What users are saying about
Cision Communications Cloud
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Top Rated
458 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 8.5 out of 100
Based on 458 reviews and ratings
19 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 7.9 out of 100
Based on 19 reviews and ratings
Attribute Ratings
- Cision Communications Cloud is rated higher in 1 area: Likelihood to Recommend
- Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is rated higher in 1 area: Usability
Likelihood to Recommend

8.4
Cision Communications Cloud
84%
277 Ratings
7.7
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
77%
11 Ratings
Likelihood to Renew

7.1
Cision Communications Cloud
71%
17 Ratings
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
N/A
0 Ratings
Usability

7.0
Cision Communications Cloud
70%
53 Ratings
10.0
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
100%
1 Rating
Availability

9.1
Cision Communications Cloud
91%
3 Ratings
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
N/A
0 Ratings
Performance

9.1
Cision Communications Cloud
91%
3 Ratings
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
N/A
0 Ratings
Support Rating

8.9
Cision Communications Cloud
89%
321 Ratings
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
N/A
0 Ratings
Online Training

8.0
Cision Communications Cloud
80%
3 Ratings
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
N/A
0 Ratings
Implementation Rating

10.0
Cision Communications Cloud
100%
7 Ratings
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
N/A
0 Ratings
Product Scalability

7.3
Cision Communications Cloud
73%
1 Rating
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
N/A
0 Ratings
Likelihood to Recommend
Cision Communications Cloud
For a small start-up, the cost-benefit to add lift to press releases [and] particular milestone accomplishments is definitely there with the Cision [Communications] Cloud. Much of what we do, by necessity, is done internally without the benefit of outsourced press folks, so the Cision [Communications] Cloud ease of use and reporting is very important.
CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
DriveItAway IncAutomotive, 11-50 employees
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
I believe I explained the main scenarios. Haro is a simple tool that pretty much gives you feedback on media opportunities you can pitch for and allows you to get in touch with the reporter, so you can get exposure and they can find people for their news. It's better suited for b2c or smb-focused companies for sure.

Verified User
C-Level Executive in Marketing
Information Technology & Services Company, 11-50 employeesPros
Cision Communications Cloud
- Their upgraded press release templates and ability [to] pull in an entire, completed release makes the [process] faster and easier, and allows for more graphics, such as company mastheads, [are done well].
- The media tracking offers the ability to find relevant placements across the entire country.
- The journalist database streamlines the process of finding relevant reporters to directly connect [to] on news releases that are relevant to their beats.
- The process of setting up, creating, and distributing a release is seamless, easy to use, and not labor-intensive.
Managing Director, Public Relations
Point Park UniversityHigher Education, 501-1000 employees
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
- Pushes PR opportunities right to your desktop several times a day
- Provides media opportunities for just about every industry and if you monitor it regularly, on just about every topic you can think of
- Provides an easy way to contact reporters with relevant information
- Media outlets are verified for you
Course Creator and Coach/Mentor, The Publicity Workshop
Melanie Downey Brand PRPublic Relations and Communications, 1-10 employees
Cons
Cision Communications Cloud
- In the media influencer database, the classic Cision allowed us to do a zip code radius search to really drill down to the neighborhood level. That's because we do localized media advisories and press releases for events at neighborhood schools. One part of a big city like Chicago really doesn't care what's happening in another part of Chicago that's too far away. The zip code radius search was a feature in the classic Cision but not with the current Cision Communications Cloud. We've asked for this to be restored several times, but nothing's happened. In fact, we were told to use DMA — which actually goes wider in a search (bigger than a city), not more narrow as needed. This reflects a basic misunderstanding of what we need.
- Another missing feature involves a merge field when sending out an email press release through Cision. This is the "select insert field" button in the upper right that's used to personalize a release with the media contact's name and other information. This is key for localization of the release. Many media outlets won't run a release unless it's local. While "county" is a feature in the influencer database when putting together a media list in Cision, "county" is not available to insert into a press release as a merge field. Counties are important because this is how many newspapers and health departments are organized and identify themselves. I've asked for this to be implemented, to no avail. As a workaround, we've had to use "contact city" or "outlet city."
- After refining a media list in Cision using filters, I've had to download the list and take it offline to see the big picture, screen for duplicates, etc. While there is a button on the bottom left intended to help with this, it doesn't do the trick. That's because there may be multiple contacts with the same email address. In addition, one media contact may represent numerous media outlets, so this same contact could show up several times. It would be nice to have a better way to see the whole list online and eliminate both duplicates as well as those who previously opted out.
Public Relations Manager
MeyocksPublic Relations & Communications, 51-200 employees
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
- I've noticed that some queries are incredibly vague to the point where they could or could not apply to me. I feel like they should implement more strict parameters on what the query has to include.
- Sometimes the outlet is marked anonymous which is not beneficial at all to those who are browsing queries. I think the outlet should be required as that is a pretty essential piece of information to consider.
- I think they email slightly too often. My inbox gets flooded with HARO emails and I'm not able to go through all of them because they get buried. Maybe explore a new strategy to organize the huge amount of queries that get submitted every day.

