3BL vs. Cision PRWeb

I would (and do) recommend 3BL Professional to any company/org trying to expand the reach of it's CR programs. Often communications is how we justify the budget for our program work (communications help us increase brand reputation, reach potential employees, reach investors and ESG analysts). The 3BL platform is an incredible way to get your impacts and initiatives out to the world so that people know about the incredible programs you're running. Would recommend for any CR/ESG/Sustainability team.

Incentivized

Cision PRWeb is a wonderful tool for our team of communications professionals. We typically include media mentions over a given time period in our internal reporting, and appreciate the quick notifications whenever we are mentioned somewhere. It is also much quicker than manually curating media lists when you are in a hurry to send a press release. The platform allows you to integrate your social media channels, but I would not use it to pull definitive cross-channel reports on social media performance.

Incentivized

• Proactively suggests content
• Extremely fast response time
• Maintains exhaustive publishing calendar

Incentivized

• Identification of key and relevant media as a result of inputting key parameters
• Cision PRWeb provides actionable insights into media engagement
• Cision PRWeb provides a quick and easy platform on which to build and grow relationships with the media
• Cision PRWeb facilitates the entry into new vertical media markets.

Incentivized

• Would love to see increased opportunities for engagement.
• Increase connection to those working on similar items.

Incentivized

• Would be nice if they didn't charge extra for a release that has is submitted the day before it is scheduled to be posted.
• The option to upload a word document instead of copy and pasting all release content into a form would be nice addition.
• Uploading social media links a representative of a client is not so easy.

Incentivized

We are unlikely to renew PRWeb because I feel that the costs outweigh the benefits of the service. For a company like ours (small business with about 60 employees) we don't have enough press that warrants monthly coverage. We may look at using PRWeb on an as needed basis, 3-4 times a year for single submissions, but that would be the extent of it. I could see PRWeb being much more beneficial for large companies that are constantly needing to issue press.

Incentivized

Cision appears to go out of its way to make its user interfaces terrible. Like, literally every product they offer was anywhere from slightly better to FAR better in earlier iterations. No current iteration of any Cision product is the best iteration. The UX for Cision PRWeb is no different.

Incentivized

I have only required support from PRWeb on two separate occasions and they handled my issues without any problems. I was a bit confused at first not sure if they had received my requests but shortly after I received responses and was able to move forward with my press release.

Incentivized

Implementation of PRWeb required very little of Strouse. It was a quick process and we were almost immediately ready to use the platform.

Incentivized

Cision PRWeb is a cheaper option among Business Wire and PR Newswire, but the ultimate outcome of what we pay them for (press release distributions) is essentially the same. That said, PR Newswire is also owned by Cision, so it suffers from the same bad user experience. I've also used EIN Presswire and eReleases (a PR Newswire reseller), both of which were not on the list of comparable products. For my money, eReleases is the single best option because of two things: spectacularly affordable price point, and awesome customer service.

Incentivized

• Huge boost to visibility of our annual reports
• Has helped establish our department in the sector as well as with our senior leadership team
• Amplifies employees who deserve recognition for their social impact efforts

Incentivized

• It was definitely a cost decision for us, but the ability to have access to their media database was by far the most useful and needed tool for us.
• For tracking media hits, it saved us time tracking the majority of hits. Where it didn't save us time was with smaller, more niche media.

Incentivized