Pitch Perfect

Erica Sadun (@ericasadun) writes lots of books and blogs at TUAW. When not writing, she’s a full-time parent of geeks who are brushing up on their world domination skills. According to her academic dosimeter, she’s acquired more education than any self-respecting person might consider wise. She enjoys deep-diving into technology and has written, co-written, and contributed to dozens of books about computing and digital media. Sadun has also blogged at Ars Technica, O’Reilly, and Lifehacker. Steve Sande (@stevensande) is considering an intervention to heal his addiction to writing. He’s the Hardware Editor at TUAW and has written millions of words for the blog. Steve has authored numerous books for Que, Take Control Books, and Apress, is married to a rocket scientist, and spends his days being bossed around by a cat. His gray beard and baseball cap can be seen every Wednesday afternoon at 5 PM ET on TUAW TV Live (http://www.tuaw.com/tag/tuawtvlive). Sadun and Sande are the founders of Sand Dune Books and co-authors of the best-selling Talking to Siri: Learning the Language of Apple’s Intelligent Assistant

Preface   xviii Who This Book Is For   xviii

Why Pitch Perfect   xviii

   How This Book Is Organized   xx

1 How Blogs Work   1

A Typical Day at a Major Blog   2

   Review Requests   2

Smaller Blogs   4

   Making Sausage: How Reviews Happen   4

   What Do Bloggers Look For?   5

   Why Do Bloggers Review?   6

   Attracting Readers   7

   Providing Criticism   7

   How Do Bloggers Perform Evaluations?   8

Performing the Review   9

   What About Accessories and Other Hardware?   10

Elements of Review   10

   Graphics and Design   12

   User Interface   12

   Value   13

   Utility   14

   Settings   14

   Options   15

   Features   16

   Finish   16

How Much Time Is Spent Reviewing Each Product?   17

   What Kind of Timeline Crunch Are Reviewers Under?   18

   How Long Does It Take to Tell You’re Trying Out a Lemon?   19

What Kinds Of Reviews Do Bloggers Write?   19

   First Look   20

   Overview   20

   Hands On  20

   In Depth   20 Choosing a Review Type   21

Why Blog Reviews Matter   21

Marketing Realities   23

Wrapping Up   24

2 The Attractive Product   27

Product Definition   28

   Who Is Your Customer?   28

   What Problem Does It Solve?     29

   How Does It Pop?   29

What Makes a Good Product?   30

   They Have Awesome and Easily Understood User Interfaces   30

   They Empower Users to Do Something   31

   They Change to Meet a User’s Needs   32

   Successful Developers Know Their Markets   32

   They Are Polished   33

   They Keep Current   33

   They Are Relevant   33

Why Good Interface Design Matters   34

Refining the Product   35

   Beta Testing Your App   36

Falling in Love with Your Product   37

Nondisclosures, Embargos, and Exclusives   38

Competing Against the Big Guys   39

Building in Self-Promotion   40

Wrapping Up   42

3 Crafting Your Pitch   43

Designing the Pitch   44

Essential Pitch Components   45

   A Motivating Subject Line   45

   Product Name   45

   Product Price   46

   Links   46

   Screenshots   47

   Video   48

   Description   49

   Feature List   50

   Contact Information   50

A Sample Pitch   51

Remind Us Who You Are   52

Capturing Attention Through the Subject Line   53

   The Subject Line’s Role   53

   Good Subject Lines   54

   Why Subject Lines Fail   55

   Subjects for Non-Review Pitches   56

Promo Codes   57

   How to Send Promo Codes   59

   Creating a Product Link   60

   Creating a Company Link   61

   Tokens for Mac   62

   Going Free   63

Differences Between Hardware and Software Pitches   64

   Design   64

   Value   66

   Functionality   66

Hardware Pricing   67

Video Gold   67

Hardware Review Logistics   68

Benchmarks   69

A Word About Kickstarter   70

   Case Study: The Une Bobine Video   71

   Common Hardware Product Categories   72

   Cases   72

   Headphones/Earphones   73

   Docks   73

   Speakers   74

   Drives   75

   Power Supplies (Batteries, Chargers, Car Chargers)   75

   Camera Accessories   76

   Books/Ebooks   77

   Cables and Gizmos   78

Hardware Pitches   79

Wrapping Up   79

4 Pitching Do’s and Don’ts   81

Know the Site   82

   DO Address Requests to Specific Bloggers   82

   DO Aim for Series Posts   83

   DO Consider Being a Podcast Guest   84

   DO Consider Non-Review Posts   84

Scheduling Out   86

   DO Provide Specific Dates and Timelines   86

   DO Bring Up the Topic of Exclusive First Looks  87

   DO NOT Jump the Gun   87

Leverage Personality   87

   DO Offer Access   88

   DO NOT Hijack Conversations to Pitch Your App   88

   DO Listen When the Blogger Offers Feedback   89

