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Conversation with MyPRGenie CEO, Miranda Tan
Written by Allen Stern - October 9, 2007
Today I had the pleasure of meeting with Miranda Tan, CEO of NY-based MyPRGenie. Miranda is an 8-year veteran of the PR industry and wanted to create a better way to send releases and help companies create buzz. The goal of her company is to make the press release process easier (and less expensive) for everybody. Here are my notes from our discussion.
The tool is setup to automate the press release process and it helps you to get your message out there to the right reporters, editors and publications. Miranda says that one of their strengths is in their targeting process -- rather than send out a blanket release, they help you target the right reporters and publications for maximum buzz potential.
The basic service is free and allows you to send the relase to 20 sources. Above that the prices range from $199-$750. After leaving her office, I thought about the price a bit more and think $750 is a bit high for a small business -- might be ok for a well established company perhaps.
The service has been written about in the WSJ twice and was called an "innovative small business solution". Typically 2-3 releases are sent daily using the system since the launch about three months ago. Their clients range from social networking tools to non-profit organizations and are worldwide in location.
One of the things I liked about MyPRGenie is the ability to add a customized note to the release when sent out to the reporters. This makes it more personal and also allows the sender to frame the release properly. They also use their own tool to market their own tool!
The team is split with 10 people in the NY office and 50 developers in Pakistan. MyPRGenie is currently privately-funded.
The tool has some analytics capabilities built in today and Miranda noted that their first quarter 2008 upgrade will include comprehensive analytics. I think it's important to know which reporters have opened a release so you can follow-up if appropriate.
We discussed a topic that I hear about a lot which is that the press release is dead. Miranda believes the press release industry is changing and MyPRGenie will always stay on top of the innovations that are created.
If you are looking to send a release for free, check out MyPRGenie. Thanks to Miranda for spending the time with me today.
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Interesting service. I am not able to tell though how they are different from PRnewswire? I noticed that they also blast to PRN which also gives:
- Targetted distribution, SEO, Coverage on Yahoo news etc
Just wondering how it is different.
MyPRGenie partners with PR Newswire. PR Newswire is the leading wire service and complements MyPRGenie's targeted email distribution to reporters.
So when we distribute to targeted media, each reporter on the select list will receive via email your press release with a customized note as oppose to seeing your release, one of many, on the wire. Both services are equally important. That is why in our premium package for $ 750, we include PR Newswire web distribution with MyPRGenie's targeted media and search engine distribution.
To try our service, please try our FREE distribution package. Please note we will be launching MyPRGenie 2.0 in Q1 2008 and it will include even more functionalities and options for users! Our goal is to streamline the PR process for PR professionals and companies.
Miranda: Sorry, I still dont get it. Last time I used PRN (it was a few months back), they allowed me to create a custom letter/note to editor. How is it different from what you are doing?
I wonder why this service needs 50 developers - does not seem too IT intensive to me ... I can understand moderators and editors, but 50 developers do not make sense for this service. Does it provide something in addition to distribution that I do not get ?
Yes you are right we don't need 50 developers for version 1.0.
We are working with a team of approx 50 developers for version 2.0. Version 2.0 will include a lot more functionalities and options for users. We are aiming to launch 2.0 in early 2008. We want to constantly improve the user experience.
This is an amazing service ....I think this company will surpass facebook and google!