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How to Email Pitch Your Story Idea to a Journalist

In a recent blog, we outlined how to identify if your marketing campaign is newsworthy. This blog will outline best practices and tips on how to pitch your story idea to a journalist. 

Understanding the art of email pitching can make the difference between getting coverage and getting ignored. However, it’s essential to approach this process strategically and professionally to increase your chances of success. 

Let’s dive into the key steps and strategies to successfully pitch a story idea to a journalist.

Research the Journalist and the Publication

Preparation is key. Ahead of reaching out to any journalists or media outlets, take the time to research the outlet’s audience, the journalist’s beat, and their recent coverage. If their audience is interested in your topic and it fits under the umbrella of what the journalist covers, you will increase the likelihood of capturing their attention. 

Develop a Compelling Yet Succint Pitch

A good media pitch is direct, interesting, and engaging. Journalists receive countless emails and pitches each day, so it’s important to put together a compelling, yet succinct, pitch. Grab their attention with a subject line that excites them and highlights the newsworthiness of your story idea. Explain why the story matters and how it would be of interest to the journalist’s audience. Always offer a subject matter expert who can speak to the journalist should they have more questions.

Provide Supporting Data, Sources or Information

Always include relevant background information, data, statistics, or expert quotes that strengthen your pitch idea. You want to make it as easy as possible for the journalist to see the value and potential of your story.

Provide a Timely Hook or Offer Exclusivity 

If you want it on the news, it better be newsworthy! Make your story idea more appealing by offering exclusivity to the journalist or highlighting its timeliness. Journalists are often looking for unique and timely stories that will interest their audience. 

Tailor Every Single Pitch

Never, ever send the same exact pitch to more than one journalist. Take the time to personalize each pitch by addressing the journalist by name and explaining why it fits their specific beat.  Reference their previous relevant articles to establish a connection and show that you are familiar with their coverage. By personalizing your pitch, you will show that you have taken the time to understand and respect their work.

Follow Up Strategically

Remember – journalists receive countless pitches each day, so it’s essential to follow up without being overly persistent. You don’t want to annoy them. If you don’t receive an immediate response, it’s okay to follow up after a week or so. Keep your follow-up concise and reiterate the key points of your pitch. However, avoid being pushy or aggressive.

Build Long-Term Relationships

Public relations is all about relationships – so pitching a story idea shouldn’t be a one-off interaction. Once you’ve made contact with a journalist, you can do things like engaging with their social media channels and sharing their articles. By nurturing press relationships, you will establish yourself as a reliable source and increase your chances for future coverage.

By strategically using a combination of research, preparation, and effective communication, you can substantially enhance your chances of capturing a journalist’s attention and successfully getting your story published. Happy pitching!

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Mastering Time Management in a Marketing Agency: Balancing Multiple Clients

Time is an invaluable resource, but learning to effectively manage your time can be a superpower.

Running a successful marketing agency requires impeccable time management skills, especially when juggling multiple clients’ unique demands and deadlines simultaneously. The ability to prioritize tasks, meet deadlines, and maintain a high level of productivity is crucial to providing exceptional service to your clients and the success of your agency.

This blog post will highlight various time management strategies when juggling multiple accounts.

  1. Prioritize and Organize

Start by working backward: what are the deadlines for each client? What deliverables are needed, and how long which each one take to develop? After understanding the unique needs of each client’s deadline, create a detailed schedule – working backward from the deadline – to ensure all deliverables and reviews happen on time. There are various project management tools on the market to assist in tracking assignments, deadlines, and progress that can help marketing agency teams organize their workflows and stay on top of their tasks.

  1. Set Realistic Expectations

Clear and consistent communication is key when managing multiple clients. Manage your client’s expectations by setting realistic deadlines and explaining the process of delivering quality work. Be clear and upfront about your progress and timelines by providing regular updates. Avoid overcommitting as it can lead to compromised quality and burnout.

  1. Delegate and Collaborate

There are account teams for a reason! Whether you are an account lead or support, identify what workload you can realistically take on, and communicate it to the rest of your team as soon as possible. From there, work with your account lead or larger team to identify which tasks can be delegated. Successful delegation helps to lighten your workload while fostering a sense of teamwork and development within your agency. It also provides an opportunity to assign tasks based on team members’ strengths and passions.

