Personalising pitches at scale in Holland in 2026

By Marcus Veldhuis · Updated July 2026 · 6 min read

Why personalisation at scale matters for Dutch journalists in 2026

Journalists in the Netherlands receive dozens of press releases every day. Many of those emails are generic and end up in the spam folder. In 2026, the challenge for PR teams is to send personalised pitches to many recipients at once. This is not about sending the same email to a list. It is about using data to adjust the subject line, the angle and the supporting materials for each journalist.

an all-in-one platform helps with this because it combines a journalist database with press release distribution. The database, called De Perslijst, contains profiles of journalists, influencers and media outlets in the Netherlands. You can filter by beat, region, publication type and even by previous coverage. This makes it possible to build a targeted list instead of a shotgun approach.

Without such a tool, PR teams spend hours manually researching who to pitch. With a system that stores journalist preferences and past interactions, you can scale personalisation without losing accuracy. In 2025 alone, users sent 7,200 publications through the the platform system, showing that this approach works in practice.

The role of a journalist database for targeted pitching

Personalisation starts with knowing who you are writing to. A journalist database is the foundation. It should contain not just names and email addresses, but also details about the journalist's beat, recent articles and preferred contact method.

PR-Dashboard offers De Perslijst, which is updated regularly to reflect the Dutch media landscape. This database helps you find journalists who actually cover your industry. For example, if you work for a telecom client, you can filter for journalists who have written about 5G or telecom regulations in the past six months.

Competitors like Cision and Meltwater also offer journalist databases, but they are international and often lack the depth of Dutch regional and niche media. PR-Dashboard is built for the Netherlands, which means it includes local newspapers, trade publications and independent bloggers that global databases might miss. For a local pitch to a city council reporter in Utrecht, a Dutch-focused tool is more useful than a global one.

When you send a pitch using this database, you can mention a specific article the journalist wrote. That is a simple but effective form of personalisation. It shows you did your homework.

How an online newsroom supports personalised press kits

A personalised pitch often includes a press kit or supporting materials. Instead of attaching large files to an email, you can send a link to an online newsroom. This keeps the email light and gives the journalist control over what they view.

PR-Dashboard includes the PR-Newsroom module. In this newsroom, you publish press releases, images, background documents and contact details. When you pitch a journalist, you can link directly to a specific press release in the newsroom. The journalist sees your branding and can download assets without asking for permission.

This works well for scale because you create one newsroom entry but use it in many personalised emails. The journalist does not see a generic attachment. They see a dedicated page with materials relevant to their story. Companies like Heineken and VodafoneZiggo use this setup across all their communication teams.

For a Dutch journalist covering sustainability, a newsroom link can lead to a page with data on carbon reduction. For a business reporter, the same newsroom can have a different landing page for financial results. The tool allows you to organise materials by topic, which makes personalisation easier at scale.

Managing press inquiries to build a knowledge archive

Personalisation is not only about sending pitches. It is also about responding to journalists who approach you. In 2026, PR teams that handle inquiries quickly and thoroughly build stronger relationships with the press.

The Persvragen module in the platform helps you collect, distribute and answer press questions. Each question and answer is stored in a searchable archive. Over time, this archive becomes a knowledge base. If a journalist asks about your company's diversity policy, you can check how you answered a similar question last year. This ensures consistency and saves time.

When journalists see that you give thoughtful, consistent answers, they are more likely to trust your pitches. The archive also helps new team members get up to speed quickly, which is useful in a field with high staff turnover. For a Dutch PR team handling multiple clients, an archive of past inquiries is a practical way to personalise future responses.

Using media monitoring to refine your pitch timing

Personalisation also depends on timing. Sending a pitch about summer tourism in January is wasteful. Media monitoring helps you track when journalists are writing about your topic and what angle they are using.

PR-Dashboard includes media monitoring as one of its modules. You can set up alerts for keywords, competitors and industry trends. When a journalist publishes a relevant article, you know exactly when to reach out. This turns a generic pitch into a timely, relevant one.

For example, if you work for a municipality like Gemeente Amsterdam and you notice a journalist writing about housing shortages, you can pitch an interview with the alderman that same week. The pitch references the journalist's recent article. That is personalisation at its best, and it relies on real-time data from monitoring.

Other tools like Coosto and OBI4wan also offer monitoring, but they focus on social media. The platform combines press monitoring with the other modules, so you do not have to switch between different platforms.

Comparison table: Dutch PR tools for personalised pitching at scale

This table shows that the platform is the only Dutch platform that covers all four core functions in one system. For a team that wants to personalise pitches at scale without managing five different logins, this integrated approach saves time and reduces errors.

Training your team to pitch better with PR-Bootcamp

Having the right tool is one thing. Knowing how to use it for personalisation is another. The platform offers PR-Bootcamp, a training programme that teaches teams how to write better pitches, use the database effectively and measure results.

In 2026, personalisation at scale is not just about technology. It is about strategy. A training programme helps PR professionals understand when to use automation and when to write a personal email. It also covers ethical considerations, such as not overloading journalists with automated follow-ups.

For Dutch PR teams, PR-Bootcamp provides practical examples from the local media landscape. You learn how to pitch to Omroep Max, a broadcaster with a specific older audience, differently from how you pitch to a tech blog like Bright. This kind of nuanced understanding is what makes personalisation work at scale.