   DO Be Friendly   89

   DO NOT Subscribe Us to Your Personal Email List   90

Communicate Well   91

   DO Leverage Success   91

   DO NOT Name Drop Celebrities Unless You’re Getting VC Funding   91

   DO NOT Snitch on Competitors   92

   DO Know Who You’re Writing To   92

   DO Avoid the “Ugly Sister” Scenario   93

   DO Use Native Review   93

Checking In   94

   DO NOT Harass the Blogger   95

   DO NOT Spam Bloggers   95

   DO NOT Presume That a Promo Code Request Leads to a Review   97

   DO Presume That a Tangible Product Request Leads to Coverage   97

   DO NOT Expect a Reply   98

   DO Jump on Replies   98

   DO NOT Resubmit Your App Pitches   98

Watching Your Timing   99

   DO Accommodate Current Events   99

   DO Build Opportunities   99

Gaming the System   100

   DO NOT Astroturf   100

   DO NOT Offer to Pay for a Review or Prioritize Your Product   100

   DO NOT Try to Make Us Pity You   101

   DO NOT Pretend to “Just Be a Customer” and Talk About a Product You Just “Discovered”   102

   DO NOT Quote Reviews Out of Context   102

   DO NOT Specify “Terms” for Your Review   102

   DO NOT Lie and Mislead   103

Avoiding Offense   103

   DO NOT Be Racist, Sexist, Etc.   103

   DO NOT Burn Bridges   104

Submitting Through Channels   104

   End Run Exceptions   105

When to Pitch   106

   Dealing with Apple Review Headaches   107

Wrapping Up   109

5 Case Studies   111

Case Study: Short But Sweet   112

Case Study: The Solid Query   112

Case Study: The Professional Pitch   113

Case Study: The Lost Holiday Opportunity   115

Case Study: The Meh Pitch   115

Case Study: The Completely Inappropriate Pitch That Made Us Smile   116

Case Study: Winning by Charm   117

Case Study: Completely Missing the Mark   119

Case Study: The Perils of Autocorrect   119

Case Study: Buzzwords   120

Case Study: Not Enough Detail   122

Case Study: The WTF We Don’t Even Pitch   123

Case Study: The Pitch That Got Away   123

Case Study: Don’t Submit Multiple Products All at Once   124

Case Study: Machine Translation   124

Case Study: Avoid Unspecific Bullets   125

Case Study: The Excellent Response   126

Case Study: The Pitch Rewrite   127

   The Original Pitch   128

   The Rewrite   130

Case Study: Remembering That the App Is the Hero   130

Case Study: The Twitter Pitch   131

Final Tips: Avoiding Grandiosity   132

Wrapping Up   134

6 Preparing for PR   135

Get Your Product into Shape   135

Prepare Your Marketing Text   137

Choose Strong Branding   137

Website Essentials   138

   Add a “Contact Us” Link   139

   Take Care with Company Branding   140

Creating a Reviewer’s Guide   142

   The Tao of Reviewer’s Guides   143

About Press Releases   144

Preparing That All-Important Product Video   145

   Recording Videos   146

   Good Demo Videos Qualities   147

   Editing Videos   147

   Tightening Your Pitch Video   148

   Video Music   149

   Posting Videos   150

   The Live Demo   150

Preparing Review Materials   152

   Do You Want the Product Back?   152

   Should You Include Other Items in the Package?   152

   Should You Submit Full Copies or Time-Limited Demos?   152

Social Media   153

   Be Interactive   154

   Be Diplomatic   154

   Don’t Be Hostile   154

   Be Human   154

   Be Focused   154

   Be Informative   154

   Be Active   155

   Use Automatic Posting Tools   155

   Cover All Possible Outlets   155

   Be Giving   155

Wrapping Up   156

7 The Care and Feeding of Your Blogger   157

Establishing Relationships with Bloggers   157

   Be Patient and Persistent   158

   Be Understanding   158

   Accept Criticism Graciously   158

   Advocate for Yourself   159

   Be Human    159

   Be Available   159

   Be Aware of the Blogger’s Focus   160

The “Be a Decent Human Being” Rule   160

Responding to Reviews–Both Good and Bad   161

   Handling Good Reviews   162

   Responding to Negative Reviews   162

   Inconsistent Reviews   163

   Incorrect Facts   163

   Using Comments   163

Why Wasn’t My Product Reviewed?   165

Wrapping Up   166

8 Worksheets and Checklists   167

Know Your Customer: Developing a Customer Profile   167

   Worksheet 1: Likely Customer Overview   168

Competitive Analysis   169

   Worksheet 2: Evaluating Competition   169

Potential Market Size Calculation   170

   Worksheet 3: Market Size Calculation Worksheet   173

Pitch Checklists   173

   Worksheet 4: Checking Your Subject Line   174

   Worksheet 5: Checking Your Pitch   174

Reviewer’s Guide Checklist   175

   Worksheet 6: Essential Reviewer’s Guide Elements   175

Blogger Relationship Database   175

   Worksheet 7: Blogger Contact Details   175

Wrapping Up   176

Index   177