  1. Dedicate Specific Time for Each Client

One of the best ways to ensure you are spreading the love between your clients equally is setting dedicated time blocks for each account you work on. This can be dedicated days, or hours per day – find what works for your schedule and your team. By batching similar tasks together, you can optimize productivity and minimize the time and energy spent transitioning between different clients.

  1. Avoid Overcommitment

Clearly define and document project requirements in client and internal conversations from the beginning to minimize going over scope and over-promising. Resist taking on additional projects if they compromise the quality or delivery of existing client work. A measured approach to managing workload leads to better outcomes for both clients and your agency.

  1. Continuously Evaluate and Optimize

One size does not fit all – ensure you are regularly assessing and analyzing your time management strategies. Identify what is working and where you can improve, and always remember to get your full team’s input. You can even use time-tracking tools or techniques to understand how your team’s time is being utilized and identify areas where productivity can be enhanced. By adapting and refining your processes, you will better serve your clients and build a stronger team.

Balancing multiple clients in a marketing agency can be challenging, but with effective time management strategies, it is undoubtedly achievable. Through prioritization, effective communication, delegation, and thoughtful scheduling, you can provide top-notch service to each client while maintaining your sanity. And remember – it’s not just about managing time; it’s about managing expectations, fostering collaboration, and continuously optimizing your approach to deliver exceptional results.

Learn how WorkBook can help streamline your client tasks, contact us for a demo!

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Agency Account Management Trends: What You Need to Know

Agency account management is a crucial role that plays a significant part in the success of any agency-client relationship. With the increasing pressure on clients to perform, they’re actively seeking agencies that can provide them with stronger leadership, deeper strategic thinking, and tangible business impact. This shift mandates that agencies need to pay close attention to the latest trends impacting agency account management to better prepare themselves and meet the growing expectations of their clients.

We conducted an online survey that included over 200 respondents from a broad cross-section of agencies, representing client-facing roles, including agency management/ department heads and client services. The findings provide insight into the challenges, opportunities, and client expectations that will impact agency account management in the coming year.

  1. Clients Expect Expertise Across Multiple Channels:

One of the significant trends impacting agency account management in 2023 is the growing need for agencies to provide multi-channel expertise. Clients expect agencies to offer a broader range of services, including traditional advertising, experiential marketing, performance marketing, media planning/buying, and digital/social media, all under one roof. As such, agency account managers need to bring together teams with specialized skills and knowledge to provide comprehensive solutions that meet clients’ growing needs.

  1. Increased Emphasis on Data-Driven Insights:

As the marketing landscape continues to evolve, data-driven insights have become more valuable for clients. This trend will intensify in 2023 as clients seek agencies that can deliver measurable results from their efforts. Agency account managers must have strong analytical skills to interpret data and communicate results effectively. Additionally, they need to develop strategies for data-driven decision-making, which aligns with their clients’ business goals.

  1. Greater Collaboration between Agencies and Clients:

2023 will see a greater emphasis on collaboration between agencies and clients that goes beyond the traditional agency-client relationship. Clients expect their agencies to partner with them on a strategic level, providing insights on a broader range of business issues. They want their agencies to collaborate with them on a more significant level, bringing fresh perspectives and outside expertise to the table. Consequently, account managers need to build closer relationships with their clients, foster open dialogue, and find ways to deliver additional value to their clients.

  1. Increased Demand for Account Managers with Strategic Thinking Capabilities:

As the client-agency relationship grows more strategic, account managers need to have strong strategic thinking capabilities. They must be adept at understanding the client’s business objectives, finding innovative solutions, and developing a comprehensive roadmap for delivering results. Additionally, they should have an in-depth understanding of the latest marketing trends, including technology and data, to help their clients stay ahead of the curve.

  1. Greater Focus on Demonstrable Results :

In 2023, clients will expect their agencies to show demonstrable results from their efforts. They want to understand how their investments translate into tangible business outcomes. Consequently, account managers must define the KPIs that matter most to each client and then track progress against these metrics. This requires regular check-ins, reporting, and optimization, all of which should be an essential part of the client-agency relationship.

