For those who have spent time building backlinks, we all know how much of a long slog the activity can be. The sad truth is that many marketers still struggle with back-linking.
We are not even talking about SEO and SERP back-linking; we are talking about getting backlinks via channels that require PR management and influencer marketing.
This by itself is a fulltime job. You need to start organizing your spreadsheets containing email addresses. Then each email address would have to start with something like contact or support. Then comes the other back-linking nightmare-Sorting through different social channels for an influencer.
Even after the search for an influencer is successful, you need to do one follow up after the other. Whenever you don’t get the expected response, it often feels like the entire process was a total waste of time right? All these activities on top of content development and social media postings can be exhausting.
Amidst all these chaos is Pitchbox-a tool designed to simplify the process of finding influencers. Let’s look at some of the key features of this amazing tool, shall we?
What Is Pitchbox?
Simply put, Pitchbox is an outreach tool designed for bloggers, SEO experts and PR gurus. Ideally, the tool functions as a customer relationship management tool-CRM, as it helps the user target influencers.
This amazing platform stores the contact details, manages emails and keeps track of social media accounts that the users encounter during their PR prospecting.
But what makes Pitchbox appealing to the end user?
Using Pitchbox means that you spend less time poring through data in order to connect with influencers. Pitchbox will carry out the research for you required to create a buzz around your product or service.
By using Pitchbox, you spend less time on research and management and focus on creating relationships.
Let’s take a look at some of its features.
Pitchbox Campaigns
Your campaigns are basically your outreach goals. For example, you can develop a campaign that exclusively targets influencers. This would include a campaign that focuses on improving how your content is shared on blogs and other news outlets.
All you need to do is to enter a few keywords and Pitchbox scans the internet for you. The tool helps you gain access to your outreach prospects, contacts and authority info.
Once you start reaching out to your outreach prospects, the opportunity tracker feature on Pitchbox tracks your progress.
Lead Vetting
You can either decide to let Pitchbox generate leads for you, or you can generate them yourself. Everything comes down to what you want.
If you decide to generate leads for yourself, then you would have to select the leads you would like to reach out to manually. Why go through all this hassle if you have Pitchbox?
Pitchbox Product Reviews
One of the main beauties of Pitchbox is that you can research on different products without even leaving the program.
Adding to this beauty is the fact that you can be able to find product review websites easily enabling you to tag and pitch your product to the people who matter the most.
The product review feature on Pitchbox will automatically match you with product review sites that match your keywords.
Pitchbox Email
The email feature on Pitchbox enables you to customize email templates that you send to your prospective leads.
Some of the things you can customize include; the name, recipient’s company and things like that.
Apart from that, you can create additional follow-up email templates. Assuming that you send the first email and don’t get a response, you can customize a follow-up email a week later and a final attempt email at a later date.
The email feature ensures that your outreach efforts are automated and more organized.
Pitchbox Email Outreach Features
- Schedule email sending: scheduling email feature is beneficial especially if you are very particular regarding the time you need your email sent.
- Automated follow-ups: Using this feature, you do not necessarily have to keep checking which of your prospects responded by having a lengthy spreadsheet. This feature automatically tracks the responses and makes the follow-ups.
- Ability to connect to your personal email: The ability to connect to your personal email address is an added advantage to your link-building campaign. You can add your existing contacts to your linkbuilding campaign.
- The email outreach has a feature that enables you to connect to your email address by signing in using your name and email signature – and you are ready to go.
- Ability to track clicks and responses: With Pitchbox, it becomes easy to tell how successful your outreach campaign is. You can be able to tell which part of the campaign has significant results and which doesn’t. This tool also suggests ways which you can use to improve the results.
- Keeps record of past conversations: It is understandable that not everyone can remember the conversations they had with different prospects-especially when you are dealing with multiple leads.
- It is however possible to keep records of all conversations that you have with potential prospects on Pitchbox. This means that you no longer have to worry about lost conversations and inconsistent topics during your search.
Pitchbox Opportunity Detail Screen
This is also another key feature of Pitchbox that ensures that your information is well organized. When using the tool, you can be able to view important info of each prospect and also be able to add tags to specific opportunities that you want to reach out to.
Workflow
The downside of workflow on Pitchbox is that it is not available to basic users. However, all the other tiers have this option. Ideally, what this feature does is to search and filter your results-the results in this case being your prospects.
These prospects are based on whatever criteria you entered on Pitchbox. For instance, if you are in the food industry, your search results will display food related blogs, review websites and influencers who might be interested in your new product or service related to the food industry.
After the search results are displayed, you can then narrow down the search even more by giving priority to the most relevant websites and eliminating sites whose goals are not similar to yours. You can also decide to do away with sites whose MozRank is lower than 75.
