Cision Communications Cloud vs. Cision PRWeb

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
CIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.N/A
Cision PRWeb
Score 6.4 out of 10
N/A
Cision PRWeb aims to impact customer behavior by providing efficient communication tools to continuously engage with target audiences across multiple online channels including search, social media and with industry-specific partner websites, bloggers and influencers.
$99
per news release
Pricing
Cision Communications CloudCision PRWeb
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Basic
$99
per news release
Standard
$205
per news release
Advanced
$305
per news release
Premium
$405
per news release
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cision Communications CloudCision PRWeb
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 CloudCision PRWeb
Considered Both Products
Cision Communications Cloud
Chose Cision Communications Cloud
We selected Cision because it has many trade outlets and niche publications that are important for our clients to target.
Chose Cision Communications Cloud
HARO has been a huge help in achieving important media placements and developing new relationships with reporters, producers, bloggers, freelancers and variety of other media. When your job is media relations, as mine is, it's all about making those connections and ever …
Cision PRWeb
Chose Cision PRWeb
We found Cision PR Web to be a bit more user-friendly and we like that it allows you to upload photos.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cision Communications CloudCision PRWeb
Small Businesses
Newswire
Newswire
Score 8.3 out of 10
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 7.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Newswire
Newswire
Score 8.3 out of 10
Newswire
Newswire
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Meltwater
Meltwater
Score 6.6 out of 10
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 7.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cision Communications CloudCision PRWeb
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(279 ratings)
8.0
(11 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(17 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(53 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(192 ratings)
1.0
(2 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 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 CloudCision PRWeb
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.
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Cision
PRWeb served it's purpose for Strouse by sending news out to new audiences although this never generated an overwhelming amount of traffic to our website. If you are only interested in issuing PR and getting your name out there, then I think PRWeb is a fine solution. I find PRWeb less appropriate if you really want to drive traffic to your site through a press release in hopes of creating sales. During the selection process I would be interested in knowing what sources my PR would be submitted to. Is it being submitted to relevant websites? Will links be provided on all of these websites? Ask yourself, will these websites benefit my companies SEO?
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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.
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Cision
  • It provides a newswire option at a very reasonable price.
  • The pricing is in a sweet spot for many startups who would want to use it.
  • It hits up all of the key media outlets that you would expect a wire service to be connected to.
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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.
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Cision
  • One issue we ran into with media tracking was that when it came to smaller or more niche media, it had a hard time tracking hits from those outlets for our clients.
  • Building larger media lists was time consuming and cumbersome.
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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.
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Cision
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.
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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.
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Cision
It is a very simple program to use. They walk you step by step on what is necessary to complete a PR.
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Reliability and Availability
Cision
Easily accessible 24/7.
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Cision
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
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Cision
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.
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Cision
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.
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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.
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Cision
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).
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Cision
Implementation of PRWeb required very little of Strouse. It was a quick process and we were almost immediately ready to use the platform.
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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.
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Cision
I've used all these services. Which one to choose depends on the situation. It's good to have knowledge of all the options. Of course, there are many other services as well, and even free services that a very small business or nonprofit can use that do similar things. I find PRWeb is a good fit for many of my clients because of the pricing. Photos are increasingly important in getting news picked up and PRWeb doesn't charge you an arm and a leg like some services do to include a photo
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Scalability
Cision
Easy to use, but still room for improvement.
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Cision
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
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Cision
  • 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.
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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.