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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cision Communications Cloud

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ACIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.N/A

    MediaRadar

    Score6 out of 10
    N/AMedia Radar is a sales intelligence software solution offered by Media Radar.N/A
    Pricing
    Cision Communications CloudMediaRadar
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cision Communications CloudMediaRadar
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cision Communications CloudMediaRadar
    Considered Both Products
    Cision
    No answer on this topic
    MediaRadar
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    45 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    86%
    Delivers good value for the price
    32 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    90%
    Happy with the feature set
    44 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    37 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    36 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Cision Communications CloudMediaRadar
    Prospecting
    Comparison of Prospecting features of Cision Communications Cloud and MediaRadar
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    MediaRadar
    1.1
    6 Ratings
    150% below category average
    Advanced search00 Ratings1.06 Ratings
    Identification of new leads00 Ratings1.06 Ratings
    List quality00 Ratings1.16 Ratings
    List upload/download00 Ratings1.15 Ratings
    Ideal customer targeting00 Ratings1.05 Ratings
    Load time/data access00 Ratings1.16 Ratings
    Sales Intelligence Data Standards
    Comparison of Sales Intelligence Data Standards features of Cision Communications Cloud and MediaRadar
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    MediaRadar
    1.0
    6 Ratings
    154% below category average
    Contact information00 Ratings1.06 Ratings
    Company information00 Ratings1.06 Ratings
    Industry information00 Ratings1.16 Ratings
    Data Augmentation & Lead Qualification
    Comparison of Data Augmentation & Lead Qualification features of Cision Communications Cloud and MediaRadar
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    MediaRadar
    3.0
    6 Ratings
    85% below category average
    Lead qualification process00 Ratings1.05 Ratings
    Smart lists and recommendations00 Ratings1.05 Ratings
    Salesforce integration00 Ratings1.02 Ratings
    Company/business profiles00 Ratings1.06 Ratings
    Alerts and reminders00 Ratings1.05 Ratings
    Data hygiene00 Ratings6.04 Ratings
    Automatic data refresh00 Ratings7.53 Ratings
    Tags00 Ratings7.03 Ratings
    Filters and segmentation00 Ratings1.06 Ratings
    Sales Intelligence Email Features
    Comparison of Sales Intelligence Email Features features of Cision Communications Cloud and MediaRadar
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    MediaRadar
    8.0
    1 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Sales email templates00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Append emails to records00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cision Communications CloudMediaRadar
    Small Businesses
    Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
    Score5 out of 10
    Owler
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Critical Mention
    Score8 out of 10
    Clay
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Meltwater
    Score7.6 out of 10
    LinkedIn Sales Navigator for Gmail (discontinued)
    Score8.5 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cision Communications CloudMediaRadar
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (280 ratings)
    1.1
    (6 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (17 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (54 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (192 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cision Communications CloudMediaRadar
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cision
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    It's a great research tool to give someone a direction but it's definitely not the most accurate tool. The agency hierarchy (it shows the holding company structures) and client relationships are awesome. Certain webcrawler activities should available in reports but on the other hand MR builts custom reports if needed. Overall, it's a great tool for sales development. It helps sales and marketing to get started but not to rely on it 100%.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cision
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    • One of the strengths of Media Radar is that it has a lot of brands in the database. The big money spenders are there, along with smaller brands and startups. This is helpful when I'm looking for information for smaller brands, because I cannot say the same about other products I use.
    • The contact information is super organized and the site overall is very user-friendly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cision
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    • I think the user interface could use improvement.
    • Would be nice to have more accurate phone # information.
    • Could be updated more frequently.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cision
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Cision
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    Cision
    Easily accessible 24/7.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Cision
    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
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Cision
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Cision
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Cision
    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).
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Cision
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    MediaRadar is what my company chooses to use for this purpose because of a few specific unique things it does, such as tracking competitors and allowing us to make mock-ups.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cision
    Easy to use, but still room for improvement.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Cision
    • 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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    MediaRadar
    • Given the spend amounts in media, finding the right contacts has a big ROI.
    • Saves a lot of time by giving you the media/marketing contacts you're looking for in media.
    • They have a concierge to help you if it's missing contacts.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Cision Communications Cloud Screenshots

    Screenshot of Media Monitoring and Analytics are just part of the complete Comms Cloud. It combines deep data dive with a database of journalists and influencers, and a media relationship management tool.Screenshot of Track brand mentions in real time across the millions of online stories on the internet. Monitor millions of stories and breaking news happening daily across the web. Professional services consultants teams are in place to ensure best practices while setting up a monitoring account.Screenshot of Cision’s media and influencer relationship management tools include audience insights, combined with a pitchable database that enables brands to uncover the best media contacts and social influencers to reach their target audience.Screenshot of Identify the social conversations and influencers that are impacting a brand. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube monitoring capabilities track brand mentions across all major social channels. Analyze results for social mentions or campaigns on the fly with its reporting features.