The Pros of Using Pitchbox
Bulk email sending
Very few tools can be able to send emails in bulk. With Pitchbox, you can send multiple emails with the click of a button. But why is this feature important?
If you happen to send multiple email addresses at the same time, chances are that your email provider will flag such activity as spam. This would lead to having your email address temporarily or permanently suspended. Of course this would be a massive disadvantage.
Interestingly, Pitchbox has a way around this. The tool lets you launch a massive outreach campaign-but is clever enough not to send all the emails at the same time.
When you hit the launch button, Pitchbox uses a special methodology to send out the campaign’s outreach emails in such a way that they are sent out at intervals. Doing this creates the impression that the emails are being sent manually.
Just think about how much time it would take you to send multiple emails at an interval of four to ten minutes. When you think about it, Pitchbox is a huge timesaver.
Automated Follow-ups to Outreach Contacts
The automatic follow-ups feature is a feature that is very common in many outreach tools. To automate follow-up emailing, all you need to do is to have a follow-email preset for all your outreach campaign contacts.
If your contacts fail to reply to your emails, then the tool automatically sends the follow-up email. As mentioned before, the automatic follow-up email feature is not entirely a unique feature in itself. However, there is something unique about this feature on Pitchbox.
Pitchbox allows you to send an automated follow-up email to not just one contact-but to multiple contacts. And it can only get better. For each website that you target in your outreach campaign, you can add multiple contacts and their email addresses from the target website.
If the first person on the list does not reply to your original or the follow up email, Pitchbox will automatically resend these two emails-the original and the follow-up to the next contact on the list. This automation is what enables your emails to generate responses.
There is always the possibility that your target contacts may fail to respond since they don’t know you. However, doing a follow up is one way of ensuring that your efforts generate a response, whether positive or negative.
Ease of Importing Website Targets
When using Pitchbox, data importation to your own spreadsheets is something that becomes very easy. Most business organizations operate by compiling their website targets and subsequently compiling the data in Google Sheets. This information is then shared with the rest of the team and can even be stored in the organization’s internal system.
It is easy to import spreadsheet data into Pitchbox-something that is not very common with most outreach tools. Pitchbox data importation even makes it possible to customize data into your spreadsheet.
For instance, you can customize the data to include: target website’s name, the name of the target and their email address. This information is automatically imported into your email outreach template. This is an awesome timesaving experience.
The Cons of Using Pitchbox
The 12-Months Contract
Let’s be honest. Not many people like committing to something in the long-term when there is still some uncertainty or doubts.
The 12 month contract for Pitchbox use is what makes this tool somehow unattractive to users. Once you use the tool for an extended period of time, then you become unsure whether you still want to commit to its use.
Depending on your specific link-building goals, a long term commitment does not allow for any flexibility. For example, your outreach campaign goals may be driven to a large proportion towards link building.
However, there is always the risk that your activities might decrease over time. So if you happen to subscribe for the 12 months Pitchbox, you are then stuck with this tool regardless of whether it works for you or not.
Overall Usability
Pitchbox is at times very frustrating to navigate since there are so many activities taking place concurrently on the interface.
During the early stages of use, the tool can wear you down. This means that if you intend to commit to Pitchbox for a long-term contract, make sure that you familiarize yourself with everything that is going on.
Another area that you might encounter difficulties when attempting to go back to the previous page. There are many times that you will attempt to go back to the previously viewed page when using Pitchbox but cannot.
There is absolutely no trail on how to get back there. A single click can take you all the way back to the homepage.
Response Rate Flaw
An important metric that you need to keep track of when running an outreach campaign is the email reply-rate. Without this, it is like you are running no campaign at all.
The reply-rate acts as an indicator of the quality of your outreach templates.
Whereas Pitchbox tracks the data from this metric, the data also includes automatic replies. These replies do not provide a clear picture on the quality of your email templates meaning that the numbers are at times exaggerated. To overcome this flaw, you have to monitor the reply-rate manually.
Pitchbox Customer Service
Pitchbox has a reliable customer service team. You can reach them via live chat, by phone at +1(215) 475 – 5096 or by email at support@pitchbox.com.
Alternatively, you can fill out their contact form to reach their sales team. Also, they have resources such as a blog page and a regularly-updated knowledge base.
Their customer support team is available to help you with any questions you may have about using their platform or your account. They can help you get the most out of Pitchbox!
Pitchbox Plans and Pricing
Just to be clear, Pitchbox is not cheap!
For starters, Pitchbox is used by a whole range of professionals-from SEO agencies, content creators, bloggers and web hosts. The list is endless. Most users are however part of large organizations.
Pitchbox is a vital marketing tool for freelancers wearing many hats and smaller marketing firms. Unfortunately, Pitchbox does not have a public pricing page. This is because Pitchbox has a custom-based pricing scheme for users based on their requirements.