Verified User
Employee in Corporate
Food & Beverages Company, 10,001+ employeesPricing Details
Cision Communications Cloud
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
—Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
—Likelihood to Renew
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud 7.1
Based on 17 answers
While I am happy with the product performance overall, TrendKite's recent merger with Cision is cause for concern. When we first signed on with TrendKite, I spoke with several users and the best response I received was that the company was a startup and we could expect there to be hiccups along the way as the company grew and the platform got more robust. That has certainly been the case. However, now that they have merged with Cision — a company that has grown too fast, has not focused on improving its product and has poor customer service — I have concerns that TrendKite will lose some of the qualities that have made it a great company and great product to work with.
Vice President
NewmanPRPublic Relations and Communications, 1-10 employees
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
Usability
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud 7.0
Based on 53 answers
The flexibility and customization of Cision Communications Cloud (TrendKite)* is among its most important features. Changing the dashboards, using keywords in the saved searches to pull out the best stories and the integration with marketing automation tools gives me confidence that I will able to continue using this tool well into the future. The future implementation and integration of the media contact database will complete the suite, making list management and email marketing programs much smoother. *This review was written before Cision acquired TrendKite. TrendKite is now part of Cision Communications Cloud.
Manager, Public Relations
Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.Consumer Goods, 201-500 employees
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
Help a Reporter Out (HARO) 10.0
Based on 1 answer
It takes only a few minutes to set up your account. Then, the rest is just checking the push emails, and responding to relevant queries.
Course Creator and Coach/Mentor, The Publicity Workshop
Melanie Downey Brand PRPublic Relations and Communications, 1-10 employees
Reliability and Availability
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud 9.1
Based on 3 answers
Easily accessible 24/7.

Verified User
Professional in Other
Public Relations & Communications Company, 1-10 employeesHelp a Reporter Out (HARO)
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
Performance
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud 9.1
Based on 3 answers
Generally, Cision performs well day to day, but it's got some annoying bugs that slow down usage/require user workarounds which is inefficient. More seriously, a few months ago, as a result of a major system upgrade, certain critical functionality was not working and I was unable to use the service for more than a day when I had time-sensitive work to execute
Founder and Principal
Susan Tull CommunicationsPublic Relations and Communications, 1-10 employees
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud 8.9
Based on 321 answers
For Cision TrendKite in particilar, support always responded, but it was sometimes slow. For some of our booleans and search queries, we would need help refining and excluding terms/phrases that weren't relevant to our client or campaign. This sometimes took 1-2 days just to get a response back, which sometimes was too late when a last-minute report was due. This was only with the support staff, not necessarily our customer success manager or sales rep.

Verified User
Strategist in Marketing
Marketing and Advertising Company, 51-200 employeesHelp a Reporter Out (HARO)
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud 8.0
Based on 3 answers
The online training sessions available for the Cision Communications Cloud are helpful and informative. There's more than one option - initially, I signed up for the live webinar classes on basic functions and that is what I recommend other new users do as well. If I have specific questions or something I want to learn more about, I can search the online database and find article or online training videos to get the information I need.
Public Relations Manager, Florida Region
ComcastTelecommunications, 10,001+ employees
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud 10.0
Based on 7 answers
There is no implementation at the customer's end so this doesn't really apply to my instance of Cision (possibly to all instances of it).
Founder and Principal
Susan Tull CommunicationsPublic Relations and Communications, 1-10 employees
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Cision Communications Cloud
It's a similar product. I think Meltwater sells itself as being a bit more niche, but I have not found many significant differences between Meltwater and Cision. Meltwater's sales process is a very high pressure and their prices are inflated.
Content Strategist
Willow MarketingMarketing & Advertising, 11-50 employees
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
They are different tools. While HARO pretty much gives you feedback on media opportunities you can pitch for and allows you to get in touch with the reporter, so you can get exposure and they can find people for their news. Cision allows you to syndicate your press releases. You need to have a written press release in order to use it.

Verified User
C-Level Executive in Marketing
Information Technology & Services Company, 11-50 employeesScalability
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud 7.3
Based on 1 answer
Easy to use, but still room for improvement.

Verified User
Professional in Other
Public Relations & Communications Company, 1-10 employeesHelp a Reporter Out (HARO)
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cision Communications Cloud
- Cision has a net positive impact on time savings for staff so we can be quicker to market
- Cision has a positive impact on internal savings as it is used internally across multiple accounts and with the internal PR team
- Cision is extremely useful when it comes to resourcing and conducting outreach in those DMA's where our agency doesn't have a physical presence
Vice President, Marketing Communications
rEvolutionMarketing and Advertising, 51-200 employees
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
- A hard thing to measure in terms of actual sales dollars, however, being able to provide fresh content is essential to any brand. When someone mentions they saw the published piece or it grows organically from social media, that is a win.
CEO and President
Strong Marketing, IncMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees