Item: Cision Communications Cloud
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cision is used to enhance and monitor our Public Relations efforts. We keep track of media contacts, news coverage and social mentions. We use analytics to gauge sentiment in the marketplace. We monitor our competitors and compare earned media results. It's a fantastic way to pull month-end and periodic reports for Board review, we really appreciate not having to keep track of placements in spreadsheets!

Pros and Cons

Monitors media mentions. We can see where our news releases are published and we can see where there are stories about us that may require follow up with the journalist or publication.
Monitors competitors. We can easily see the news our competitors are sharing and the volume of coverage they receive. This gives us great benchmarking data to increase our share of voice in earned media.
Provides information about sentiment so we have an idea of overall perception the media is providing people about our company. This allows us to follow up and provide information and education where needed. It also lets us know where we need work to improve perception in the media.
Customizable Media lists. Create lists with freelancers and staff journalists. Include notes about contacts, pitch ideas, etc.

When people leave your organization, it can be difficult to change settings and automated emails.
More ability to customize searches and to tweak them without the assistance of Cision of staff.

Return on Investment

We've more than doubled our media placements.
We've identified key journalists and forged important relationships.
It can be difficult to put hard dollars on the product for Finance when they want to cut software expenditures. We use the tools in Cision to help us quantify what we're doing and how Cision has helped us do it.

Alternatives Considered

There was one other product we looked at, but I don't recall what it was. Cision was so far ahead in terms of what it had to offer, that the decision at the time was a no-brainer for us. We've been happy with the product and we continue to learn and optimize our use as we fine-tune public relations efforts at our organization, which have gone from write a press release to - story placements, events, government relations and more.

Key Insights

Do you think Cision Communications Cloud delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cision Communications Cloud's feature set?

Yes

Did Cision Communications Cloud live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cision Communications Cloud go as expected?

Would you buy Cision Communications Cloud again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Marketo, Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)

Likelihood to Recommend

We have found Cision to be a helpful reporting tool, which was the primary reason it was originally purchased. We wanted to have a better understanding of our coverage, sentiment and how we stack up versus our competitors. It has performed very well for us. We have not used the distribution services because we have another service we had already subscribed to. However, we are looking at combining the two in the future for a seamless PR tool that does everything we need it to do.
In addition to media relations, we also use it to track government contacts. It has been helpful to have our information in one place and out of a spreadsheet that could easily be overwritten or deleted.

PR Strategy Success with Cision

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with Cision Communications Cloud