21 PR Tools and Resources

Like every other form of marketing, PR has changed. And, like every other form of marketing, various tools have sprung up to assist in making the most of the new challenges presented.

The aim of the game is still increasing your earned media mentions, but with the expanding abundance of digital opportunities out there the days of a pair of scissors and a glue stick are long gone.

It’s not just monitoring your media mentions that software can help with. PR tools cover everything from finding journalists’ contact details and sourcing media opportunities to making reporting easier.

Tools for finding journalists and influencers

Muck Rack

Muck Rack is a useful tool for discovering journalists. You can search by location, media outlet, topics covered, keywords or the content of their tweets and shares.

You can receive email alerts when a journalist mentions your brand, and then organize media lists, adding notes from previous campaigns to make your outreach more efficient.

BlogDash

BlogDash runs a database of over 200,000 bloggers in a variety of categories. All of the bloggers have opted in to the service and are willing to be contacted. The tool features Klout scores and SEO rankings to help you understand their reach.

BuzzSumo's Journalist Database

BuzzSumo's Journalist Database is a great tool for tracking down and getting to know journalists. It gives you the ability to study a journalist's top media coverage, so you can understand what makes them tick – and what gives them the ick. You can search by topic, journalist name, publication, country, language – and even the number of times a journalist has written in the last year. In fact, BuzzSumo's database has an edge over many other journalist discovery tools because it pushes through 300K+ profile updates a month, meaning contact information is always up to date.

Anewstip

Anewstip is a search engine for tweets, news articles, journalist profiles and outlet profiles. It features an influence score and you can filter by time, topic, language. The tool also features alerts and media lists.

PR tools for finding contact details

Connectifier

Connectifier uses machine learning to scan over a million public web pages, converting the raw data into candidate information. There are over 450 million profiles in their database.

There is a free Social Links browser extension which shows a candidate’s social media footprint. This can be great for personalizing your outreach messages with deeper insights.

Sell Hack

Enter a name and company, along with a social media profile URL if you have one, and Sell Hack will return that person’s email address. It features a handy confidence score (out of 100).

It allows bulk verification by uploading incomplete data files, integrates with Salesforce, and you can try it for free.

Anymail Finder

Anymail finder also has search or bulk options, and you can try it for free. All you need to enter is the person’s full name and their company’s website. The results are classified into three categories: found and verified, found on the web, or guessed from a pattern. Also has a chrome extension.

Tools for distributing and monitoring press releases

Agility

Agility is a monitoring and database product, providing access to more than 700,000 journalists, influencers, and bloggers worldwide. There are a variety of targeting and distribution options for reaching contacts. You can target individuals by location or job title, and the platform features a translation services for global outreach efforts.

PRWeb

PRWeb allows you to create, distribute, and track your press releases.The pricing is tiered, so the more you pay the more optimized and widely released your press release is. You can pay per news release or sign up for a subscription.

Business Wire

Business Wire reaches more than 100 countries in 19 languages, so you can choose to distribute internationally, nationally, or to industry targeted outlets. The price is per news release and depends on reach and length.

Marketwired

This press release distribution tool allows you to create custom media and influencer lists to release highly targeted news updates. It allows you to track performance and also features a translation service.

PR tools for finding media opportunities

Help a Reporter Out

Also known as HARO, journalists who are looking for expert sources list their requirements and sources are notified three times a day of the media opportunities. As journalists are often working to a deadline it does require sources to be agile and respond with speed.

JournoRequests

Provides a free daily email of curated PR opportunities in the UK, listing journalists who are in need of a source. You can pick from a range of topics, or set up custom alerts.

Radio Guest List

Radio Guest List provides the same service of connecting journalists and sources, but for the world of radio. Producers, journalists, and podcast hosts will provide opportunites, with sources being notified by email.

#journorequest

OK, so it’s not a tool, but it’s no secret that journalists love Twitter, and this hashtag is used by journalists looking for contributors.

Tools for checking media coverage & reporting

Brandwatch

Brandwatch allows you to track mentions of your brand across 85+ million sites. You can highlight the most impactful mentions – for sites with Mozrank and for individuals with the Brandwatch Influence Score. All mentions are categorized by site: news, blogs, forums and so on, so you can understand the quality of the coverage you are receiving.

All of these features can be activated for your competitors too, so you can track their PR efforts. Signals, the intelligent alert feature, automatically detects and notifies you of emerging crises and trends. Audiences allows you to identify and engage the right people, and understand the networks and audience segments they influence.

Critical Mention

Critical Mention allows you to search worldwide TV, radio, online news sites, and social media, to track mentions of your brand. You can watch, record, edit, and share broadcast coverage, as well as analyze your coverage in the platform.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts should be widely known as it’s a free service that tracks mentions of your brand across the web. Ensure that no media mentions go unnoticed by setting up email alerts.

Coverage Book

Forget about manually taking screenshots of your coverage and laboriously putting a report together page by page. Coverage Book allows you to paste URLs into the tool, which then automatically takes screenshots, calculates the site traffic via SimilarWeb, and automatically generates a PDF or online report.

All-purpose PR tools

Cision

A well known, though pricey, tool. Its database contains more than 1.6 million journalists, influencers, and editorial contacts. The platform provides advanced distribution, tracking, and analyzing features. If you can afford it, it’s a one-stop-shop for PR.

Gorkana

Features a media database, media monitoring and social media analysis. Their news distribution platform covers 170 countries in over 40 languages. You can make bespoke reports, receive daily email summaries covering the previous two hours, and take advantage of an online survey tool that gives you access to 4.5 million respondents.

Bonus PR resources

If the above 22 tools don’t quite satisfy your hunger for PR tools, PR Stack has a database of over 250 tools and 48 guides for you to search through.

If you are looking for tools that will help you reach out to influencers, our list of free influencer tools is a great place to start. If you have to create content as part of your role, we also have a post examining a wide range of writing tools and resources.