About Us
I started this company for two reasons … well, OK, three.
I wanted to be my own boss. I liked the commute from the kitchen to my home office. And there was a rather large, yawning hole in the emerging screen media marketplace for someone who understood the business and could also string a few coherent words together. I decided to fill that hole.
Before I got pressDOOH going, I spoke with several people who I trusted and respected, and asked them if my idea for pressDOOH was sound, or typical Haynes-kooky. Turns out it was sound. So here I am.
This is a boutique, highly specialized firm that focuses on relating the products and services and news about technology and media companies in a manner that’s interesting, engaging and clear. We don’t do things the same way as mainstream public relations and marketing communications firms. The world has moved on from the formula-driven approach that still dominates that sector, and so have we.
I actually wear out keyboards with all the writing I do. I took to using a Sharpie and fingernail lacquer (which stinks) to put an A and E back on the keys on a favorite keyboard.
ALL KINDS OF WRITING
pressDOOH started out focused on writing news releases for clients, but that’s now just a small percentage of what comes out of World HQ every week.
In a given week, the output includes ghosted blog posts for CEOs of tech companies (in several countries), scripts for videos and automated presentations, sales sheets, white papers, case studies and media kits. In recent months, several large companies have had me put together their technology RFPs, because I understand their business and needs and can lay out what they need is readily-grasped terms.
I take the complicated or unfocused offers of our clients, and produce tightly written material that helps potential customers instantly understand the offer and value.
I help some clients figure out where they sit in the marketplace, and perhaps suggest they find different, better chairs. I am not at all reluctant to tell clients they’re making mistakes or heading for trouble. And I am entirely disinclined to tell clients what they are up to is sooper-dooper, unless it actually is.
Clients come to pressDOOH because they appreciate that candor. But they also know they are handing off really important work to someone who actually “gets” what they’re up to, and can assume their point of view when writing things up. I write copy that flows, is not riddled with stupid buzz phrases and cliches, and turns complicated material into passages that are accessible.
You can hire a freelance writer who will write exactly as you suggest, and probably do nothing more. You can hire a public relations firm that will have barely a clue about your business, and wedge your needs in between work for the agri-fuel and accounting firms who are on retainer. Or you can engage someone, on flexible terms, who is probably already up your particular learning curve, and understands the spin that will work with the industry and customers.
You get someone who could easily sit on your management team, but definitely isn’t looking to get hired.
DEEP INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
pressDOOH founder Dave Haynes has held executive and senior operations management and business development positions with some of the biggest names in the digital screen media industry. He also conceived, launched and operated a successful digital out of home media company, though not so successful that he relocated to a beach.
Haynes is one of the more widely-read respected authorities in the industry through a blog, Sixteen:Nine. That’s been going for more than five years. Before getting into the digital signage industry, he was among the first major daily newspaper editors in North America to take a newspaper online. That followed 15 years as a reporter and editor, doing everything from covering the late 70s and early 80s rock music business to national politics.
BROAD SERVICES
pressDOOH is led by Haynes, but a virtual team of specialists is available to do the other work that helps to powerfully tell the stories for clients. We have access to graphic design, web design, media relations and research specialists who can be tapped, as needed, to round out a job. A great written case study still needs visuals, packaging and even supporting material like video. We can cover all that off and manage it.
Writing will always be at the core of pressDOOH’s offer, but expert advice and guidance is built in. When we write RFPs for firms, as an example, a lot of that work is about identifying and shaping the requirements, and only then producing the narrative.