The first step you take for each media relations campaign is to create a new media list. In Propel, media lists are also known as pitching lists and pitching initiatives – all 3 of these terms are interchangeable. For the remainder of this guide, we will use the term pitching list.

Pitching lists are used for pitching from Propel's Gmail or Outlook plug-ins, and Propel automatically tracks sent, opened, and responded pitches. For this reason, it is important to create a new pitching list for each campaign to ensure that pitching statistics are tracked correctly.

Creating a Pitching List

To create a new pitching list, go to Pitch -> Pitching Lists and click the ‘Create Pitching Initiative’ button in the top right corner.

Pitching lists can also be created on the fly from within Gmail or Outlook or when copying contacts from My Contacts or an existing media list.

Adding Contacts to a Pitching List

Read below to learn various ways to add contacts to a pitching list based on your current goals.

Reusing a previous pitching list for a new campaign

If you would like to reuse an existing list from a previous campaign, you can duplicate that list. When creating a new pitching initiative/pitching list, choose the option Copy existing list. All contacts from the source list will be copied to the new list. 

Please never reuse an existing list without duplicating it first, otherwise your pitching statistics will be inaccurate.

Copying contacts from My Contacts or a pitching list to your current list

If you are browsing My Contacts or any other pitching list and you find somebody relevant to your current pitch, you can easily add them. From My Contacts or any other pitching list, select contacts using the checkboxes, click Add to media list, and then choose your media list.

Adding specific contacts to your current list

If you are already viewing your media list and you would like to add specific contacts, use this option. From within your media list, click the Add Contact -> Add fom my contacts button. You are then taken to the Add Contacts to Media List screen, which shows all contacts from My Contacts that are not already on your list. Select as many contacts as you like, and click the checkbox in the top right corner to add them to your media list.

Finding new contacts in the Propel Media Database

If you have been searching for new contacts from the Propel Media Database, you can select any relevant journalist and then add them to your media list using the Add to media list button. Refer to Searching the Media Database for additional details.

Adding a new contact manually

Uploading your existing contacts from a CSV

Please refer to Uploading a CSV.

To learn more about creating a media list in Propel, check out our YouTube tutorial.