How To Create A PressWhisper Pitch

Play video: How to make a press kit for your startup (live build)

The video above is one I did when I was in Colardo Start Up Week, it shows each step of the process. I met Rachel Lefort on a pavement in Denver, at Colorado Startup Week. She makes suits and blazers for women, and her brand's called Midnight Oil. When I got home I built her a press kit in PressWhisper, on camera. This is the same build, written down.

A press kit is one web page with everything a journalist needs to write about you. You set up the business once, and each new story gets its own kit. Sign up and your dashboard lists nine steps. Do them in order.

1. Create your organisation

Name, website, industry and where you're based. Get the location right, because your pitches are angled from it and your local paper is the easiest yes you'll get. Your public handle goes in the kit's web address and the email address journalists see. Keep it short and pick it carefully, because it locks once your first kit is live. Logo and photos go on the Images tab.

2. Tell your story

The Profile tab asks seven questions about the business. Answer them the way you'd tell someone in the pub. Start with why - litterally ripped straight from Simon Sinek. His video if you haven't seen it is linked in the advice box, but also here, its worth the short watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA

Proof points want numbers.

You only write this once. Every pitch is built from it, and it goes in the About section of every kit you publish. But you can change it again in the future at any point as your business grows.

3. Get your profile critiqued

Hit Run Critique. You get a score out of 100 and rewrites you can adopt with one click. My first go at Rachel's profile scored 74, so I took the rewrite. If one sounds like a brochure, keep your own words. Also remeber that it is judging based on the prompt we have given our model, and this is setup to be a harsh PR critic, so if you prefer what you have written take the low score its just guidance.

4. Add a spokesperson

On the Team tab, add anyone a journalist might quote, with a bio of two or three sentences and a photo of their face. I pinched Rachel's off LinkedIn (sorry Rachel). Add whoever handles press here too, or you can't pick them as the contact in step 8. You pick who goes in each pitch. If we suggest a quote from them, check it's something they'd actually say.

5. Create a talking point

A talking point is the reason a journalist should write about you this week. Pick the type that's true right now: something you've built (The Asset), a win (The Victory), data or a strong opinion (The Insight), a person (The Human) or a change (The Shift). Then fill in the boxes, and add key facts and the photos for this story. Write the headline the way a journalist would. If it starts with your company name and the word "launches", start again. It gets a critique too. Rachel's scored 88.

6. Write your first pitch

Hit New pitch, choose your talking point and spokespeople, then pick how much story you've got. Signal Hijack finds something in the news your story can ride and writes the pitch around it. The Spark works from a rough idea, The Blueprint asks you a few short questions, and with The Raw Feed you write it yourself. You've got to help the journalist understand why your story matters to the news right now. For Rachel, Signal Hijack found Fidelity and Best Buy calling staff back to the office four or five days a week. Thats a lot of people needing something to wear on a Tuesday. First time, use Signal Hijack.

7. Critique and score your pitch

Run the critique on the pitch too. You can't make a press kit from a pitch that hasn't had one. Keep it to one story. The critique gave one of mine 62 for trying to tell two. Then check every fact and number yourself.

8. Create your press kit

Hit New press kit, pick the pitch and the contact, and choose a slug (the end of the web address). Create it and it's live. Journalists get the lot on one page, with a form to message you. Google and the AI tools can read it too, and it links back to your site. Add a tracked link for each place you share it, and Analytics shows you which one brought the views.

9. Match and distribute

Match & Distribute finds the journalists who write about your kind of story, and you choose who gets it. Replies land in Messages. Share the link yourself as well. Post it on LinkedIn and tag the journalists who cover your patch. Start your free press kit