Try TAP freeComparison
TAP vs Mailchimp + Spreadsheets
One workspace replaces the seven-tool glue stack.
What the spreadsheet stack actually is
A typical small PR setup looks like this. One Mailchimp account for newsletter sends. Three Google Sheets per artist (master contact list, send tracker, reply log). Gmail labels per campaign. Drive folders for press releases, photos, WAV files. A separate document for follow-up scheduling. A CoverageBook subscription for the end-of-run PDF. A WARM trial for plays.
Seven tools, no shared memory of the same contact. The producer who ghosted on the last release shows up in the new spreadsheet with no flag.
What TAP does instead
One workspace. The contact has 14 data points the workspace remembers across campaigns. The send is from your Gmail, threaded into the conversation you had with that producer six months ago. Replies attribute to the pitch automatically. Coverage logs against the campaign. Plays attach to the contact who took the call. The end-of-run report is a live /share/[token] portal you send the artist, not a PDF you re-export every Friday.
Mailchimp’s broadcast-newsletter shape is the wrong tool for 1:1 producer pitches. The HTML templates and tracking pixels mark the email as marketing mail, and the named producer inbox you’re pitching is exactly the wrong place for marketing mail to land.
Honest framing
For one campaign, the spreadsheet stack works. Lots of small agencies start there. TAP’s Free tier covers two active campaigns, which is enough to test the workspace against the same release you would have run on spreadsheets.
For three or more concurrent campaigns, the spreadsheet stack starts to leak. Contacts duplicate. Follow-ups get missed. The campaign reflection that should inform the next release never happens because the data lives in seven places. TAP exists because that pattern was the daily reality of running a small UK PR agency.
FAQ
Is a spreadsheet stack actually that bad?
Fine for one campaign. Painful at three. Unsustainable at five. The issue is not the spreadsheet, it is the seven separate places that have no shared memory of the same contact. TAP holds the campaign across all of it.
Will Mailchimp send better-looking emails than TAP?
Mailchimp templates are designed for broadcast newsletters. TAP drafts plain-text 1:1 pitches that read like you wrote them, because broadcast HTML emails to producers get filtered. Different jobs.
Can I import my existing contact spreadsheets?
Yes. CSV import at /contacts. The enrichment engine fills the missing data points (named inbox detection, format, genre, last-reply tracking) on the contacts you already have.
Close the tabs. Run the campaign.
Free tier is real. No card. Import your existing spreadsheets in two clicks.