This article was published on April 21, 2009

PitchEngine shows PR folk how press releases should be done


PitchEngine shows PR folk how press releases should be done

pelogoWe receive floods of press releases in our line of work, and they are infuriating dull with very little to capture the imagination. I’m not sure exactly how press releases ended up this way, but sadly they have and if there’s ever been time for a change – today is that time.

Launched in beta in July of last year, PitchEngine pushed the term of their flagship product, the Social Media Release (SMR). Having spent the last six months promoting and developing the next version of their site, they are now proud to unveil it to the world.

The concept behind PitchEngine is to enable PR folk to efficiently, effectively and neatly package press releases to share with journalists, bloggers and influencers.  Rather than simply sending a plain text document or email with little interaction aside from maybe a few URL’s dotted across the text, PitchEngine’s Social Media Releases pack a much heavier punch with rich media and floods of interactivity.

As a writer, I LOVE press releases that reach me with an interesting story, ready to post media, and the facts neatly laid out for me to review. As a blogger, the little things like; recommended tags, worthwhile links to check out and embedded content, can also make life much easier. Yes it sounds lazy,but when you’re doing it day in/day out every day of the week – believe me, it helps.

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Pitch Engine’s Social Media Releases (SMR’s) (example here) features slideshows of enlargeable images, a videos section, potential captions, news facts, tags for blog posts, high res logo to download, a ready made tweet, all the contact details you need, links to related news, a dozen ways to share the release and above all, it’s all neatly wrapped up in a clean minimalist design that’s easy to navigate.

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Founder Jason Kintzler has made real strides with the service and even managed to get Mr PR himself, Brian Solis, on board as a stakeholder.

Startups like PitchEngine are a joy to review because they actually solve problems and present simple yet innovative solutions. PR companies the world over need to take note because if there’s a field that (generally) still remains behind the times, despite the criticism it receives, it’s PR.

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