What would you say if I said I can solve all your PR problems? All those niggles that make the job just a little bit more difficult than it needs to be.
After many years of doing the PR for companies creating technology solutions for every industry under the sun, apart from PR. I thought. What about PR? There are so many parts of the job that have replicable processes, surely there is a place for the automation of some of that?
It started with the news writing formula we all learn on day one at PR school – the who, what, where, when and why.
We are only at the start of our journey with PingGo. And we won’t rest until we have tackled every last PR problem.
Problem
If you think you are the only agency that struggles with overservicing then let me assure you, you are not. Every agency I have talked to says this is an ongoing problem that won’t go away.In my own agency we work with four different spreadsheets (invoicing, client teams and hours) plus multiple campaign plans and calendars. We record and track everything but we don’t have a clear picture of the agency.I have questions which can’t be answered easily or in real time. What are we working on? How profitable are projects compared to retainers? Who has capacity? Who is getting overserviced?
Current Solution
I’ve tried Monday.com, Asana, Clickup and Salesforce but none of the SaaS products out there do what I need. They are built for generic business users, not for busy PR agencies. They have features I don’t need. And they take too long to learn how to use effectively. I don’t have time to risk moving my agency lock stock and barrel onto a platform that might not work for us.
PingGo Solution
PingGo is solely designed for PR agencies and their clients. It is a bespoke tool for PR agencies. It can be customised to fit your agency specific needs. And it is affordable for all agencies and freelance PRs.Every client has a workspace where all written content is created and key messages are stored. You can see at a glance who is on the account team, giving visibility across the agency of who is working on what and who is quiet.
Problem
Clients see the agency as a collective entity – they expect the agency to seamlessly manage changes in staffing and to handle unplanned events and conflicting demand for resources. This is why they outsource to an agency. This means you need to understand exactly what the positioning is, what the client does, objectives, tone of voice on any new account. You can quickly lose the trust of a client if you get this wrong.
Current Solution
Dropbox, Slack Channels and many, many shared documents and files scattered across Google Drive. But none of this tells you which is the signed off version of a press release. Which was the one they hated? How has their positioning changed (because it seems to change on a weekly basis!). Do we have key messages for this client? No, we make it up every time. Oh we never actually agreed key messages? That leads to writing press releases by cherry picking the best bits of old press releases. Stitching together a frankenstein press release.
PingGo Solution
Key messages and quick facts are stored in the client’s workspace. They can be changed at any time and the whole team always works with the most up to date version. Every press release is saved and only one version ever exists so you are always working with the most up to date document. There is consistency across the agency, teams and all communications for a client. You can see a timeline of when each one was sent, who it was sent to, by who and see the call notes.
Problem
The day of a sell-in is tense – there is a lot of nervous energy in the agency. So much is hanging on how it goes. You've agreed a strategy for the story with the client, convinced them this is the best approach. Now you need to get results. And anything can go wrong. From a bigger story torpedoing you, to your top media target being out of office. And no matter how supportive you are as an agency the pressure coming from the client does pass through the team to those tasked with pitching the story. No-one is to blame here – it is just the nature of a job where you have so little control over the outcome.
Current Solution
The team is in different locations and they are all working from different versions of the same media list. They have divided the list between them and cross reference the excel media list with the database we subscribe to. And then the endless cutting and pasting begins. Unless you blind copy, it takes hours to work through a typical media list of 100 journalists. You either focus on emailing the press release or doing the followup calls. There is not time to do both if you are going to hit the news desk deadlines. By lunchtime the account manager wants to know if all the press releases have been sent and follow-ups done. Did they go by 9 or are we still sending emails in the afternoon? Emails to journalists get mixed up and lost among other emails. One member of the team goes off sick when he was half way through the sell in. Now we need to go into his emails and search through his sent box, find out where he got to and check for responses. Frankly, it's chaos and hugely stressful.
PingGo Solution
The media list sits alongside your press release on screen and contacts can be allocated to specific team members. You work together as a team moving down the list, from 'to do' to 'in progress'. You work from the same list and see the same view in real time.One click is all it takes to send your press release with a personal message you edit for each new contact. Everyone working on the sell-in uses the same list so everyone is clear on who is sending to who and when the distribution is complete. You can see if a press release is opened by a journalist or if it has not delivered. This means you can time your followups and prioritise top targets. You can see the covering messages sent and followup easily.
