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Any business or organization that cares about managing its brand identity and controlling the narrative surrounding its products or services must have an excellent public relations (PR) strategy. PR software houses tools built with one primary focus: to assist organizations in distributing information, handling media relations, responding to queries, or anything that affects how the public or stakeholders view the establishment.
There are several types of PR, and some aspects deal with managing the customer’s experience and perception. Others manage stakeholders or employees.
Various teams are usually assigned to manage the different types of PR, and it may be challenging for managers to track what every team is doing without PR software. Discover the 6 best PR software in 2023 to improve your organization’s operations.
Best PR Software for Small Businesses
Quick View
- Sprinklr – Overall Best PR Software for Small Businesses
- BrandPush – Best for Press Release Distribution
Quick Verdict
Overall Best PR Software for Small Businesses – Sprinklr
Sprinklr transforms business operations and PR by providing a rich catalog of tools. Its features are easily customizable to fit unique needs. Sprinklr enhances productivity with its customer and sales management features.
It helps to improve customer relationships and provides analytics and reporting tools that allow users to track brand perception and help to improve product and service output.
Sprinklr: Best Overall
Sprinklr provides an intuitive interface for businesses to manage content marketing projects. Plus, Sprinklr prioritizes Customers and provides a contact center as a service (CCaas) platform to allow businesses to improve customer relationships by giving swift feedback to customers’ complaints and inquiries. Businesses can integrate CRM tools, including emails, and manage correspondence from one platform.
Also, Sprinklr Insights offers various reporting and analytics features that allow large businesses to listen in on what customers say about the brand and its performance. Another important insight Sprinklr provides is the location of each customer or potential customer.
Media Monitoring and Analysis
Sprinkle allows PR teams to track where the brand name is mentioned on 2 million+ news outlets with an AI model that provides 360° views around the clock.
With AI crisis detection tools, Sprinklr simplifies the process of following up on important industry-related trends. Plus, (Unified-CXM), Sprinklr’s customer experience management features help businesses collect and analyze information from over 30 channels to improve strategies.
Press Release Distribution
With Sprinklr’s PR software, businesses can easily manage and distribute press releases across various channels, including social media and email. Sprinklr achieves this using press release software integrated into its platform.
Analytics and Reporting
Sprinklr offers businesses AI-driven insights into a business service and product performance from its 7500+ query libraries. Use the 360° smart alerts dashboards to get an in-depth view of insights, identify improvement areas, and optimize strategies for maximum impact.
Pricing Plans
Sprinklr Service
- Advanced(self-service) – $249 per seat/month
- Enterprise – Request a Quote
Sprinklr Social
- Advanced(self-service) – $299 per seat/month
- Enterprise – Request a Quote
Sprinklr Insights and Marketing
- Request a Quote
- Users can implement several tasks at the same time
- Offers a free product trial phase.
- Enables advanced reporting and analytics
- Provides integration tools to improve workflow.
- It needs PR-specific features.
- Onboarding tutorials need to be more comprehensive.
- Needs to improve its media monitoring features to do more.
BrandPush – Best for Press Release Distribution
BrandPush enables businesses to boost press releases and marketing campaigns on news sites, and blogs by creating SEO releases that rank highly on the first page. Its user-friendly interface and reports tool make tracking and extracting insights from releases across news sites a breeze.
Media Monitoring and Analysis
BrandPush allows businesses to track over 300+ news sites or blogs with millions of viewers that could become potential customers with live links from their press releases.
Press Release Distribution
BrandPush specializes in writing and press release distribution within a period of 5 – 7 days. Businesses can reach their target audience, and provide them with information on products and services and landing pages where they can take action all at once. BrandPush distribution service allows you to easily publish on 300+ relevant sites including US Today and Market Watch.
Analytics and Reporting
BrandPush sends its users a detailed report about their press releases after each publication is published on a relevant site. It also provides live links to monitor engagements on press releases, although some sites have a no-link policy.
All BrandPush press releases are optimized to rank on Google’s search engine’s first page which in turn increases brand visibility.
