Savvy email strategies can be powerful tools when dealing with the editors of online pubs - or any media outlet.
Rob Gelphman, of Gelphman Associates, was pitching Trident Microsystems' new graphics chip last summer. Before the launch of the new chip, the technology company was fairly
well-known within the industry. But its main competitors were significantly larger and were both publicly-held companies. Most articles covering the market didn't mention
Trident.
When one competitor launched its own new chip a few weeks before the debut of Trident's chip, a CNET.com reporter jumped on the story. Gelphman responded to the CNET reporter
with a clever email whose subject line was simply the title of the story on the competition.
In the email, Gelphman wrote, "Not so fast. Trident's new chip will have almost the same horsepower at one-fourth the price. This will enable PC manufacturers, already squeezed
for margin to upsell, and the software vendors to sell more games, as more people will have access to high-end graphics at 75 percent discount to currently available graphics
cards. Software developers now have access to a broader market segment, because they make money by selling games, not performance."
The combination of a subject line sure to grab the reporter's attention, an email that immediately cut to the chase, a potential exclusive and a succinct analysis of the chip's
benefits for all core audiences produced quick results. The reporter emailed back within three hours and interviewed Trident's VP of marketing later that day.
A story ran on CNET on July 19 with the headline "Game's Not Over for Graphic Chips," covering Trident's reentrance into the graphic chip market.
"If I had started with speeds and feeds and technical jargon, he would have understood, but he'd also have fallen asleep," Gelphman says. "PR professionals [in the high-tech
industry] lead with the esoteric technology stuff. But if you lead with the benefits, you'll grab editors' interest and then they'll drill down into the technology."
(Gelphman, 408/451-8420, [email protected])