4 Questions to Ask Before Investing in a Media Monitoring and Targeting Tool

Blogs

4 Questions to Ask Before Investing in a Media Monitoring and Targeting Tool Lucie Curtis Reaching your audience at the right moment, with the right content, on the right channel is a goal every communicator dreams of. And achieving this goal is possible if you have the right data … Data that gives you insight into what your sector is talking about, who's talking about it, where they're talking about it, and whether or not the content you've already created and distributed is aligned with these conversations. However, there's so much data and so many places to collect it from that there's not nearly enough time to sort through all of it by hand. Having to combine brand and industry monitoring from multiple sources is a time-consuming process. To then analyze and act on this research is even more resource intensive. Cutting corners on any step in the process can result in inaccurate intel and ill-informed decisions. One way to ease the pain is to look for a tool that packages your monitoring, targeting, distribution, and reporting into one central location. You need to ask the right questions, though, to make sure you're selecting a tool that's truly multifunctional. Ask these four questions of the monitoring and targeting tools you're considering to determine which one will work best for you. 1. Can you monitor multiple topics across multiple mediums? Having to jump between multiple tools to examine what's happening on social, online, broadcast, print and other media is not just inefficient, it can cause you to miss overlapping trends. At minimum, a multifunctional monitoring tool should enable you to observe different mediums and see how brand and/or topic mentions compare and contrast on each one. Moreover – whether you're an agency representing different clients or a brand targeting different audience personas – you need to be able to monitor conversations around more than one topic. Competitor intel, emerging trends, and customer behaviors are a few of the things you should monitor beyond brand mentions. After identifying what type of information is important to you, look for a tool that makes it easy to save all of your searches in one location, customize notifications for each, and update searches as new needs arise. 2. Can you maintain media and influencer lists based on your monitoring? Monitoring what's being said about your brand and your industry will not just help you understand what your audience cares about, it will also connect you with the journalists and influencers shaping those perspectives. Using your monitoring intel to inform your media research can result in targeted outreach lists that include journalists, bloggers and influencers who specifically cover your niche and are more likely to be interested in your content. Of course, journalists and influencers come and go, which adds another wrinkle to your search for a multifunctional monitoring and targeting tool. Your time is valuable. Spending it managing the freshness of your media database is not its best use. Instead, opt for a tool that automatically updates your saved lists.  As demonstrated in the case study Feintuch Communications Provides Customized PR Programs to Diverse Client Base, doing so will help you drive better results. 3. Can you efficiently distribute your message across multiple channels? While targeted outreach lists can be an effective way to reach a portion of your audience, you don't want to limit yourself to only one promotion channel. Your audience is engaging with content across social media, websites, apps, and other platforms. For your message to successfully reach everyone that matters, you must tap into a variety of distribution methods. Planning and executing a multichannel campaign isn't easy, though. You have to define which channels you want to target, what those channels' requirements are, how you plan to stagger your promotions' timing across them, and much more. A multifunctional monitoring and targeting tool can help you streamline the distribution of your communications not only to saved targeted lists, but also newsrooms, websites, social media and other channels. 4. Does the platform allow you to create, customize and share reporting? Distributing content over multiple channels means there are multiple types of metrics you need to stay on top of. Media clippings, email outreach success, and website visibility are just three of many things you should be tracking. The reporting you gather is crucial not just for informing your future efforts, but also delivering tangible results to your company's leadership. Choose a monitoring and targeting tool that makes it easy to compile, save, share and access comprehensive reporting at any time. In today's communication landscape, it’s worth investing in a multifunctional tool that helps you listen for topics generating buzz, target key journalists and influencers, share messages through multiple channels, and report on the effectiveness of your campaigns – all within a single interface. Request a demo of PR Newswire's Agility workflow platform to see our media database, targeting, and monitoring tools in action and learn how they can increase your communications’ effectiveness and efficiency.

[New Post] 3 Press Release Templates to Power Your PR and Content Marketing

 

Blogs

3 Press Release Templates to Power Your PR and Content Marketing Danielle Capriato Although the press release is a tried-and-true tactic for brand communications, there’s much more to writing and distributing one than meets the eye. From reaching media and industry influencers to driving search visibility and sales, there are so many things a press release can achieve for today’s PR and marketing pros. However, with all of the focus on storytelling and distribution (both very important things), it can be easy to forget other press release must-dos. Using a press release template or checklist can give your writing process the consistency needed to ensure all essentials are included. Press releases over the years have generally followed a standard format, including the same basic pieces of important information. And despite other changes to best practices, every press release still must include the following: Headline Dateline City Dateline Date Boilerplate Company Contact In our Quick & Easy Guide to Sharing Your Press Release with the World, we provide tips on these and other press release nuts and bolts. But, while the basic bones of all releases should remain the same, each press release’s purpose will present key differences in the way it should be formatted. As PR and marketing practices have evolved to meet audiences’ constantly shifting needs, so has the press release. When looking at the press releases distributed across PR Newswire day in and day out, we see an ever-growing variety and no “one-size-fits-all” method to writing them. However, we do see some trends, which can be grouped into three main categories, or press release archetypes: The General News Announcement Evergreen, or Feature, News Content Marketing Releases To help PR pros and content marketers craft releases that better fit their needs, we’ve designed the following three press release templates for news and content promotion. General News Release These are the classic, time-honored press releases brands issue for personnel announcements, quarterly earnings, new product launches and other standard company or corporate communications. It's important with any release to ensure you're writing for the appropriate audience, and straight news tends to be targeted toward business journalists, news editors, assignment editors and investors, as well as current and potential customers. For this reason, it's important to focus on presenting your news in a straightforward and easy-to-read manner.   Evergreen News Release Now that news releases have a longer lifespan on the Internet, feature news releases have risen in popularity. These releases take a unique angle on a brand's news and bring their message straight to consumer audiences in ways the audience will want to read and share. The point of an evergreen release is to provide useful and interesting information that is, and will remain, relevant to your target audience. These releases give brands a chance to stretch their storytelling muscles. Be natural and focus on writing well in your evergreen release.   Content Marketing Release Content marketers have been turning to press releases as a way to promote their content. And why shouldn't they? Release distribution allows you to reach a wide and often engaged audience through a trusted network of websites, and can drive traffic to owned media channels. When writing a content release, it's critical that you treat this type of release the same way you would treat other content marketing: by writing for your audience and telling a great story. While you can use these releases to build buzz around your brand and establish yourself as a thought leader, this content is likely used to drive engagement, demand and leads. To that end, be sure to include a direct call-to-action to optimize potential for audience engagement.   The next time you’re tasked with promoting your brand’s news and content, use these templates to write a release that works, and then download PR Newswire’s Quick & Easy Guide to Sharing Your Press Release with the World. This how-to walks through the steps to take when preparing your press releases for distribution. Author Danielle Capriato is the manager of strategic communications at PR Newswire. Follow her on Twitter @dcapriato.

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