10 Press Release Tracking Tools to Take Your PR Strategy to the Next Level

So, you’ve heard about press releases and their importance in promoting your business. But do you know how to track the impact of these press releases? Don’t worry; I’ve got you covered. In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through the entire concept of press release tracking, its benefits, and how to use it effectively for your company’s growth.

Sending press releases can be stressful, and tracking them can give you a real headache. Don’t worry; many tools will make your work much more manageable. Here’s a comprehensive guide to press release tracking by Brand24.

Table of contents:

1. Why are press releases essential?
2. How does a press release tracking work?
3. Track press releases with these 10 nifty tools
4. Benefits of tracking press coverage
5. Metrics you should measure

Why are press releases essential?

First things first, let’s talk about what press releases are.

A press release is a written communication that reports specific, brief information about an event, product, or other newsworthy item. It’s typically sent to journalists and editors who may use the information to write a news article.

Now, why are press releases crucial for your business? Well, they help you:

• Announce important news or updates related to your company.
• Drive brand visibility and awareness among your target audience.
• Improve your search engine rankings with quality backlinks.
• Build credibility and authority in your industry.

Sounds pretty good, right? But to make the most of your press releases, you should track their performance. And that’s where press release tracking comes into play.

How does a press release tracking work?

Press release tracking is monitoring and analyzing your press releases’ coverage in the media. You can measure their effectiveness and refine your strategy by observing where and how your press releases are being picked up.

You can do it manually by checking the media outlets for publications about your brand, but frankly speaking, this would take a lot of your time and effort. There is a more convenient way – media monitoring tools.

Monitoring media coverage with online tools is easy and fast. In most cases, you just need to add specific keywords to your project, and the rest is done for you automatically.

What’s more, with tools monitoring your press release distribution, you can set up e-mail notifications and know instantly when another piece of news is published.

Track press releases with these 10 nifty tools

Without further ado, I present you a list of 10 handy tools for tracking press release distribution. Each has slightly different functionalities, pricing, and additional features, but all follow the same principles of media monitoring.

01 Brand24

Brand24 is a user-friendly, AI-powered media monitoring tool that will help you in tracking press releases. You can use it to monitor your brand online and create additional projects with your press release keywords to see who picked up your news and where.

Brand24 offers additional analytic features such as sentiment analysis, presence score, AVE calculations, and many more. They will all help you to measure the press release’s success and give you valuable insights about your brand.

The tool offers a free 14-day trial. Paid plans start at $79 per month.

02 Meltwater

Meltwater is another media monitoring and analytics tool that helps you track your press releases’ coverage and measure their impact.

Similar to Brand24, Meltwater gathers online mentions about your brand in a project and provides insights about the reach.

Meltwater is an excellent tool for PR professionals who seek a solution to manage brand reputation, build relationships with journalists and use the reporting features.

The pricing is calculated individually.

03 Cision

Cision is a comprehensive PR and media monitoring platform that enables you to track press releases, identify influencers, and analyze your PR efforts.

Cision offers an extended press release distribution platform with a newsroom database, and direct feeds with journalists and influencers called PR Newswire. If you are not using a PR agency, then Cision will do the job just fine.

The pricing is tailored to your needs.

04 CoverageBook

CoverageBook is a digital PR reporting tool with automated metrics. Unlike Brand24 or Meltwater, CoverageBook does not monitor websites for press releases. Instead, you need to add the published links to the tool manually. Based on the data, the tool provides advanced analytics and reports that can be shared with clients or stakeholders.

While CoverageBook may not be the best solution for online tracking, it definitely is beneficial for measuring press release success post-distribution.

CoverageBook starts at $99/month.

05 PRWeb

PRWeb is a press release distribution service that also offers tracking and analytics functionalities. Its reporting tools provide insights into media pickup, online visibility, and audience engagement.

The basic version of PRWeb costs $105 per month.

06 Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a free media monitoring alternative. It doesn’t have the fancy features of similar paid tools, but it does its job well. If you are only looking for a simple keyword alert tool, then you should definitely give it a go.