The trends outlined above provide a glimpse into the future of agency account management. Clients will continue to demand more from their agencies, and agencies that can align themselves with their client’s business goals are well-positioned to succeed. Hence, agency account managers need to develop a wide range of skills across multiple channels, build closer relationships with clients, think strategically, and, most importantly, deliver measurable results. By embracing these trends, agencies can become valuable partners to their clients and drive agency growth in 2023 and beyond.

Want access to the full report? Download here.

The Power of Deltek WorkBook for Streamlined Project Management

When running a business or working on a project, having a thorough project management strategy in place is essential. Deltek WorkBook is designed to help businesses optimize their processes and improve collaboration to deliver high-quality projects on time and under budget. Whether you’re working on a small project or a large-scale campaign, Deltek WorkBook can help you achieve the best possible results. Below we’ll discuss the benefits of using Deltek WorkBook for finance, operations, marketing, and media teams.

  1. Finance:
    Deltek WorkBook can prove incredibly helpful for finance teams, especially when it comes to managing budgets. With the software, you can track expenses in real-time and have a clear overview of the project’s financial status. This can help teams identify and deal with potential financial risks before they can get out of control. Additionally, Deltek WorkBook provides helpful reporting features that make it easy to communicate project finances with clients and stakeholders.
  2. Operations:
    When you’re managing a project, having your operations running smoothly is vital. Deltek WorkBook provides businesses with tools that can help automate processes and make operations more efficient. This can include streamlining workflows, eliminating unnecessary steps, and automating routine tasks. With less time spent on manual, repetitive tasks, teams can focus on more important activities and deliver projects more quickly.
  3. Marketing:
    For marketing teams, Deltek WorkBook helps maintain cohesive branding of a project. The software can help maintain consistency across multiple channels and make it easier to collaborate with designers, copywriters, and other team members. Additionally, Deltek WorkBook can help maintain brand consistency by ensuring that everyone working on a campaign or project is using approved versions of logos, fonts, colors, and other branding elements.
  4. Media:
    Deltek WorkBook is useful for media teams as it provides access to real-time data insights that can be used to optimize project management and better measure the success of promotional efforts. By using data to make informed decisions, businesses can achieve greater results with less effort, saving time and resources. Additionally, Deltek WorkBook’s media planning and workflow management tools make it easy to collaborate with other media professionals on multiple projects.
  5. Project Management:
    Finally, Deltek WorkBook can serve as an asset for project management by providing analytics and detailed reporting on project performance. This way, project managers can quickly see if a project is on track and make adjustments accordingly. Additionally, the software can help with resource allocation, scheduling, and managing team workload. This way, you can keep track of multiple projects and optimize productivity for maximum outcomes.

Save Time, Money, & Level Up Your Team’s Success: Introducing MAC from PCI

Want to have a direct impact on your bottom line and keep your team happy? Whether you’re an agency leader, project manager, or creative director, you should look no further than WorkBook.  Built for agency leaders by agency veterans, WorkBook is a leading online project, financial, and workflow management tool all in one.

Think of some of the tedious work that eats up your day, whether its monthly financial reports, preparing dozens of client updates, or even manual data entry into workback plans. Streamlining these deliverables through one tool means winning back time to pursue other areas of work that can be more meaningful and propel your bottom line. It also leads to happier teams: who wouldn’t want to automate away repetitive tasks that unnecessarily take up time? WorkBook helps agencies scale up their ambition and deliver stronger work. Period.

Here are just a few ways you can make WorkBook work for you.

We’ll let MAC walk you through them:

Project Management

Make project management painless with WorkBook—centralize all communication, feedback and client updates in one place! You can even manage revisions and version control directly in WorkBook.

Costs & Cash Flow

At agencies big or small, people are your biggest asset. With WorkBook you can actually prevent talent burnout through real-time reports on deliverables and resourcing as well as easy task management features. Best of all, employees can remain connected from anywhere thanks to mobile functionality.

Streamline New Biz

Streamline new biz requests by forecasting incoming work and easily building resourcing plans all with WorkBook. Bonus points: keep new clients happy and in-the-know through real-time updates via WorkBook’s Client Portal.  

Costs & Cash Flow

WorkBook is a win-win when it comes to costs and cash flow—reduce those pesky unbillable hours, avoid over-servicing and scope creep by tapping into historical performance data, and even reconcile finances quickly through automatic approval workflows and bank reconciliation.

