Every Friday since the pandemic shut things down in March (here in the U.S.), we’ve highlighted communicators and marketers who at first were trying to figure out which part of the sky just fell on them in My Hot Mess. Then we shifted to those who are crushing the pandemic with Survive & Thrive. Now it’s time to get back to business, even if it’s not totally normal. We’re going to do that with an Ask Me Anything series—an elevation of our previous Spin Sucks Question series.
This month, we’re going to take a bit of a different approach so we can fit it into our 12 Days of Christmas Series.
Welcome back to another Ask Me Anything, which is a new series where we talk to our friends, our viewers, and our community. about what they would like to know. The whole point is to stump me. If I don’t know the answer, I will ask one of my smart friends to join me.
Because we’re doing this a bit differently this month, let’s begin with our 12 Days of Christmas song!
On the fourth day of Christmas, Spin Sucks gave to you… four PRM tools, three AI experts, two PR trends for 2021, and a mi-i-i-indset shift.
Let’s take a look at the mailbag.
Today’s question comes from a Spin Sucks Community member. He asks:
What is public relations management software? Why would I use that versus the CRM my sales team uses?
(If you can’t view the video, click here and you’ll be magically transported.)
I asked Greg Galant, CEO and co-founder of Muck Rack to weigh in on this one. Because, after all, they have a PRM attached to their media database.
What Is PRM and Why Should I Use It?
PRM stands for public relations management, which allows you to track all of your emails to journalists in one place. It allows you to keep all your notes, extra content, and contact information about journalists, podcasters, and influencers where it’s easier to share and search than your handy spreadsheet.
This way, when your teams are remote as so many are now, or even in different time zones, anyone can access information. It allows you to track if your colleague talked to the same person just a week ago—so you don’t pitch them again. Or maybe you learn that another colleague is good friends with the journalists you want to pitch.
It’s next-level collaboration on earned media efforts.
What About Our CRM?
So why not just use the CRM your sales team is already using? Sales teams are, of course, already using some sort of CRM that could work for your earned media efforts, for sure.
But remember that the C in CRM stands for customers, which means it’s customer relationship management as opposed to public relationships management. It’s to handle prospects and customers—sales if you will, which is not what your PR tools should do.
A PRM is designed completely around a relationship.
As well, you likely don’t want to share this data with your sales team, because salespeople are always hunting around for their next deal. You don’t want to risk having your sales and marketing messages go out to journalists. The PR team—and only the PR team—should cultivate those relationships. Don’t let sales anywhere near them!
Finally, journalists change jobs all the time. It seems like every day, a new one launches a blog or a newsletter or starts a podcast—or they completely change employers. It can be exhausting for a PR team to keep updating records in a CRM.
Whereas with the PRM, it’s tied directly into the media database so if a journalist changes jobs, it’s already logged in the media database and then integrated into your PRM.
Other PR Tools for Earned Media Efforts
Of course, there are other tools like the one from Muck Rack for you to consider, but they’ve coined the phrase PRM, so I thought we’d start there first.
There are three other tools for you to consider:
- Prezly: The call themselves, “A simple tool to manage your contacts, publish your news, pitch your stories, and report on coverage. All in one place.” They also have a management piece that allows you to track earned media efforts outside of a spreadsheet.
- Prowly: “From finding relevant media contacts to sending eye-catching visual news releases, Prowly has everything you need to get your PR work done.” And no spreadsheets with them, either!
- Propel: “Reimagining PR with PRM software. Targeted outreach, stronger relationships, improved results, measurable ROI.” Loving me some technology that takes all the manual labor out of our earned media efforts!
And there you have it! Four great PRM tools for you to consider for 2021. Special thanks to Greg for explaining what it is and why you don’t want to use a CRM for this purpose.
Have a Question For Us?
If you have a question for a future AMA, you can drop it in the comments here or join us in the (free) Spin Sucks Community. Ask it there, get engaged, have some fun.
