Using Press Loft Brilliantly – Our top five tips
So you’ve signed up to Press Loft, uploaded your first batch of images and job’s a good ‘un right? Wrong.
Yes, Press Loft is an amazing platform that will help you get your images in front of influential media, but It’s not a set-it-up-and-leave-it type platform. There are ways we have learned over the years that help us to use Press Loft brilliantly. You can’t sit back and expect it to do all the work.
You still have your part to play to get the most out of it. And here are our top tips for doing just that.
Review your keywords
When you upload images, Press Loft lets you ‘tag’ them with keywords – a minimum of five – which is how they return in a journalist’s search.
So, for example, if you uploading a picture of a candle, you could tag it with the words, ‘candle’, ‘scent’, ‘home fragrance’, ‘gift’, and ‘décor’.
But throughout the year, journalists will be searching for specific seasonal items, such as Mother’s Day Gifts and Christmas Presents, so if you have a suitable item – like a candle – tag it with the relevant term.
And it’s not just gifts that will be in more demand at certain times.
Make sure you keep your eyes open for anything that will influence colour trends, such as the Pantone Color of the Year, as well as London Fashion Week. Check out our Homes & Interiors PR Calendar to make sure you have all the big events covered.
Our advice is to review your keywords around once a month. Just remember, long leads will start working on their features up to five months in advance so make sure you tag your pictures in plenty of time.
Using Press Loft’s Blog
The Press Loft blog is a treasure trove of informative articles offering some brilliant marketing hacks. From how to stage the perfect Insta shot to how to write the ultimate press release, maybe check out our own guide to the best interiors journalists to follow on social.
Check in at least once a week to catch up on any new articles, and when you can browse through the archives and take in as much as you can.
Subscribe to the monthly newsletter
Make sure you have subscribed to the Press Loft monthly newsletter. It is a short and sweet mailer packed with meaningful advice and information on what journalists are searching for right now.
You should also sign-up to our monthly mailer, which is jam-packed with useful data and hints and tips. Sign up to our newsletter here
If nothing else, both will serve as a timely reminder to check your own keywords and make sure your account is in order.
Use your Press Loft Press Room
Every Press Loft account allows you to create a stylish Press Room for your brand. You can completely customise the look of your Press Room so it fits seamlessly with your established branding. But the real beauty of the Press Room is you can share it via Facebook and Twitter, or add a link to it on your own website.
This means if you have a journalist on your site or social channels, they can source the images they need there and then.
It’s another way of maximising your outreach and gives your images a greater chance of getting featured.
Follow-up downloads
Another fantastic feature using Press Loft is that brands can see exactly who has downloaded their images.
Whenever one of your images is downloaded by a journalist, you’ll get an email alert informing you. The email will tell you who downloaded it, for which publication and an expected date of publication so you can make a note of any expected coverage.
However, unlike other platforms, it also gives you the email address of the journalist who downloaded it.
As a matter of course, if any of our clients’ images are downloaded, we always drop the journalist a line to make sure they have everything they need. Not only does it start the conversation between your brand and the journalist, you’ll be at the forefront of their mind when it comes to picking images.
Two golden rules though; always be polite and never pester. Using a CRM like Capsule to track these interactions is incredibly useful. Get a free trial of Capsule here
AND you can click here to claim a free trial of Press Loft