Cision Communications Cloud vs. Help a Reporter Out (HARO)

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
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a service owned by Cision (via the merger with Vocus) for reaching out to journalists.N/A
Pricing
Cision Communications CloudHelp a Reporter Out (HARO)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cision Communications CloudHelp a Reporter Out (HARO)
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 CloudHelp a Reporter Out (HARO)
Considered Both Products
Cision Communications Cloud
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 …
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
Chose Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
I honestly can't think of any other service similar to HARO that can compare to its excellent structure and success rate.
Chose Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
Goes hand in hand with this product. Easy cross-reference for users.
Chose Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
These products I mentioned are a little different because they are used by more mainstream journalists which is a huge advantage. PR Newswire is email-based product similarly to HARO but Cision is a huge database of media contact information which is great if you want to take …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cision Communications CloudHelp a Reporter Out (HARO)
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 CloudHelp a Reporter Out (HARO)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(279 ratings)
7.7
(11 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(17 ratings)
-
(0 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)
-
(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 CloudHelp a Reporter Out (HARO)
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
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.
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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
  • 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
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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
  • 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.
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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
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.
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Cision
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.
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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
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.
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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
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.
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Cision
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.
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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
  • 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.
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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.