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About ECHOS Communications

ECHOS Communications is a leading public relations agency specializing in media relations, affiliate marketing and event activations for active lifestyle, outdoor, cycling and auto/moto brands. ECHOS Communications is built from authenticity, creativity and relationships. The global agency tells partners’ stories through an integrated communications strategy. 

Jacob Hauge, director of brand communications at ECHOS, says:

Before Muck Rack: ‘We’d been through the whole rolodex of software’

Before Muck Rack, we were consistently having issues finding a journalist’s email. We would see an article about our industry, and we wanted to pitch the author, but we just couldn't find them. 

First, we tried using PR software. We’d been through the whole rolodex of software, including Meltwater and Cision. Meltwater, which has been through a series of acquisitions, was good for really big, broad strokes, and Cision has always been around. But it felt like both of these software just weren’t staying up-to-date with the shifting PR world. 

So when those were deficient, we’d resort to Email Hunter, LinkedIn—we’d even just start taking guesses. We got scrappy. In this process, we’d often turn to Google, and we kept seeing journalists’ Muck Rack bios pop up in search results. It happened so often that it became a no-brainer that Muck Rack was a leader in PR software.

With Muck Rack: Saving time with share of voice dashboards

When we started using Muck Rack in 2018, we were able to replace both Meltwater and Cision, which helped streamline our software stack. 

Now, everyone on our team is proficient in Muck Rack, and when we have new hires join—even, say, an account coordinator who may not have PR experience—it’s easy to train them and get them on board. 

Tracking share of voice to show results

With Muck Rack, we’ve created our own custom dashboard that maps out each industry we serve as well as brands and article trends. These categorized dashboards update in real-time, and we also get daily email updates sent to us just in case we miss anything.

For example, when we start working with a new brand, we can see their market share of media relations within Muck Rack’s share of voice function. Let’s say it’s 10%, and all of their competitors are taking up the rest of the pie. Then, after three months, six months and even a year, we can measure that growth.

After launches and pitching and landing stories, we can easily show there’s been an increase in their market share for PR, especially for blogs, podcasts and everything else Muck Rack tracks.

Finding journalists and creating media lists with accurate contacts

We also use our share of voice dashboards to find the right journalists to pitch for brands we work with. This helps us save time because we’re not starting a search from scratch—we can just go to this dashboard and see how products and businesses are being talked about and where.

So let’s say we are doing media relations for a new product that’s launching. We can look at similar brands, their products and see what journalists are covering the news. From there, we can build a media list. 

This goes beyond traditional pitching, too. We used these share of voice dashboards for a handmade bicycle trade show called MADE we hosted in Portland, Oregon. With the dashboard, we were able to look at similar trade shows and identify journalists who weren’t necessarily in the industry we were serving—but who were local and covered events. 

By using this strategy, we landed a spot on a local broadcast, and the weeklies covered it as well as The Oregonian, and national cycling publications. This coverage helped drive traffic to the show.

We also use the Who Shared My Link tool. We can find journalists who are engaged with the brands we represent. For instance, we landed a piece in a core industry blog—then that article was shared by a journalist from The Wall Street Journal. We could then immediately pitch that journalist a story from the Journal, and they picked it up.

Finally, the up-to-date journalists profiles are key to our job. We don’t have to search around or guess email addresses. This is especially important when it comes to affiliate marketing, where there’s always a new title popping up for journalists—from ecommerce editors to affiliate marketing managers. Muck Rack helps us stay on top of these trends and find the right contact.

Fast questions with Jacob Hauge

1. How has it been working with Muck Rack’s customer success team?

It’s been great. The chat feature is very easy to use. If we’re having an issue or there’s a bug, we don’t have to send an email and wait. We can just hit the chat tab, shoot over a note and the Muck Rack team is very responsive.

2. What would your job be like if you didn't have Muck Rack?

We would get a lot more sidetracked trying to find an email address for a journalist. That can really—as simple as it may sound—throw a wrench in the process if you don’t have the right contact.

3. What would you tell other companies considering using Muck Rack?

If you want to have more qualitative lists and be able to pitch the most current, updated aspects of journalists with a one-stop profile, Muck Rack is great for that. 

4. How would you describe your experience with Muck Rack in three words?

Fast, efficient, simple