Summary of features and prices of current PitchEngine options, with some examples

In the past week or so, especially when I was in Sydney for CeBit, I have been mentioning a few people about the new PitchEngine platform soon to be launched.

Today I was asked to provide a list of the features of what is currently the top level package for PitchEngine, so I’m taking the opportunity to do a quick roundup of what is now available, with prices, features and a couple of examples. Anyone who takes out a full twelve month subscription to one of the currently available packages will of course be able to access for that whole year all the features and benefits of the relevant package.

But First, Why PitchEngine?

From a couple of recent conversations, I believe it could be useful to provide a short summary to show how PitchEngine is different from what might at first glance appear similar offerings.

PitchEngine is essentially a social media release software platform “in the cloud”. It is not a distribution or wire service.

What does PitchEngine do for you and your social media powered PR?

  • Lets you easily include images, video, links and more at no additional cost
  • Enables readers to interact with you and your Pitch™ long after it’s been published
  • Helps you broaden your audience beyond the journalist to reach bloggers, investors, consumers and other influencers on the social web
  • We don’t brand your content with our giant header and links like wire services do. It’s your press release!
  • Create social content that is more engaging (readers view Pitchengine Pitches longer than traditional press releases by PR Newswire, BusinessWire and PR Web (source: alexa.com)
  • Display your news, Twitter stream, YouTube channel and Flickr gallery automatically in one place with a PitchEngine newsroom
  • Helps you eliminate the press kit and move your entire PR platform to one place

The current options

There are currently three options, as listed on the main PitchEngine site:

  • Build and Share Social Media Releases
  • Archive Your Brand’s Releases
  • Customised Newsroom

The Build and Share Social Media Releases has the following features:

  • You can create your own Social Media Releases on our platform and we’ll host and share them FREE for 30 days!
  • Include PR content like videos, audio, images, social links and more
  • Share your release with your media contacts via link or email or with thousands of consumers via social sites like Facebook, Twitter and others

Investment: FREE

Archive Your Brand’s Releases option:

  • Archive every release your brand puts out – no matter how many!
  • Grab the RSS Feed (provided) for your brand’s releases and share it with your contacts, clients and social sites or put it on your site’s press page
  • Each time a release is published it will remain live and available for media and consumer to find, and for you to edit
  • We’ll even share your release on our PitchFeed which is typically indexed by Google, Bing, Yahoo! and other search engines.

Investment: US$35 per month or US$400 per year

The Customised Newsroom option offers:

  • Host all of your releases in a custom newsroom
  • Choose from the headline font color that matches your brand identity
  • Give visitors a way to find and follow you on twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and more
  • Each time you add a release using PitchEngine, it will be automatically posted to your newsroom. No uploading necessary
  • Link to the newsroom from your client’s website, or yours for easy access to your press content, contact links and more

Investment: US$50 per month or US$550 per year

Example of a social media release

Here is an example of a social media release which utilises the features of the PitchEngine platform

Golden State Warriors “new look” release (see how they use still images, video, Twitter ect)

Example of a customised newsroom

First to clarify what we mean by a customised newsroom (and we don’t mean just a page on your website with links to press release files)

The PitchEngine Customised Social Media Newsroom is a place to host all of your social media releases and share them from a central place. It enables brands to integrate their social feeds from Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and PitchEngine into one place making it easy for consumers, journalists and bloggers to find them through the social web.

See for example this group’s use of the newsroom, linking from their main site (click the News tab to see the customised newsroom)

See also the Carl’s Jr. customised newsroom.

Example of using agency feed to promote clients

Backbone Media home page showing use of agency PitchEngine feed

The Backbone Media company has re-organised its home page to give prominence to its agency PitchEngine RSS feed. If you look at the right column – “Recent Releases” – you will see that it is a feed which incorporates releases from various companies, which are in fact Backbone Media’s clients.

For PitchEngine clients in Australia and New Zealand

Australian and New Zealand PitchEngine subscribers can contact me, Des Walsh, directly (I’m on the Gold Coast so Australian eastern time is best) and if I am not immediately available I will get back to you as soon as possible, normally on the same day. When PitchEngine becomes as successful as I know it’s going to be I might not be able to take all the calls personally, but I am personally committed to seeing that all PitchEngine subscribers in our part of the globe get quality service in a timely fashion.

If you have any questions about PitchEngine products and services, please get in touch – see the Contact page for details.