Pricing plans
- Starter plan – $169 per month
- Plus plan – $229 per month
- Pro plan – $259 per month
- Provides SEO press releases.
- Customer Support is very reliable.
- Access to millions of readers.
- Comes with bulk discount offers and a money-back policy.
- Pricing drawbacks for some users
- No proper analytics and reporting
- PR functionalities are limited.
Best PR Software for Mid-Sized Businesses
Quick View
- Muck Rack – Overall best PR software for midsize businesses
- Propel – Best for Media Monitoring and Analysis
Media Monitoring and Analysis
Real-time news and media monitoring tools
Add a new report tool
Press Release Distribution
Customized email pitching + social media sharing tools
Generative AI tool + access to 1 million+ journalist
Analytics and Reporting
Customizable visual reports
Business Outcomes ROI dashboard
Quick Verdict
Overall Best PR Software for Midsize Business – Muck Rack
Muck Rack is our top PR software for midsize businesses. It boosts collaboration, provides businesses with an easy way to communicate internally and with the public. Businesses can also monitor media campaigns and track relevant news by integrating with other apps.
Muck Rack – Overall Best PR Software for Midsize Businesses
Muck Rack offers media monitoring, press release distribution, and journalist outreach. The platform’s user-friendly interface and customizable dashboards help businesses track their media coverage and measure their PR impact. Also, its extensive journalist database makes it easy for businesses to find the right contacts for their campaigns.
In all, Muck Rack helps midsize businesses to streamline their media relations, social media management, and content creation processes. Its collaboration features allow teams to work together, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
Media Monitoring and Analysis
Muck Rack allows businesses to monitor news articles, social media mentions, and broadcast transcripts. Advanced analytics tools enable users to measure the impact of their media coverage, track sentiment, and identify key trends.
Also, Muck Rack’s platform offers features like customizable dashboards, competitor analysis, and media list management, making it a comprehensive and efficient solution for media professionals.
Press Release Distribution
Muck Rack enables businesses to target journalists, media outlets, and influencers for press releases with an advanced media database that allows for precise targeting based on beat, location, and other criteria. It also offers customized email pitching and social sharing tools.
Analytics and Reporting
With Muck Rack, users can track the performance of their media coverage and measure the impact of their PR efforts with customizable visual reports that can be easily shared with clients and stakeholders. This empowers users to make data-driven decisions and optimize their media strategies.
Pricing plans
- Contact Muck Rack for Price Quote
- Allows media monitoring and alerts
- Ensures proper relationship management
- Enables pitching and press release distribution
- Performance Analytics
- It has a comprehensive media database
- Cost barrier from premium services
- Limited coverage
- Reliance on email communication
- Integration limitations
Propel – Best for Media Monitoring and Analysis
Propel is a product and customer relationship management software designed to improve businesses’ communication and management of their collective resources and customers.
Using the Propel PLM Dashboards, various teams can join forces in planning a product or project implementation by pooling ideas using docs integrations and other file-sharing tools.
Propel makes provision for small businesses to handle marketing, sales management, and project management using its wide array of tools.
Media Monitoring and Analysis
Propel media tracking solution allows businesses to catch up with their different media campaigns using the Monitor tool. Use the add new report feature to set up a schedule for Propel to send reports about media brand campaign performance, mentions, and other ROI indicators.
Press Release Distribution
Propel provides access to over 1 million journalists and a generative AI software businesses can use to create press release content and pitches. In addition, PR teams can connect with the best newsrooms, influencers, and journalists using media list distributors and discover the best time for sending out new releases.
Analytics and Reporting
Propel‘s analytics and reporting tool, the Business Outcomes ROI dashboard, provides insights into web traffic from press releases, the number of clicks on Ads or backlinks, and more. The feature also allows Propel PR to create automated reports to be presented to shareholders, the PR team, or investors.
Pricing
- PRM3 – $6000 annually
- PRM4 – $9000 annually
- Enterprise Plan – Reach out to Propel sales team.
- Provides excellent PR pitching tools for businesses.
- Onboarding is relatively easy and hardly requires any additional tutorial options.
- Allows users to directly integrate their best PR-enabling software like Google Sheets and Analytics on the platform.
- Analytics allows you to keep track of what pitches bring the highest ROI.
- Quite pricey.
- The database needs to be improved for more accuracy.
- Should work on improving media monitoring features.
Best PR Software for Large Businesses
Quick View
Media Monitoring and Analysis
Social, Print, and Broadcast monitoring tools.
Scans 270,000+ media outlets & 15+ media outlets + Integrations
Press Release Distribution
Access to 440,000+ information distribution web pages
PR Newswire integration
Analytics and Reporting
Advanced analytics tool
Analytics & reports tool
Quick Verdict
Overall best PR software for large businesses – Cision
Cision is our preferred PR software because it has many features that allow large businesses to communicate better with customers, investors, influencers, and the general public.
It also provides content marketing tools and social advertising features. It integrates via Cision Connect with other apps for a smooth workflow.
Cision – Overall Best
Cision provides online media and relationship PR management solution software for businesses. Cision has several solutions for managing video creation, investor relations, and marketing relationships, allowing teams to communicate information to the appropriate destination seamlessly.
Cision uses its disclosure networks and email alerts to track a business’s news on the media and keep everyone informed of media campaign performance. In addition, it provides PR distribution and media insights services tools that make an organization’s PR smooth.
Media Monitoring and Analysis
Media, social, print, and broadcast monitoring features allow businesses to connect all their social media channels to one platform. Media monitoring simplifies tracking everything from Ad campaign performance, reviews, mentions, etc., on 2700+ media stations and 35,000 podcasts.
It lets you identify media trends, highlight potential influencers, and notice where your business gets the best reviews and interactions.
Press Release Distribution
Businesses can use Cison’s PR distribution feature to create and distribute their story and news to customers, leads, stakeholders, or brand influencers.
Gain access to 440,000+ web pages, influencer pages, and media reporters provided to share and control press releases and any other kind of informational piece released to the public or internally.
Analytics and Reporting
Gather information like conversations about your product or service on Slack channels, email newsletters, and other media sources using Cision’s automation features.
Explore unique ways to report using Cision’s advanced analytics features, which provide options for data visualization of the outcome of different PR strategies.
Pricing Plan
To benefit from Cision software’s unique PR solution, businesses can contact customer support for personalized quotes tailored to their needs. Cision reportedly requires over $7000 per annum to use its services.
- Finding media contacts for press release pitches on Cision is very easy.
- Provides support for businesses looking to set up functionalities for their team.
- Alerts features are incredibly swift.
- Improves media relationship management.
- No free trial period is available.
- Several tools and features can be daunting.
Meltwater – Best PR Software for Media Monitoring
Meltwater offers many features to help businesses manage their public relations activities more effectively. It enables businesses to use proper research methods to divide their customers into clusters and observe patterns, track media coverage, monitor social media mentions, and analyze data to measure the success of their PR campaigns.
Meltwater’s intuitive interface makes collaborating with team members, managing tasks, and automating routine processes easily.
Additionally, Meltwater’s suite capabilities enable businesses to become more profitable by streamlining their PR and sales intelligence efforts.
Media Monitoring and Analysis
Meltwater’s Media Monitoring and Analysis feature for large businesses scans through 270,000+ media outlets. It integrates with other tools for tracking traditional media sources like TV and radio.
With its advanced analytics capabilities, the software tracks and monitors media mentions across various channels. If media mentions are in another language, businesses can translate them to their native language on Meltwater.
It also provides an in-depth analysis of sentiment, reach, and impact on 15+ social media channels. This enables businesses to measure the success of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions to optimize their strategies.
Additionally, with Meltwater’s dashboard, users stay informed of trends and important relationships to maintain, which empowers them to take proactive measures.
Press Release Distribution
Meltwater integrates with press release solutions like PR Newswire, which allows businesses to easily create and distribute press releases to targeted audiences using scheduled or real-time post features.
Meltwater PR software also provides 100+ news channels to allow businesses to distribute press releases directly from its platform. With Meltwater’s AP satellite network and online FTP features, large businesses can effectively manage their PR efforts and distribute press releases via images, videos, or text across multiple channels.
