Hi all. I'm planning to launch my app in January, so I gathered around 60 journalists I could find in L.A. I want to contact. I'm in process of investigating each of them, their articles, what they like and so on. When would be the best time to contact them. is it few weeks before launch, a week before or some other time? I've never done this before and I don't know how journalists think. Do they like to be contacted before, establish a connection and be updated or just receive quick pitch and decide whether they want to reply or not.
The sooner the better! Try to reach them directly (phone/skype call would be great; a meeting - even better) and follow up via e-mail later on. Avoid sending long, detailed emails, though - they'll never read it. Also, consider preparing media kits/press kits for them. From my experience with journalists, I can say that they are sometimes very lazy They usually expect to be provided with a set of valuable info about product/service in an accessible form. Usually it's also hard to gain their interest as long as the product/service is in the initial phase or/and comes from indie developers. What they find interesting to write about are success stories or innovative ideas, though. So maybe you're app is exactly what they are looking for. Good luck!
It would fall into a spam category (unsolicited phone calls / emails). Secondly, even if they do hear from you none of them are going to jump off his/her seat screaming, "Yep, finally, that's exactly what I've been looking for!!". My advice don't. Have a good website, promote it and let them come to you. A willing participant is a 100x better than an unwilling one.
I don't know where you heard that from. The cold email will be sent straight to spam inbox only when it has nothing valuable to offer to them. Why should they care if there's nothing in it for them, right? I agree with Livechatsoftware above that you should have everything prepared before reaching out to them because the less work they have to put in, the more chance they will be willing to give your app a try. Make sure your app is within their field of interests and your pitch should be very short like " 2 - 3 lines ", follow up no more than 2 times. Good luck to you, man!
I based my response on these two factors: 1. From the original post it is not clear if the app is related to journalism. 2. The guy is located in Croatia targeting journalists in LA. @Chad Eztraffic let's say you're in the US and someone from Croatia (it could be Russia, China or any other country outside of N. America) was trying to reach out to you offering you an app, would you not instantly think it was spam?
But who cares where is the app creator from? If the app itself is in English and its functionalities are useful for people living in LA or any other city in the world, then his origin would be irrelevant for journalists. I also do not agree with the "spam category" argument. While inbound promo is important, there's nothing wrong with reaching out to journalists. If the app brings a value added to smartphones' users, they could find it interesting. One activity does not exclude the other but rather complements it.
Wow. You've just totally confirmed what I've been thinking all along. It will be spam. Basically you're saying you have "An app that will improve everybody's life and so you're going to target (spam) random people because the app will bring value to their smartphones". That's spam. I could be wrong, of course, but I am about 80% sure it's spam. Maybe someone else on DP has more to say on this.
That's what media kits/press kits are for - to explain why is the app valuable. And yes, probably the majority will consider it a spam? But does it mean it actually is a spam? NO! Also, the majority does not mean: everyone. It's just worth trying Been there, done that
You do have a point. If I were the journalist, I would still read the email, but if the app has nothing to do with the US market, or LA specifically. I would delete it and never reply.
You can also take help of email marketing and social media platforms for the same purpose. Email marketing will help you in spreading the news to the mass in one go and social media will allow people to check the app before downloading it. Therefore, you can also take help of these two channels.