The API Integration Process

Written by: Sandy Froonjian

In my previous article, I provided a general overview of what the API team at PCI does. In this article, I’m going to get more technical and explain the details of how we work with our clients to accomplish that integration. To begin integrating, the client must be set-up within both software programs. We typically integrate Deltek’s Costpoint and WorkBook products, but we can connect to various other software programs as needed. For the sake of simplicity, I will reference Costpoint in this article.

Once Costpoint is implemented, the customer will contact a PCI Sales Representative and  describe the integration they require. For example, what third-party software are they using? Which module within Deltek/Costpoint do they want connected? Which fields within the module do they want populated? Which way(s) do they want the data to flow? Once the PCI Sales Rep has a good understanding of what the client needs, a proposal is created for them. The proposal will contain all the answers to the above questions, as well as the final cost of the integration.

            After the proposal is signed, the API team jumps in! The API team consists of a Project Manager, a Principal Consultant, and Software Engineer(s). Once the team is assigned, we first meet for a kick-off call, where we introduce ourselves, outline the steps of your integration, and give you a timeframe for each part of process. We will also schedule a weekly meeting series so that both parties can stay up to date on the progress.

            The first order of business for the API team is obtaining access to both your third-party system and Costpoint. Depending on the type of third-party software, we might need to get credentials to connect to its API’s, SFTP site, and/or SSL certificates. If we do not have access to your Costpoint system at this stage, we will connect through a VPN. The team then creates a WIC (Web Integration Console) environment for the client, which is an exact copy of their Costpoint system that is only used for testing purposes.

            Once we have all the access components we need, the next step is to complete a mapping document with the client. This is where customization comes into play. Because we are working with two completely different systems, the fields found in each system don’t align perfectly. Therefore, we need to discuss with the client how they want data in one system to flow into the other. This often involves creating crosswalks because the two systems might contain data of the same field in different formats. For instance, the field “Organization” in system 1 might be a text format such as “Premier Consulting and Integration”, while in system 2 it might be a numerical format such as “1.01.01.02”.

            After the API team and the client complete the mapping for every field, the Software Engineer can then code the function. The mapping file acts as the blueprints for the coder to create the API. Once they are done coding, we move into the testing phase. During this phase, we have the client make any possible test changes they see fit, so we can account for all possible scenarios while we are still pointed at the client’s WIC environment. Also, during this phase, the function is automated to run on whatever schedule the client asks for.

            Finally, once both parties are confident that all testing scenarios have been accounted for and that the API is working as intended, the engineer then points the function at the client’s production environment. At this point, the API is officially live! The API team provides one last meeting for the client called the “Dashboard Review.” During this review, we provide access to our Astrata dashboard site where the client  can monitor all the logs/run of the function moving forward. They also have the ability on this site to submit support tickets directly to the API team if they run into issues or concerns.

The amount of time that the entire integration process takes varies. If it’s an integration that we have done before, it can be as quick as 5-6 weeks, but if it’s a brand-new integration, it can take 7-8 weeks.

The diagram below summarizes the entire integration process:

Make Better Decisions With WorkBook Intelligence Dashboards

Being the decision maker for your business isn’t always the most comfortable role. But for agencies who want to grow or mature as a business, whether that be for acquisition or not, the kinds of decisions that need to be made are of greater importance and have a significant impact. For these agencies, it is crucial they take their business intelligence (BI) reporting to the next level. To accomplish this enhanced level of analytics, decision makers sometimes turn to out-of-the-box BI tools to translate large volumes of data into generic insights, but too often they must spend additional effort translating that into what works for their agency’s specific needs.

But with Deltek WorkBook Intelligence, decision makers can improve reporting with customizable dashboards that fit their agency’s specific needs without the hassle of gathering and translating gobs of data into something useable. WorkBook Intelligence makes it easier to discover actionable insights that lead to better decisions for growth.

As part of the total agency management solution, WorkBook Intelligence includes several standard dashboards that provide valuable analysis of agency KPIs.

Client Analysis Dashboard

The Client Analysis dashboard is useful for comparing the relative performance of clients and the margin that each client is delivering.

This dashboard provides an overview of the sales and profit attributed to clients based on the jobs contained within that client record. The available filters allow you to refine the specific client or group of clients on which you want to get analysis. The analysis provided shows the sales values of costs incurred and the associated profit of those costs.