Analytics and Reporting
With Meltwater’s social media analytics and reports features providing data analysis, and predictive analytics, companies can gain deep insights into their PR campaigns and make informed decisions.
Also, businesses can gain insight into what competitors are doing and help them compare performances or gain insights into ways to improve products or services.
Pricing Plans
Meltwater has a 4-tier pricing plan, Essentials, Advanced, Suite, and Enterprise, and each one comes with advanced features, with Essentials having the least and Enterprise the most. However, the cost of each plan is private; contact Meltwater’s customer support for additional information.
- Setting up is easy.
- Follow up on conversations about your brand with or without a tag.
- Very impressive listening features.
- Drops daily reports right in the business’s personal inbox.
- Meltwater’s interface can tend to lag sometimes.
- Too pricey for small and midsize businesses.
Key Features to Look for in PR Software
Suppose your organization has grown beyond traditional PR management practices, or the team wants a more convenient means of controlling its public relations using the software. In that case, the first step is to outline what features the team needs. Check out some key features to consider in PR software for your PR department.
Media Monitoring and Analysis
One of the leading PR activities is media monitoring and analysis. It helps the business stay on top of who is saying what and what is being said about the company at all times.
This helps the business know when there is a need to correct a particular false narrative that has been put out. Additionally, the business can leverage any sudden positive trends, whether orchestrated by the company or started by a random customer, to boost brand awareness.
The best PR software for your team should have an alert feature to notify the team whenever the business name is mentioned in all media spaces. It should be paired with an analytics and reporting tool and can include alerts about competitors and noteworthy industry-specific news.
Social Media Management and Engagement
The best PR software comes with social media management and engagement tools for organizations. Social media channels are one of the easiest ways to engage with existing customers and attract new ones.
PR software should be able to integrate every social media account a business or organization runs on one platform and monitor engagements through analytics tools. Look for a tool that can integrate with all the channels used by your organization.
Influencer Outreach and Relationship Management
Since the world transitioned to digital marketing strategies as the new way of advertising, influencer outreach, and relationship management have become crucial parts of public relations and marketing efforts. Influencers have access to a dedicated audience full of potential customers.
Look for PR software that provides influencer tracking tools that help to find and pinpoint which influencer has a legitimate reach or integrate good tools that provide such features. Additionally, it should offer messaging tools and separate cards for each influencer.
Press Release Distribution
The software must be accessed for a press release distribution feature to help the business share critical information across different platforms. It should be able to schedule when the press release gets released to the target audience and come with privacy restrictions and the option to add text, videos, gifs, and other attachments.
Analytics and Reporting
Tracking KPIs for any business is as essential as having the right tools for distributing information. Analytics and reporting feature allows the organization to follow up on how well Ads perform, track where leads are coming from, the number of times the brand is mentioned, and other KPIs.
In addition, it should come with a reporting tool that automatically collects relevant information and provides features for a seamless presentation.
How to Choose the Right PR Software for Your Business
Identify Your Business Needs and Goals
When choosing PR software for your business, it is important to identify your specific needs and goals. Consider factors such as your company’s size, target audience, and budget.
Determine what you want to achieve with the software: increased media coverage, improved reputation management, or better measurement and analysis of your PR efforts.
Look for software with features aligned with your goals, such as media monitoring, influencer outreach, or social media management.
Also, ensure the software is user-friendly and integrates well with your existing technology stack. Assessing your needs and goals can help you make an informed decision when selecting a PR software that best fits your business.
Evaluate the Software’s Features and Capabilities
Evaluating the features and capabilities of PR software is essential when selecting the right tool for your business. Begin by identifying your business’s unique needs and determining what features will address those needs effectively.
Look for software that offers media monitoring, press release distribution, social media management, and analytics.
Furthermore, consider the ease of use, customization options, and the vendor’s level of support. It is also crucial to check for integration with other tools you currently use and the software’s scalability as your business grows. Finally, consider pricing and whether the software offers a free trial or demo before making your final decision.
