Learning how to use Press Loft from the ground up is very important to ensure that your brand is up to speed on working with us and you get the most out of your trial.

Press Loft is the perfect platform for beginners and established companies alike to boost media coverage both in print and online. We make it easy for brands to attain publicity and provide the most cutting-edge tools to maximise PR.
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With your content online 24/7, you maximise your PR exposure and put your images and products in front of the best journalists, bloggers and influencers in the industry. 

We ensure that journalists and bloggers have access your images at any time!

Press Loft in numbers: 

The Image Library is what journalists use to search and download images. They search for specific terms, words, style and can download the content straight from Press Loft. Journalists no longer need to wait around to get images via email, they have access to content 24/7.
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Before getting started on Press Loft, you need to make sure you have high-res images of your products ready to be uploaded to your account. Without high-res images, you'll lower your results and visibility and won't be able to feature your products on our Image Library. If you want to generate press coverage via Press Loft, you need to have those images ready to go live!

This is Press Loft's image requirement: 

Minimum 100kb (although we recommend aiming for at least 1MB if you can!)
​Max 8MB
​JPEG
​300dpi
​Minimum 1 million pixels (eg 1000x1000 pixels)
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We normally recommend that you have at least 50 images live on Press Loft to start off, but really, the ideal is to have at least 100 live images on your account for journalists to choose from. That will cover a broad range of your products and give journalists a feel for your brand.

If you unsure about which images to upload to Press Loft, try to focus on the up-coming PR season, your best-sellers and your new (or upcoming) products. It's worth remembering that journalists are constantly on the lookout for beautiful, fresh images, so make sure that your Press Loft profile reflects the best of your brand!

Uploading images to Press Loft is very simple. We have a few upload options such as Manual Upload, Shopify integration, CSV import and XML feed import. You will need approximately 2 hours to set up your images on Press Loft. That might sound like a long process, but once it's done, you will only need to upload more images from time to time (ideally once a month) to keep your library up to date.
If you find it a bit overwhelming or too time-consuming to upload images, please send us your images via WeTransfer and we will help to set up your account. 

Once your images are live on Press Loft, journalists can browse and download them. You will receive instant notification downloads and coverage alert (if we spot your products in the press!). 

If your account is set up properly, you can expect results within days/weeks! 

After your images are live on Press Loft, we recommend uploading NEW images on a monthly basis. If you don't have high-res images, don't worry, you can double check that your images don't need new keywords. 

The keywords you add to your images are an essential tool for matching your images to journalists searches.  Check our list here.
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If you ship or stock products internationally, you can update your International Settings to promote to our overseas journalist networks. This will greatly increase the number of journalists who have access to your images and in turn will mean more features!

To set or change your International Settings, hover over the Settings button on your left-hand dashboard menu. Select International Settings.

Now you can change your Ship To and Based In locations. 

Ship To: Means that you do not physically have products in stores, or an office/shop set up in those countries but you do ship to these countries from your existing location. 

Company location: Means that you physically have products in stores or have your own store/office in these locations. 

Important – if you enter a country into the Based In settings because you manufacture a product that is stocked overseas, you must enter a valid stockist in that country that journalists can credit in their features. You can enter this information in your PR & Stockist Settings (more info)

Only select a country for Based In if you have a physical store in this country. 

We will not showcase your images to journalists in countries other than those you select in your settings. 

If you ship worldwide but want to exclude only a few countries, rather than entering hundreds of countries in the Selected area, select Worldwide in your settings, then open the bottom Advanced Settings area. Here you can select the countries you do NOT with to PR in and it will exclude these countries for you. 

Once you have completed all changes simply press Save to update your settings.

You can send press releases that will promote your images and news to our platform of opt-in journalists and influencers. Having a press release that stands out in the crowd can make all the difference to your brand. Journalists receive 100s of press releases daily, so follow our top tips to write a press release that shines.
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It is essential to prioritise the information in your press release. Start your press release with the most accurate and effective information (news about your brand, new collection, innovation…). This will help the journalists to focus on the important information, saving them time and inviting them to read further into details.