Problem
Sending a press release by 9 am to 100 media contacts means cutting and pasting the journalist’s email, the email header, the press release and link to images, and editing a personal message. 400 actions. Errors creep in. You get the wrong name. If you divide the distribution between two people - errors can also creep in. Moving between email and word and excel. You spend so long on emailing the press release you don’t have time for follow ups and calls.
Current solution
You take the time to copy/paste each pitch. You keep track of your distribution on an excel spreadsheet. You work with colleagues to follow-up the same day. But this takes time, effort and a whole lot of coordination.
PingGo solution
You can divide the distribution between people. You can quickly write a personal message. One click not 4. Stay on one screen. See when distribution is finished. Help each other out if someone has not finished. Once distribution is done you can fit follow ups around other work. Follow ups are quick.Current solution: Email, Word, Excel, Google Drive.
Problem
Juniors are too inexperienced for creating a media list and seniors don’t have time or energy to build the five millionth media list of their career. If you are junior you have no idea who is the right person for this story. You don’t have the knowledge and experience. If you are senior you don’t want to spend upwards of two hours data cleansing the media list you have spent £5K on.It is a highly skilled job but also a tedious one that clients do not expect us to spend time on.
Current solution
You have an expensive subscription (£5K per year) to Gorkana or Response Source.You search and filter. You get a list of 800 contacts at 90 media outlets. You now have to handpick the right journalist at each publication. By hand. Research each person. Tag them save them. You could decide to just choose to send to news desks or business desks. And hope for the best. `
PingGo solution
PingGo lets you curate a central media list - slice and dice your agency contacts for target distributions. It provides CRM for your agency. You can quickly build target media lists, add new contacts and keep contacts up to date.
Problem
Your client won't sign off your press release. You have to deal with the internal politics of your client's communication team. The deadline is approaching. You need approval. You're stuck.
Current solution
Sending out emails, waiting for responses, following-up, getting frustrated, missing the deadline. There are tools out there to collaborate, but the reality of PR is that emails get lost, clients go on leave, communication can be slow. You need a centralised tool where everyone can communicate and deadlines are clear.
PingGo Solution
With PingGo, you see everything you need to review and approve. Edit and collaborate in real time. See your deadlines. See where things are getting stuck.
Problem
Deciding which task is the most urgent. Priorities keep changing. Working on multiple projects with multiple collaborators is an organisational nightmare. What was urgent this morning - and I moved everything for - is now on hold.
Current Solution
Multiple email chains, last-minute phone calls and collaboration on Google Docs. This works for awhile, but it also means that emails may get lost, a document could be shared to the wrong person or there could be a misunderstanding regarding who does what.
PingGo Solution
You see everything you are working on, other members of teams and also deadlines. Notifications tell you when things have been signed off or when you are being chased. Visual cues to see status of a press release. See deadlines change in real time.
Problem
We had no press releases for weeks. Now we have 6 all ready to go and everyone is on holiday and we only have one intern who just started today and has never done a sell in. How will they know how to pitch? Who to pitch to? When to do it? What order to do it? All these things that we know after years in the business.
Current Solution
Scheduling distributions on a Google Calendar. Training interns on the job while managing a distribution. Sharing lengthy media lists on a Google sheet.
PingGo Solution
Takes that years of experience and gives it to the intern. Upskills them so they can add value from day one to a team. See all press releases when they are due. Where the clashes are. See the pipeline of press releases. See who has capacity for the sell-in? See if the media list been built? See where the gaps are in the media list quickly.
Problem
You have dozens of the same press release whizzing through the universe. Your colleagues are making amedments to old copies while you're creating a new copy. Delays as clients don't know which document to use. The looming risk of sending the wrong version of a press release.
Current Solution
Comparing different versions of the same document to decide which is the best. Using Google Drive to comment on existing copies. Exchanging endless emails with new or old versions of the same document.
PingGo Solution
Everyone is always working on the same version. Updates can be seen in real time. Never amending an out of date version. Clients know where to go.
Problem
Agencies have their own way of working, style of reports to be consistent. When an agency grows quickly it brings new people on with different styles of reporting. Yet agencies need to get consistency across the team and produce documents quickly and efficiently. All strategy and PR plans follow the same structure. Yet we start from scratch every single time and lose time. Or we go and look for a previous plan but can’t find the perfect one.
Current Solution
Working off old and outdated documents to avoid starting from scratch. Spending time explaining to new team members how documents are formatted. Going over documents to ensure consistency across the team.
PingGo Solution
PingGo can create bespoke templates for meeting minutes, agendas, contact reports, proposals, PR plans, monthly reports. Agency has consistency across all its teams. Saves time and builds trust and confidence with client.