Jobs Analysis Dashboard

The Jobs Analysis dashboard is best used to compare the relative performance of multiple jobs to identify anomalies or outliers and, once identified, to drill down into the specific detail of those jobs to the transaction level to pinpoint potential problems or issues that require action.

This dashboard provides an overview of the sales and profit attributed to jobs and enables you to compare the performance of jobs relative to each other, either across the entire Company or within a selected client or clients, depending on the filters that you apply. The available filters allow you to further refine the nature of data to analyze, based on the status of the jobs or the approval status of the transactions within them. The widgets on the dashboard show the sales values of costs incurred and the associated profit of those costs.

Finance – All Years Dashboard

The Finance – All Years dashboard is useful for agencies that are part of a network with different offices or companies sharing the same WorkBook solution. It shows an overview of the financial results of a single selected Company across all finance years in your WorkBook system, as it enables you to filter one Company at a time. It displays numeric data in the Company currency of that selected Company.

Finance – Single Year Dashboard

The Finance – Single Year dashboard is similar in that it is meant to show the financial data of a single company within a network of agencies. This dashboard shows an overview of the financial results of a single selected Company for a single selected financial year. Again, it displays numeric data in the Company currency of that selected Company.

CRM Dashboard

The CRM dashboard provides an overview of the value of pipelines on clients and prospects within your WorkBook system. An extensive range of filters gives you the ability to remove unwanted detail and focus on pipelines for specific clients, time periods, statuses, and levels of progression.

Data is shown both in a “full value” state and with the consideration of any probability that might have been applied, which means you can see a weighted total of pipelines, based on their respective probabilities which has an impact on expected revenue. All values are displayed in the Company currency of the selected Company.

Resourcing Dashboard

You can use the Resourcing dashboard to identify individuals, or groups of employees—for example, in departments—who have limited available capacity relative to the scheduled bookings made against them, or who have outstanding timesheets relative to their total capacity. For this dashboard, a large number of filters are available, including the ability to filter on more than a single Company, by department, or by employment type.

Create your own WorkBook Intelligence Dashboards with a Designer License

For agencies that are ready to elevate their business intelligence and need dashboards that provide insights not found in the standard offering, a Designer License allows you to create your own WorkBook Intelligence dashboards using the predefined data models provided.

With a Designer license you can:

  • Create a dashboard on the Analytics tab of the WorkBook Intelligence Design page.
  • Create and edit dashboard controls in the header ribbon when a dashboard is in Design mode.
  • Customize a dashboard’s layout by rearranging the widgets that are part of the dashboard.
  • Create nested dashboards that are suitable for drilling down into the detail of widgets on a dashboard.
  • Use filters to show only the data you want to be shown.
  • Copy, export, import, and delete dashboards.

6 Reasons to Attend Deltek ProjectCon

Deltek ProjectCon, formerly known as Deltek Insight, is the destination for project-based business professionals to gather for inspiration, education and collaboration.

This year’s Deltek ProjectCon will take place on November 15-18th at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, TN! PCI is excited to participate as a Platinum sponsor at this year’s event!

Check out these six reasons to register for DeltekProjectCon:

  1. Deepen your Product Knowledge – This conference offers hundreds of product educational sessions teaching new skills, tips, and tricks. PCI will be hosting three sessions, listed below. Be sure to add them to your agenda!

CPSPON-13: How to use the MS Word reporting tool in Costpoint

CPSPON-14: Offers and Decisions

CPSPON-15: Do your contracts have CLINs/SLINs/ACRNs? Do your employees complain because they have too many project codes? See how ACRN billing will fix all your problems.   

  • Networking! – Connect with thousands of attendees, Deltek leaders and visit with the PCI team in the Xpo Hall!

  • Ignite Innovation – Hear how companies like yours are leveraging Deltek’s solutions!

  • Certifications – Be sure to take advantage of the complimentary Deltek University certification exams while on-site!

  • Meet 1:1 with Experts – Meet 1:1 with the PCI team, Deltek Customer Care, Solutions Engineering team and more!

  • Enjoy your time! – There are a ton of fun activities planned throughout the conference such as philanthropic activities, special networking events and a customer appreciation party!

We hope to see you there! Register now to attend!