Catchy subtitles

Make sure you write catchy subtitles for each of your paragraphs, this will help you grab the reader’s attention and facilitate an easy and quick reading of your press release.
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Illustrate your press release with images

Pick your best product images from you image library (lifestyle & cut out) to illustrate your press release. Journalists will be able to download them immediately. It is best to illustrate your press release with at least 3 to 9 images to grab the reader’s attention.  Adding the link of your branded press office at the end of your press release will also invite journalists to discover your full range of products.
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Be creative

The perfect press release doesn’t really exist unfortunately, but following these different steps and having interesting and creative content will help your first step into the press release world be a success!

To start writing your press release, go to your Press Loft account, click on the Press Release tab and click on Add a Press Release. With a Premium account, you can send 2 press releases a month!

Do you need more help sending or writing a press release? Please get in touch with us: info@pressloft.com

Did you know?  Press Loft offer a one-off press release distribution service to all interiors and gift companies; check out our prices here if you are interested!

Media requests are press enquiries sent by journalists, bloggers and influencers to our client network, in order to help them with their articles. If brands are relevant to the theme and wish to be involved in the article, they can pitch their product/brand to the journalist using the contact information provided in the alert.
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When a journalist submits a request on Press Loft, it might be for:

If subscribed to our Requests service as a client, you will receive these alerts by email to your nominated PR contact. You can also view any open requests by selecting 'Requests' from your dashboard menu.

Related articles: Responding to Media Requests

Influencer marketing has grown to be an essential part of most brand's marketing strategies and is now even more effective than traditional display ads. 

Having your product endorsed by an influencer in an authentic way, to an engaged online community of 1000's, will not only spread your brand message to a new, wider audience, it will build brand credibility, increase your SEO presence with relevant backlinks on blogs and grow your own social following. 

Our Influencer Outreach tool aims to streamline the collaboration process between brand and influencers, making it easy to source the right influencers for your product and build valuable relationships. Simply send a collaboration alert to our network of influencers, watch the applications come through, then pick who you would like to work with.

Let's get started

Log into your account and click on INFLUENCERS on the sidebar.
The landing screen is a grid-view of all your collaborations that gives you a quick overview of their progress and tells you which ones requires your attention.
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​For a more detailed explanation on the collaborations overview, read this article.

Create a collaboration alert

To start a new collaboration, you'll need to submit a Collaboration Alert.
Click on POST NEW COLLABORATION button on the top right of the page and follow the four-step process to enter your collaboration details.
After submitting your alert, a member of staff will quickly review it before publishing it (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, or next working day).
All relevant influencers will be matched and notified about your collaboration.

For a more detailed explanation on creating a collaboration alert, read this article.

Receiving applications

After your collaboration is live, matched influencers will be able to apply by sending you a brief pitch via the Messages area within the deadline you set in your alert. Influencers will appear under your Applicants tab. You can communicate with them further and if you feel they're the right fit, you have up to 14 days to send them a collaboration agreement.
If you don't wish to work with some influencers, you don't have to do anything.
They will be notified after your deadline expires.

Collaboration agreement

Once you're happy with an influencer's application, click on SEND AGREEMENT to send them an agreement where you specify the work you want carried out, the benefits you offer in exchange and a deadline to get the work done by. Influencers can request changes or accept the agreement to get the collaboration underway.

Collaboration in progress

As soon as an influencer accepts your agreement, the collaboration is officially In progress (and will show under the In progress tab).

The influencer can now add all the relevant social media and blog links required to complete this collaboration. You can also add links yourself from your account.

As soon as a link gets submitted, the Report page will start gathering data. The more relevant links are added, the more accurate the final report data will be.

Watch our webinar con maximising your press coverage here:

If you would like a review of your Press Loft account and get some tips, please get in touch with the Press Loft team: info@pressloft.com.

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