cover your story. Mass press release distribution is important because those releases will pull traffic to your website.
A former newspaper editor, publicity expert Joan Stewart is the author of four books on publicity and PR, and has contributed to more than 60 books on publicity, PR, marketing, small business, book publishing and social media.
She publishes a popular electronic newsletter ‘Tips of the Week’ and a blog under The Publicity Hound brand. You can subscribe at http://www.PublicityHound.com, or you can find her on Twitter @PublicityHound.
Start, Grow, Expand – New PressDoc Subscription Plans
We’ve seen a growing interest in PressDoc, and our users’ profiles have significantly diversified. To best fit their needs we redesigned our subscription model.
The PressDoc monthly subscription comes now in 3 different plans, for every type of business. You can choose between the:
- ‘Expand Plan’ (5 PressRooms, 75 releases per month, 5,000 emails sent through PressList and 15 users that can be added to the PressRoom)
- ‘Grow Plan’ (1 PressRoom, 10 press release per month, 750 emails sent through PressList and support for 5 users)
- ‘Start Plan’ (1 PressRoom, 2 press releases per month, 150 emails and support for 2 users).
You can now purchase a subscription with all major currencies (euro, US dollar, pound). Subscriptions can be canceled anytime and no long-term contracts are involved either.
At PressDoc, we also offer an unique money-back guarantee. You can refund yourself within the first month of your subscription. No questions asked.
Extra PressRooms can be added to your subscription for just €22,50/$29/£19 each. These PressRooms are free until your next billing date.
All running subscriptions are left unchanged.
Never used PressDoc before? Give it a try, it’s free!
For first time users we also introduced a 14-day free trial. In this period you can publish releases and use all features available with one of our monthly plans, including press release customization and PressList. You can claim your trial now, without any credit card details required.
The PressDoc Pitch: Episode 2 – Pitching tech journalists with Ed Zitron
We continue our series – “The Good, the Bad and the PressDoc Pitch“ – with Ed Zitron, a PR expert that has been published (amongst others) by Forbes and The Wall Street Journal.
He is preparing to launch a book on media pitching, and recently published on TheNextWeb two very insightful posts about the basics of media pitching for tech companies. In his articles he stresses the importance of talking like a human being in your pitches, using 175 words or less, cutting down on the excitement, researching what journalists write about all the time, and not harassing them with follow up calls.
We wanted to know more, so we followed up with some questions of our own.
- In your experience, which are the email pitches that journalists give attention to, and what makes them read the press release?
Classic press releases generally suck, and they’re not going to get anyone to read them on their own regard. A press release needs to be useful, forthright and honest. It does not need to let anyone know you’re excited. It needs to let them know about whatever it is you’re talking about and nothing more. No flowery language.
- What’s your advice to people new to pitching on how to effectively pitch journalists?
Apart from my posts, I’d really advise talking like you’re talking to a high school student who knows about what you’re talking about and owes you nothing. Not to say reporters are of that intelligence or age, just that general level of disinterest and ambivalence to an email from someone they don’t know on a subject that they have no ties to.
- Can you recall some of the worst pitches you ever heard of?
I just received a huge pitch from a big big company, from a big agency, for a big antivirus company that is probably one of the worst pitches I’ve ever received. It has a hammy, forced narrative thing about ‘people constantly taking pictures,’ mentions ‘unsavory characters,’ and generally adheres to the ‘BS’ PR 101 that makes pitches bad. Whenever someone tries to create a false narrative that begins “people are always…” they’re instantly receiving so many eye-rolls that little dollar signs come up like a slot machine. It even bolds random words and names of spokespeople, which makes no sense and makes it seem like they think the reader is stupid. Better yet it even attaches three or four random images and has so many carriage returns that the email takes up my entire screen. Oh and random bullet points galore.
– What are you thoughts on personalised email pitches VS mass press release distribution services?
Dude, don’t do mass distribution. Unless you are a huge company that people truly want to hear about.
Ed Zitron is the founder of EZPR, an east coast USA media relations firm focusing on consumer tech startups. He has been published by Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Eurogamer, PC Gamer and PC Zone. His book, ‘This Is How You Pitch: How To Kick Ass In Your First Years In PR’, will be released in late Spring 2013. You can follow him at @edzitron.
P.S. For reference, this post was about 300 words longer than what a pitch should be.
The PressDoc Pitch: Episode 1 – Advice from Gini Dietrich of SpinSucks
Reaching media with personalized pitches has been made easy with PressList. But how do you create a successful pitching strategy?
To answer this question will start a new posts series we like to call “The good, the bad and the PressDoc Pitch“. Through interviews with journalists and PR opinion leaders, we will find out the best pitching practises and advice!
The series kicks off with some great insights from Gini Dietrich, author of PR and marketing blog SpinSucks.
From your experience, which are the email pitches that journalists give attention to, and what makes them read the press release?
Before I became a blogger, I used to go to PRSA lunches where journalists spoke about the ways to get their attention. It was always things such as ‘know what I cover’, ‘make your pitch relevant to my readers’, and ‘build a relationship with me’. In my mind, those things haven’t changed. Bloggers and journalists both want that kind of respect. Don’t email me your news release if we don’t already have a relationship. If you make your pitch relevant to me, I will respond. If you don’t, I’ll delete your email without responding.
”Do your research. Customize your pitch. It will work.”
What’s your advice to people new to pitching on how to effectively pitch journalists?
I guess I sort of already answered that. It takes more work, but it’s effective every time. Do your research. Customize your pitch. It will work.
Can you recall some of the worst pitches you ever received or heard of?
Oh yes. I can give you 10 examples just from today. But my most favorite, of late, is a blog post a PR professional wrote and sent it to more than 100 bloggers and journalists. The good news is it was really well-written and it told a story. The bad news is he sent it to 100 people and asked us all to run it verbatim. I guess he’s never heard of Google Penguin.
What are you thoughts on personalised email pitches VS mass press release distribution services?
Hate, hate, HATE mass distribution services. It makes me crazy when I get a news release in my email that everyone else got. There is no customized message, nothing that tells me why I should care, or anything about its relevance to my readers.
Hate, hate, HATE mass distribution services.
Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of integrated marketing communication firm Arment Dietrich. Her PR and marketing blog, SpinSucks, is a 2012 Cision Top 100 Blog, the 2010 and 2011 Readers Choice Blog of the Year, a Top 42 Content Marketing Blog from Junta42, a top 10 social media blog from Social Media Examiner, and an AdAge Power 150 blog. She is also the co-author of Marketing In the Round, and co-host of Inside PR, a weekly podcast about communications, social media. You can find her on Twitter @ginidietrich.
So what do you think of our new series? Leave us a comment, or take to Twitter and Facebook!
