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About Technology PR Solutions

Radio journalist turned PR veteran with stints at Edelman and L3Harris Technologies, Neal Stein founded Technology PR Solutions in 2004, providing cost-effective public relations services for high-tech companies. With Muck Rack, pitching for Neal has become much more efficient and effective—a must for any solo PR pro.

The Challenge

Neal, the sole proprietor of Technology PR Solutions, is charged with getting his technology clients positive press.

Before Muck Rack, he used three media databases to find journalists to pitch, but they posed several challenges that made his job more difficult.

For one, it felt impossible trying to find relevant journalists based on their most up-to-date roles. In this day and age, journalists change roles, beats and publications frequently.

Additionally, email addresses—if even listed in the database—were often outdated and bounced back.

“So often, I’d create a list and send out a press release, for example, and half of the emails bounced back,” he said.

The Solution

As a one-man agency, Neal realized he needed a better solution.

In a free demo with a member of the Muck Rack team, he got to see the platform in action. His first impression?

“I was kicking myself, saying, ‘Why didn’t I do this years ago?’” he said. “I was almost mad at myself, thinking I probably could have provided former clients more value.”

What got him most excited about Muck Rack was its ease of use and accuracy.

Replacing three database subscriptions with Muck Rack

Neal jumped right into using Muck Rack. He didn’t have to spend a week learning how to use the platform—a huge selling point for a solo PR pro. Instead, he attended a demo, then got to work.

He plans to let the three annual contracts he’d signed with other media databases expire now that he’s got Muck Rack.

A powerful search function to find the most relevant journalists

Instead of relying on a media list of irrelevant journalists, Neal can use Muck Rack to search for reporters based on topics they’ve most recently covered.

“I could put anything in there and find writers and reporters who are very relevant and very current,” he said.

For example, if he’s pitching a story about radio systems in autonomous vehicles, he can search specific keywords on Muck Rack to find journalists who’ve recently written about the given topic.

Going one step further, he can easily scroll through a reporter’s recently published articles—even just hours after going live—to ensure relevancy. A quick look might reveal a journalist writes about AI in vehicles, so they might not be as interested in the radios Neal is pitching.

Muck Rack even allows him to exclude topics from his search.

“On other platforms, I’d do a search and get all this junk I’ve got to swim through to get what I really want,” Neal said. “With Muck Rack, I like the ability to drill down quickly and easily.”

He shared that, with another database he’d used, he’d have to find a reporter’s name, then copy and paste it into Google to search for their most recent work.

A simple way to validate reporters: Muck Rack’s Word Clouds

Although Neal can validate the relevancy of reporters by perusing their recent articles, he likes to take his research one step further and check Muck Rack’s Word Clouds.

When he clicks a reporter’s name from the search reports, he can easily see the topics they most often cover. Clicking through to their profile reveals a Word Cloud, a simple way to visualize the most prominent topics a journalist has covered recently. The larger the word, the more often it’s used in the journalist’s coverage.

For example, if Neal is searching for a journalist who covers defense technology, he might find a defense reporter who seems relevant. But upon looking more closely at the Word Cloud, he can see they actually cover defense policy. Pitching an in-the-weeds tech topic to a reporter on The Hill likely isn’t a fit.

“The Word Cloud makes those distinctions clear, and I don’t have to scroll through 100 articles to make that determination,” he said.

Neal also references the Word Cloud after writing a pitch, checking his pitch to ensure it’s focused and even weaving in keywords.

A seamless user experience

While searching for journalists on Muck Rack, Neal also loves that he can leave the platform open and click to other tabs—even step away for a phone call—then jump back in where he left off.

This might sound like a simple feature, but the other databases he’s used would quickly log him out if he briefly stepped away. Some wouldn’t even allow him to open and operate in a different browser. Too many times, he had to restart, redo and resave media lists.

“I like to multitask with clients,” he said.

Final thoughts from Neal Stein

As a solo PR pro, Neal relies on media databases to secure his clients quality coverage. Before Muck Rack, he jumped between three—which all ultimately failed him with outdated media lists and contact information.

With Muck Rack, he has found new journalists to cover his clients. Using the powerful search function, he can drill down to find the most relevant reporters—then tailor his pitch, thanks to Muck Rack’s insights.