Your Measurement Toolbox:
PR management packages reviewed

Five Companies That Promise
Instant Accountability:
Do They Deliver?

by Lindsey Wyckoff

Instant accountability has become the Holy Grail of PR. In a recent survey of PR professionals, 86% who responded said they are held more accountable for media relations results than ever before. Accountability is the ultimate goal of measurement; in the present market, the promise of instant job salvation is a strong inducement as well.

Do-It-Yourself Accountability

As resources within a company or organization increase, so do demands for accountability. Companies such as PRtrak, VOCUS, MediaMap, Public Affairs Technology and TEKgroup offer databases that combine evaluation with tracking to provide a better understanding of the value of your media coverage. These do-it-yourself databases offer to fill the expanded range of accountability quickly and accurately, and since you provide the data, you determine the importance of each aspect of your campaign. They also offer a centralized location where employees and consumers can access the updated data, offering accountability not just to senior executives, but to the public as well. This article from the IABC/Washington Update, although written about PRtrak in particular, summarizes the niche filled by the services discussed here.

Unfortunately, most of the services listed here use or offer Ad Value Equivalency (AVE) calculations to determine ROI—not a reliable or valid practice according to most measurement experts and the IPR Guidelines for Measuring PR. We at The Measurement Standard cannot recommend the use of AVEs to measure PR effectiveness.

If you must have a single number to compare advertising and PR, we'd suggest using CPM (cost per thousand impressions) or CPMC (cost per minute spent per contact). In any case, we encourage you to become well enough informed about the AVE controversy to understand just what you are and are not measuring when you use them. For more on the perils of AVEs, see this article in a previous issue of The Measurement Standard.

PRtrak

In conjunction with Nielsen, Arbitron, SQAD, SRDS and ANR, PRtrak uses circulation information and other statistics as a supplement to data provided by the user to calculate the extent of media coverage and its worth. The data available through Nielsen and other partners enables PRtrak to calculate AVE for both print and broadcast media coverage at the same time. A sample of a PRtrak report can be found here. Note that some users have complained of problems with the database, so it is important to verify that PRtrak has the capabilities that you need.

The PRtrak software ranges from $1,495 for one-time use of PRtrak Select to $3,590 for five-time use of PRtrak Universal. There is a $300-500 annual tech support fee as well as additional fees for the licensing of specific data types. It is also available on a monthly subscription basis for $140 per data type. Look here for the PRtrak price list.

VOCUS

VOCUS public relations software offers a variety of PR services including iRelease, which releases and tracks press releases, and Media Monitoring, which tracks and summarizes keyword mentions in the broadcast media. It also provides automated services that collect data from a variety of sources and organize it into a manageable database for in-house use or Web site posting.

The VOCUS software itself costs $8,500, with additional fees for services. Media Monitoring prices range from several hundred to several thousand dollars depending on the number of key words. iRelease must be purchased in conjunction with other services, in different size bundles (depending on the number of releases). The pricing of iRelease depends on how many press releases you plan to send out. It is packaged in bundles that may cost the user up to several thousand dollars.

VOCUS also has the option of sending out interactive press releases that allow the recipient to respond immediately by clicking on a link contained in the release in order to request more information or send a reply. This not only provides immediate gratification for the recipient, it also serves as a gauge for a company to discover who is most interested in their press.

MediaMap

MediaMap, long known for its database of information on journalists, has been expanding into the communications management marketplace using partnerships with major brand names to tie together the various tools that PR people require. Using clips from Factiva and Biz 360’s analysis software, they’ve put together Performa, a service that allows media relations professionals to “read, track and analyze coverage” with one package. And while the ability to track journalists is attractive, what makes it worth the hefty annual price tag ($50,000 and up depending on specifications) is the notion that within the same package you can see what journalists write about you vs. the competition, and display it in full color charts and graphs.

MediaMap provides a comprehensive media management system at a fraction of the cost of other similar systems. An annual subscription to MediaMap Online costs $2,600, and enables you to send out releases through partnerships with Business Wire and PR Newswire, as well as maintain and update a contact list. MediaMap also provides a search service for story opportunities called EdCals. EdCals costs $995 per year for a single seat, single module subscription. It is an insider’s guide to more than 160,000 editorial contacts. Constant updates enable the user to track press opportunities in a specific industry or area.

Public Affairs Technologies

Another system on the market, prPowerBase, has garnered a fair amount of attention over the years. Created by Public Affairs Technologies, the prPowerBase software is expensive (price listings vary from $12,000 to $25,000), but the service is no more impressive than the other lower cost versions we have discussed. It encompasses content, list management, tracking and measurement tools. PerfectPitch™, the media contact database in prPowerBase, incorporates data from Bacon’s, Bulldog Reporter, and LexisNexis™ to include more than 365,000 contacts. There is also a clip management service called Clipscan®, which allows you to store both broadcast and print clippings alongside Web clippings. prPowerBase touts itself as “The most popular media relations and press clipping management system available.” However, clients have given it mixed reviews, some complaining of hard navigation and poor customer relations, others describing it as, “A good idea poorly executed.”

TEKgroup

Another provider of PR management databases is TEKgroup. TEKgroup's partners are Burrelle's, Lone Buffalo and VMS. Particular attention should be paid to TEKcampaign manager. This service provides the user with a tool for managing every aspect of a media campaign, as well as the ability to manage multiple campaigns with little extra effort. It categorizes and weighs the impact of media coverage as well as tracking releases and editorial coverage. All the data is kept on a central site that can also maintain a media contact list in tandem with email accounts for selected contacts. An email newsletter containing updates about the campaign can be distributed with the campaign manager. TEKclipsheet, an automated clip management system, offers many similar services.

In Summary: Which One Is Right For You?

See our Summary Chart and Suitability Meter, in the column to the right, for comparison information and our recommendations concerning which service might suit your particular needs.