Show HN: PressFriendly – PR software built with machine learning for startups | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: PressFriendly – PR software built with machine learning for startups

pressfriendly.com

50 pointspdenya18 comments

I actually got to try the Beta for our startup Fittr and I was very impressed with PressFriendly, especially at getting my sh*t together--it really made sure that I had every detail correct and outlined well. I haven't sent out the emails yet, but the list of contacts was stellar--I recognized some of the names, and looked up others, but they were all on point.

Your pricing page (http://www.pressfriendly.com/pricing) says "Premium Pricing - All premium plans include access to a PR advisor". But then you have an actual plan named "Premium".

So do I get access to a PR advisor if I subscribe to the Premium plan, 3rd plan from the left, or if I subscribe to any of the non-free "Premium" plans (any of the main 3 boxes)?

All three plans get and advisor. Yes, I can see how that would be confusing.

Free plans get online support, but not a 1-1 call with an advisor.

I've been using this in beta, and can't believe how much time it's saving me--and how effective it's been. We will be using this through our launch. Super savvy and to the point.

PR software built with machine learning for startups

I don't understand where the machine learning part comes in. Is it just figuring out which reporters report about different topics?

We generate a press list by comparing the results of your story wizard (all of the text about your story and your business that you enter into our system) with reporter archives.

To go into slightly more detail, we've train classifiers for each reporter in the system using the articles they've written. Comparing your story against the articles reporters have written in the past few months gives us a very accurate picture of who might write about you and therefore who you should be spending time trying to contact.

Sounds like cool technology. Thanks for the explanation.

np, we do a lot of other cool things with it too and more to come. For example, when you're preparing emails for each reporter we provide recommendations for which pieces of the pitch you should send to them, based off the same machine learning system.

One way to get onto the big tech sites is to reach out to 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier tech bloggers. A lot of the 1st tier tech journalists read and follow the 2nd and below tier tech blogs.

I'd love to find a service that shows me who reads or follows what. Also, a service that shows where the viral/press attention happened first and the press hits it received after. I was trying to do my own study last week on this in regards to the forgetify app. What started their press ball rolling? Was it here on Hacker News or Reddit? I wasn't able to scroll through the 1,000s and 1,000s of tweet to find it's first hit.

Could you elaborate on where exactly machine learning comes into play? Why is there additional value with that tech?

Very interesting product, I will definitely be giving it a try.

Traditional media lists (the ones agencies pay thousands of dollars a month for) only have basic categories like mobile, cloud and games. By scouring reporter archives we can identify reporters who are writing about sharing economy, wearables, quantified self and things like that. The big mistake most startups make is approaching a reporter who JUST wrote about something very similar to your startup. This is the wrong approach because they are unlikely to write about something so similar again soon. By tracking reporter archives, we identify trends and put you in front of the right people at the right time.

Very cool. Thank you for the explanation :) Good luck with everything

Thanks!

This looks really interesting and something we could use. However, I'm unsure about the monthly pricing structure. It seems like we would use this every time we have something newsworthy to announce which could be once every couple of months at best. So a fee per pitch would be more in line with how the service would be utilized. Admittedly I know very little about how PR works. Why would I use this on a monthly basis? Congrats on launching!

Thanks and great question.

We're trying to help startups think about PR as not being transactional in nature, but more of an ongoing process. We don't want you to necessarily bunch up your pitches, but to build relationships with reporters.

To that end, the paid service comes with an editorial calendar to help find press opportunities you may be perfect for, but are not aware of. For instance, if Forbes or Inc. has a special section on startups in July, we'll let you know now because they are planning the articles in a few weeks. We hope to show ongoing value to that you stay with us month to month.

This is an excellent idea. So many companies either ignore PR or pay WAY too much for an out of touch agency. Looking forward to using the base plan!

Do you send confirmation emails for new signups? I didn't receive one (not in spam either), but it's handy to have to help remember your service's name when I want to come back to it later.

Sounds very cool

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