Take, for instance, a Pitchbox user disclosed on the g2 platform about paying $500 per month, which is quite pricey when compared to other Pitchbox alternatives.
Whether or not Pitchbox is a valuable tool depends on how much work this tool will automate-ideally how many people will not be required to be hands-on in the backlinking campaign.
Always keep in mind that Pitchbox is not designed as a standalone influencer outreach and content marketing tool. You might need to consider other complementary tools that optimize the functions of Pitchbox. A back linking monitoring platform is a good start.
Don’t expect Pitchbox to automate everything. You also need to spend some time to create an all-rounded outreach strategy.
For example, a back-linking tool such as Monitor Backlinks allows you to stay on top of all backlinks generated from your influencer outreach. This tool also comes with a wide range of SEO metrics.
This tool can even assist you in scoping out your competitor’s backlinks so that you can improve your overall outreach strategy. You can try it HERE and see how it complements Pitchbox.
If you are still undecided on whether Pitchbox is a must have tool for your influencer outreach strategy, think about the amount of time you spend on your influencer outreach and then try to analyze the amount of work that Pitchbox would take off your hands.
If you spend so much time and effort on PR and other outreach tasks, there are high chances that having Pitchbox is a necessary cost-that is worth it.
To be honest, it is very easy to be overwhelmed by the many features of Pitchbox. Just to give you an idea, Pitchbox is an improved version of an Excel spreadsheet that no one has ever invented in the marketing game.
Through this review, we will tell you how the program works, including things like SalesForce and CRM advantages of using Pitchbox.
Pitchbox Free Trial
Just like other influencer outreach tools, Pitchbox offers a free private walkthrough to prospective new users.
To sign up for the free demo, simply enter your basic info here – https://pitchbox.com/pricing/.
You will then receive an email that will provide you with access to all of the Pitchbox features.
During the demo, you’ll have the opportunity to talk with a sales rep to answer any questions related to Pitchbox.
Also, you’ll also have the opportunity to test out Pitchbox to see if it’s the right link building and influencer outreach software for your business.
Afterwards, you will be provided with flexible pricing options based on your requirements.
Pitchbox Ratings
Ease Of Use
Pitchbox is relatively easy to use, even for newbies. It is user friendly and has a lot of features that make it a great tool for influencer outreach and marketing.
For ease of use, I give it a rating of 4 over 5.
Features
Pitchbox has several influencer marketing features for prospecting, outreach, and follow up. Also, it can be deployed like a CRM tool.
For its features and tools, I give Pitchbox a 5 over 5 rating.
Pricing
Pitchbox does not have a public pricing page; however, pricing information is provided after a demo of the tool and customized requirements.
According to some Pitchbox users, it is overpriced with a cost of around $200 per month.
So, for pricing, Pitchbos is rated 3 over 5.
Customer Service
Pitchbox has a dedicated web page for contact; plus, they offer phone and support options.
Conversely, they also offer some resources that can help users familiarize with their tool.
For customer service, I give it a 3 over 5 rating.
Is Pitchbox Legit?
Pitchbox.com is a legitimate application that was launched in 2012. It allows users to connect with influencers and bloggers in order to promote their products or services. It is a great tool for businesses and individuals looking to grow their social media presence.
Wrapping Up The Pitchbox Review – Is Pitchbox the Much Needed PR Miracle?
So is Pitchbox really worth your money? Overall, the sheer breadth of this tool is impressive. Lead analysis and automated prospecting alone are enough for you to consider parting with $200 on a monthly basis.
There are so many features on Pitchbox that will streamline your outreach campaign-more than any link-building platform available.
With many features, it takes a close-knit team to learn the nitty-gritties of this tool in order to make the best out of it.
When it comes to the annual subscription charges, you will need to make the best out of your free trial version of the tool for you to establish whether it is the right fit. To achieve this, you must also have a team of individuals who are willing to explore the unlimited potential of Pitchbox.
There is nothing worse than committing to a PR tool in the long-term only for you to realize that you don’t have the capacity to optimize the tool’s potential.
Pitchbox is a great timesaver as it allows the user to carry out link outreach in a much easier way. The process is much easier to navigate and monitor. However, you need to first establish whether Pitchbox features are really what you need for your link building campaign.
If you frequently run link-building campaigns that are less complicated, then you are better off with a cheaper tool in reference to monthly subscriptions.
You definitely need Pitchbox if you are an individual or an agency that runs a regular link-building campaign with multiple outreach projects running concurrently.
That said, trying out the one month is a good starting point. Having a Pitchbox personal trainer even for the free-trial version is an added advantage as you will learn how to optimize the tool’s functions and make the most out of your outreach campaigns.
Scott L. Macarthur is a marketing consultant and an online author. He is mostly engaged in providing his expertise to startups and SMBs. He is also an author on TheNextWeb.