Dann Berg
Former editor at The Verge and Laptop Magazine
Where to hear and read about Dann Berg1 episode or test
Dann Berg is a former editor at Laptop Magazine and The Verge who explains app publicity from the reporter's side of the inbox. The most useful lesson is that existing is not news, so every pitch needs a real reason to be written, delivered casually and aimed at the top outlet first.
think of it as sharing something that you think is cool with somebody else who probably is going to think it's cool too
Publicity Techniques & How to Be Newsworthy to a Reporter
Dann Berg: the story and the lessons
1Dann Berg on what makes an app newsworthy
Berg judges pitches as a former editor, not as a marketer. He edited at Laptop Magazine and The Verge, where hundreds of pitches competed for each reporter's attention.
Knowing how editors read pitches shows what to change in your own.
Berg says existing is not news. Valid hooks include being first of a type to market, onboarding your first 1,000 users, hitting a metric, or adding a feature based on user feedback.
He was often pitched the day after he covered a competitor, and that alone did not make him write about the sender. His line: "the fact that you exist is not news you have to figure out why you're emailing them".
Berg suggests tying an update to a story already in the news. In his example, a news article reported more people using phones in their cars, and an iPhone app added a driving-assist utility in response.
The pitch links to the study and to the app and says "we just added that". It gives the journalist a timely angle, and working out why you are emailing also pushes the app forward.
Berg treats every app change as a fresh press opportunity. Each new feature, or each response to a user, is a new reason to email reporters again.
Making this a routine also pushes you to keep improving the app. Mention coverage from other publications each time.
2How Berg says to pitch a reporter
Berg says to pitch like a fan sharing something cool. Journalists chose their beat out of passion, so a casual note works best: you made this because you had a problem, you think they would like it, here it is.
The best response rates he saw came from solo developers who simply shared what they made and why. They had no social proof, yet got responses "all the time".
Berg advises offering a preview and asking for nothing in return. If the app is not out yet, offer a sneak peek or preview build and see whether they want to check it out.
Do not make it conditional on coverage.
Berg tracks every journalist in a spreadsheet and expects silence. Log the last date you contacted each person, and re-contact them when you ship a change or something relevant happens.
He compares most pitches to throwing a penny in a well. Mention any press you have already won so they see you are not a random sender.
3Berg's top-down plan for a launch
Berg says to start outreach at least three weeks before launch. Some journalists take a long time to reply, so lead time matters before a major launch.
Starting early also leaves room to arrange preview access and timing.
Berg gives the top-choice outlet an exclusive, then uses it to win the rest. Once the top site publishes, email smaller outlets to say the big site just wrote about you. That proves you are newsworthy to publications that might otherwise ignore you.
Smaller sites pick stories from what bigger ones run and often publish near-identical posts that link back to you, which adds SEO value. He first called this "bottom-up" before correcting himself to say it starts from the top.
Berg wants launch coverage to show up everywhere at once. A reader who sees the app in an RSS feed, then on Facebook, then on Twitter treats the repeated sightings as proof it is valid.
People in the target demographic are more likely to click and download.
Berg reserves embargoes for top-tier publications. An embargo is an agreement not to publish until a set time, which lets you stage a bigger launch.
Many developers distrust embargoes because smaller blogs often do not honor them. Top-tier outlets do, so he says to explore them once you aim there.
Publicity Techniques & How to Be Newsworthy to a Reporter
A former Verge editor explains what makes an app launch or update newsworthy and how to pitch reporters so they actually cover it. He says existing is not news, and shows how a casual pitch, an exclusive and a top-down coverage ladder get you into bigger publications.
Berg judges pitches as a former editor, not as a marketer. He edited at Laptop Magazine and The Verge, where hundreds of pitches competed for each reporter's attention.
Knowing how editors read pitches shows what to change in your own.
Berg says existing is not news. Valid hooks include being first of a type to market, onboarding your first 1,000 users, hitting a metric, or adding a feature based on user feedback.
He was often pitched the day after he covered a competitor, and that alone did not make him write about the sender. His line: "the fact that you exist is not news you have to figure out why you're emailing them".
Berg suggests tying an update to a story already in the news. In his example, a news article reported more people using phones in their cars, and an iPhone app added a driving-assist utility in response.
The pitch links to the study and to the app and says "we just added that". It gives the journalist a timely angle, and working out why you are emailing also pushes the app forward.
Berg treats every app change as a fresh press opportunity. Each new feature, or each response to a user, is a new reason to email reporters again.
Making this a routine also pushes you to keep improving the app. Mention coverage from other publications each time.
Berg says to pitch like a fan sharing something cool. Journalists chose their beat out of passion, so a casual note works best: you made this because you had a problem, you think they would like it, here it is.
The best response rates he saw came from solo developers who simply shared what they made and why. They had no social proof, yet got responses "all the time".
Berg advises offering a preview and asking for nothing in return. If the app is not out yet, offer a sneak peek or preview build and see whether they want to check it out.
Do not make it conditional on coverage.
Berg tracks every journalist in a spreadsheet and expects silence. Log the last date you contacted each person, and re-contact them when you ship a change or something relevant happens.
He compares most pitches to throwing a penny in a well. Mention any press you have already won so they see you are not a random sender.
Berg says to start outreach at least three weeks before launch. Some journalists take a long time to reply, so lead time matters before a major launch.
Starting early also leaves room to arrange preview access and timing.
Berg gives the top-choice outlet an exclusive, then uses it to win the rest. Once the top site publishes, email smaller outlets to say the big site just wrote about you. That proves you are newsworthy to publications that might otherwise ignore you.
Smaller sites pick stories from what bigger ones run and often publish near-identical posts that link back to you, which adds SEO value. He first called this "bottom-up" before correcting himself to say it starts from the top.
Berg wants launch coverage to show up everywhere at once. A reader who sees the app in an RSS feed, then on Facebook, then on Twitter treats the repeated sightings as proof it is valid.
People in the target demographic are more likely to click and download.
Berg reserves embargoes for top-tier publications. An embargo is an agreement not to publish until a set time, which lets you stage a bigger launch.
Many developers distrust embargoes because smaller blogs often do not honor them. Top-tier outlets do, so he says to explore them once you aim there.
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