Pricing: free (always).

07 Critical Mention

Critical Mention is another paid media monitoring and online news tracking tool on our list. It lets you track and analyze press releases, broadcast coverage, and social media mentions. It offers real-time alerts, competitive analysis, and reporting features.

A nice addition is the media contact database, so if you are looking for one, then Critical Mention has you covered.

Critical Mention pricing offer is tailored to your current needs. Contact the sales team to learn about the cost.

08 Onclusive

You can also use Onclusive to measure the press release success. Formerly known as PRgloo, the PR management platform is now a part of the Onclusive suite.

Apart from social media monitoring, Onclusive also offers media briefings that will help you in your public relations efforts. Additionally, the analytics and reporting features make the whole process of press release tracking a lot easier and more insightful.

The pricing is available on demand.

09 Business Wire

For more fruitful media relations, you may try Business Wire.

Business Wire is a widely used press release distribution service that also offers tracking and analytics capabilities. It provides real-time news monitoring, media coverage reports, and audience engagement metrics.

10 SentiOne

Closing the list – SentiOne is another AI-powered social listening tool that can be effective during a public relations campaign tracking.

SentiOne allows brand monitoring, trend analysis, and customer analytics and is mainly recommended for marketing teams. It also creates automated reports that you can share with stakeholders or clients.

SentiOne costs a minimum of $300/month.

Benefits of tracking press coverage

While you are pondering on which tool will be the best solution for you, let me quickly go through some of the benefits of tracking press coverage.

Brand reputation management

Tracking your press release informs you about how your brand is being portrayed in the media. You can perform sentiment analysis for your company, products, or services. This information helps you gauge public perception, address any issues promptly, and take necessary actions to manage and enhance your brand reputation.

Read more: Guide to Brand Reputation Management

Target audience analysis

You can gain insights into your target audience’s preferences and interests by monitoring press release coverage. Understanding which media outlets and journalists are most receptive to your news allows you to refine your media targeting and tailor your messages to resonate better with your audience.

Competitor analysis

Press release tracking helps you keep tabs on your competitors’ media activities. You can gain valuable intelligence about their strategies, product launches, industry partnerships, and other significant announcements by monitoring their press releases and coverage. This information allows you to stay competitive and potentially identify opportunities to differentiate yourself in the market.

Read more: Competitor Analysis: All Why’s, How-to’s and More

ROI assessment

Tracking press releases provides data that can contribute to evaluating the return on investment (ROI) of your PR efforts. You can analyze metrics such as media mentions, website traffic, lead generation, social media engagement, and sales conversions attributed to press release dissemination. This data assists in quantifying the value and impact of your PR campaigns on your business objectives.

Crisis management

In times of crises or negative events, press release tracking becomes crucial. It allows you to monitor the media response, track news stories, and identify potential misinformation or inaccuracies. Stay informed; you can respond quickly, correct false information, and manage the crisis effectively.

Read more: 7 Steps for Effective PR Crisis Management

Reporting and analytics

Press release tracking platforms often provide comprehensive reporting and analytics tools. These tools help you compile data, generate customized reports, and derive meaningful insights from your press release activities. These reports can be helpful for internal stakeholders, such as executives, marketing teams, and PR professionals, to evaluate the success of their efforts and guide future decision-making.

Metrics you should measure

To understand the impact of your press releases, you should track the following metrics:

• Number of Mentions: How many times has the media mentioned or covered your press release?
• Reach: What’s the potential audience size for each media outlet that has covered your press release?
• Sentiment: Is the coverage of your press release positive, negative, or neutral? This gives you an idea of how well your message is being received.
• Engagement: Are people sharing, commenting, or otherwise engaging with the coverage of your press release?

By measuring these metrics, you can tell if the press release distribution meets expectations. Each individual metric will tell you something else about your press release, so be sure to look at the data as a whole while you are preparing the conclusions.

To sum up, you should be tracking press release distribution to understand the impact of your message on a broader audience. Use the right tools to measure individual metrics that will help you get more insights. Take notes and discuss the outcome before the next press release campaign.