Acting on document analytics for broad media pitches

Before using DocSend, 104 West organized and managed media relations across different lists, Google Drive folders, and documents. Maintaining a running list of pitches, press drafts, and media kits per client was both tedious and time-consuming. “As an Account Manager, I’m always striving to provide transparency to our clients of our pitching process and status. The pitching progress we can share with clients is pretty black and white. We either pitched and didn’t hear back or we pitched and received a response. This leads to a decent amount of hypothesizing on our part to determine when and how it’s best to follow up with the media contacts we don’t hear from,” shares Laura Kubitz, 104 West Account Manager.

When pitching a story to a targeted list of media who could be a good fit for a story, reporter interest and pickup depends on a number of things including a compelling story, an existing working relationship, and of course, chance. Timing, current projects, and the news cycle can all impact media interest and inclusion in a story. 104 West utilizes DocSend to host the content they are pitching, such as a press release or piece of content, using a unique trackable link per story so they have aggregated analytics into the amount of interest a particular pitch is experiencing. This allows 104 West to anticipate the expected interest or on the other hand, if a new angle should be tried or a different group of media should be pursued.

“Now with DocSend, I can provide a much more tangible and accurate status report of our pitches to our clients. For example, has the media looked at the pitch, how much did they dig in, and even if they shared it with colleagues. This then empowers us to strategically approach certain media based on how we know they’ve interacted and proactively propose the best next steps,” said Laura.

One simple and secure link for maintaining and distributing client media kits

104 West maintains their client’s media kits to ensure that the imagery and copy that’s published about each client is the most accurate and up-to-date. Previous to DocSend, Allison Heard, 104 West’s Creative Services Manager, would maintain a Google Drive folder per client and at times even per media outreach, in order to ensure that the relevant stakeholders saw all of – or only – what they should see. With Google’s limitations in user provisioning and secure sharing, this led to having to manage multiple media kits per client based on the pitch. At other times, media kits were shared as an email attachment but many times the files were too large causing delivery issues and lag time or confusion during a critical time.

“At times, we only want to share a certain video or custom graphic with the media. Alternatively, one media contact we may want to share a different level of detail with than another. So we would find ourselves creating multiple folders for a single client pitch, which then created internal confusion and led to issues with a single source of truth,” recalls Allison.

“With DocSend, we’re able to easily maintain our client’s media kits in Spaces – a central, secure place. The link is always live and up-to-date, so I no longer have to worry about media having an outdated logo or incorrect boilerplate, and we can also provide different levels of access or custom views to different sets of media contacts. This is a game-changer for us when it comes to ensuring we have the right information in front of the right folks,” shares Allison.

104 West manages their client’s media kits in DocSend

 

Managing an embargoed story through secure sharing

For 104 West, managing embargoed stories can be tricky when sharing a highly anticipated or highly classified bit of information or upcoming story. Prior to DocSend, this was managed over email either with an attachment or Google Doc link. Although Google Docs is great for real-time editing and collaboration, when it comes to securely pitching highly anticipated information, a link or PDF attachment in the wrong hands can ruin a story’s debut.

“With DocSend, we can protect the security of our embargoed pitches by requiring an email in order to view it. Even if that link is forwarded to someone else, we are notified of that and they also can’t view it without providing their email. This not only gives us a great peace of mind that a story can’t leak but also provides us insight into the media’s interaction and consumption of our timely pitch,” shares Brian Mast, Managing Partner, 104 West.

A new lens into client and media relations

With DocSend, 104 West is now able to more proactively manage media relationships as well as provide their clients with more detailed and specific insight into their pitching process and strategy. With real-time, secure sharing, tracking and maintaining of client assets, 104 West is able to spend more time nailing the story angle than playing the follow-up.

“DocSend has transformed the way we pitch and share information with the media. The best way for us to work with the media is to give them relevant and valuable information. We now have real-time insights as to which part of our story resonates – or not. With these insights we are building better relationships with the press and providing better transparency, media strategy, and overall service to our clients,” concludes Brian.