Consider the Software’s Compatibility With Your Existing Tech Stack
When selecting PR software for your business, it is crucial to consider its compatibility with your existing tech stack and capabilities. This involves assessing whether the software can seamlessly integrate with your current tools and systems.
Determining if the software provides the necessary features and functionalities that align with your PR objectives is also important.
This consideration ensures that you don’t have to invest in new infrastructure or learn new processes, which could be expensive and time-consuming. Furthermore, it allows for a streamlined workflow, maximizes productivity, and results in effective PR campaigns.
Read Customer Reviews and Compare Pricing
Reading customer reviews and comparing pricing can be an effective way to choose the right PR software for your business.
By reading reviews, you can gain insights into the experiences of other users and their satisfaction with the software. This can help you identify any potential issues or limitations of the software before committing to a purchase.
Comparing pricing between different software options can also help you find a solution that fits your budget while providing the features and functionality you need. Researching and comparing different PR software options can help you make an informed decision and find the right fit for your business.
Consider the Vendor’s Customer Support and Training Resources
When choosing PR software for your business, you should consider the vendor’s customer support and training resources. A reliable vendor should provide adequate support through various channels, such as email, phone, or chat, to address any questions or issues.
In addition, the vendor should have comprehensive training resources, including user manuals, video tutorials, and webinars, to help users understand the software’s features and functionalities.
This ensures that your team is equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to make the most out of the PR software, maximizing your return on investment and efficiently achieving your PR goals.
Implementing PR Software: Tips for Success
Define your PR Strategy and Goals
Defining clear PR strategy and goals is essential when implementing PR software. Your PR strategy should align with your overall business goals and target audience, ensuring you use the software effectively to reach your desired outcomes.
Start by identifying your key messages, channels, and influencers, and create a timeline for each campaign. Also, set measurable goals for your PR efforts, such as increased brand awareness or improved customer sentiment.
Next, utilize the analytics and monitoring capabilities of the PR software to measure your progress and adjust your strategy as needed. By taking a strategic approach and setting achievable goals, you can maximize the benefits of PR software and achieve long-term success.
Train Your Team On How To Use the Software
Training your team on how to use PR software is crucial for its successful implementation. You can start by identifying the specific software features relevant to your team’s needs.
Then, create a training plan that includes hands-on practice, clear instructions, and access to support resources. It is important to make sure that everyone is comfortable with the software and understands how it fits into their daily tasks.
Also, encourage feedback from your team and address any concerns or issues that arise during the training process. When you invest time and resources into proper training, you can maximize the benefits of your PR software and improve overall productivity and efficiency within your team.
Monitor and Measure Your PR Campaigns Regularly
Monitoring and measuring PR campaigns are essential for success when implementing PR software. By monitoring key metrics such as media coverage, social media engagement, website traffic, and brand sentiment, PR professionals can track the impact of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions to optimize their strategies.
This not only helps evaluate the campaign’s success but also allows for adjustments to be made in real-time, ensuring that the campaign stays on track and delivers the desired results. Utilizing PR software to monitor and measure campaigns provides valuable insights and helps PR professionals stay ahead.
Continuously Evaluate and Refine Your PR Strategy and Software Usage
Continuously evaluating and refining your PR strategy and software usage is crucial for success in implementing PR software. This involves regularly assessing the effectiveness of your PR efforts, identifying areas for improvement, and adjusting your strategy and software accordingly.
By monitoring key performance indicators and seeking feedback from stakeholders, you can ensure that your PR activities align with your goals and generate the desired outcomes.
Also, staying up-to-date with the latest PR software developments and capabilities can help you optimize your workflow, streamline processes, and enhance your PR efforts’ overall efficiency and effectiveness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
Public Relations is at the core of any successful brand, resulting in the need for efficient and effective PR software solutions. The 6 PR software listed in this article is some of the best in 2023. Each of them offers unique benefits tailored to different business PR needs.
Meltwater, Muck Rack, Cision, and other software listed here provide some of the most highly-rated tools that help automate social media campaigns and streamline workflow. Utilizing these software options can improve your PR efforts, take your brand’s reputation to the next level, and watch as your brand’s visibility and credibility soar.
