Weather Up · B2C · weather app with widgets
Pitch journalists with a short demo video in a Twitter DM
Covered by TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, MacRumors and BGR, even by writers who rarely cover apps
Workedpr-launch
What they did
Made a video demonstrating the new interactive widgets, originally for the paywall; it turned out well enough to become the press pitch. Sent it as a short Twitter DM ('Hey, I'm working on some really cool interactivity for widgets and weather') instead of a long email, to contacts and to journalists he did not know. Only pitch when the update is genuinely interesting enough to write about; don't send minor point releases. Kept a per-release press page with the embargo date/time.
What happened
Several writers who said they don't usually cover apps wrote about it after seeing the video; coverage in TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, Boy Genius Report. Launch day was then overshadowed by Apple's DMA news.
- Stage
- launch
“So I was working on the video for the paywall primarily, and it turned out so good, that ended up being my press pitch.”
“So the main way I pitched it was like a DM on Twitter, and like, "Hey, I'm working on some really cool interactivity for widgets and weather. I think this is really interesting."”
“But they saw the video and were like, "Wow, that looks really cool."”
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- When someone leaves a hard paywall, send a push offering 7 free daysFew took it and few of those paid; being replaced
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