Nowadays, everybody is continuously online. So your brand can’t afford to improvise. A strategic communication plan is your first line of defense and a key part of your PR strategy.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to write a communication plan that keeps your messaging clear, consistent, and crisis-ready. So you’re always in control of the narrative.

TL;DR – what you’ll learn

• What a communication plan is and why it matters in PR
• How to make your communication plan work for AI search and GEO
• How to create a step-by-step communication plan
• Three communication plan templates (internal, campaign, product launch)
• Common mistakes to avoid
• How Prowly’s PR tools streamline the process

What is a communication plan?

A communication plan is is a strategic document that outlines how a brand communicates key messages to internal and external audiences. In other words–it'sa simple roadmap for how a brand shares messages with the public, media, employees, and other crucial groups.

It shapes what you say, who will say it, when, and through which channels. While a marketing communication plan is focused on selling products or services, a communications plan is about managing your brand’s image and building trust.

It’s especially relevant in PR, announcements, and dealing with crises.

Why is a communication plan important in PR?

Today, PR teams juggle tight deadlines, constant media buzz, and stakeholder pressure to show results. With multiple channels and rapid timelines, messages can get mixed or lost.

That’s why a solid communication plan is essential. It aligns messaging, ensures clarity, tracks effectiveness, and makes PR more measurable.

💡PR Tip: Juggling media outreach, internal updates, and brand messaging? A smart comms plan, paired with tools like Prowly, streamlines your work and boosts impact.

Future-proof your communication plan with Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

A modern communication plan isn’t just about messaging—it’s about discoverability.

As AI tools like ChatGPT and search engines generate answers using trusted online sources, your brand’s visibility depends on being mentioned in the right places. That’s where Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) comes in.

💡 Prowly helps you optimize your communication strategy for GEO by making it easier to secure high-quality, searchable brand mentions.

To make your communication plan AI search–ready, here’s what to focus on:

• Use consistent, searchable language: Phrase your key messages using terms your audience would likely ask in a search query. For example, instead of saying “company updates,” say “product launch news” or “new feature announcement.”
• Earn mentions on authoritative sources: AI tools prioritize content from reputable outlets. Use Prowly’s journalist matching and pitching features to target high-authority publications more likely to be indexed by generative engines.
• Highlight your brand’s name and offerings clearly: Avoid jargon or vague metaphors in your press releases. AI summarizers pull concrete, clear details—like product names, brand benefits, and stats.
• Include structured data in your content: While mostly a task for web and SEO teams, making sure press releases and newsroom content are well-formatted, scannable, and include headlines, bullet points, and FAQs can increase their visibility in AI-generated summaries.

With features like AI-powered journalist matching, writing assistant, and multi-channel media monitoring across online, print, broadcast, and social media, that tracks sentiment and reach, Prowly supports your efforts to get mentioned in authoritative sources—boosting the chances your brand appears in AI-generated responses and search results.

What to include in a communication plan

A strong communication plan keeps your team aligned, your message clear, and your goals in focus. Here are the six essential elements every plan should cover:

• Goals
  What are you trying to achieve? (e.g., raise awareness, manage reputation, drive engagement)
• Target audiences
  Who needs to hear your message? (e.g., media, customers, employees, investors)
• Key messages
  What core points do you want to communicate to each audience?
• Channels
  How will you share your message? (e.g., press releases, social media, email, internal platforms)
• Timing
  When will messages go out? (e.g., timelines, sequencing, and key dates)
• Measurement & evaluation
  How will you track success? (e.g., media coverage, open rates, sentiment, engagement)

Now, let's cover several templates for a communication plan.

Communication plan templates you can use

Below you can find ready-to-use examples of a communications plan.

Template 1: internal communication plan

Goal: Improving employee understanding of new company values

Target audience: Employees, Department heads, Team leads

Key messages:

• Why the change matters
• What’s expected of employees
• How support will be provided (available support)

Channels:

• All-hands meetings
• Email newsletters
• Slack or intranet posts

Timing example:

Measurement & evaluation:

• Pulse survey results
• Engagement in Slack threads
• Attendance at all-hands meeting

Template 2: external campaign plan

Goal: Building awareness for a sustainability initiative

Target audience: Journalists, Customers, Industry influencers

Key messages:

• Our brand’s commitment to sustainability
• Impact goals and progress
• How audiences can get involved

Channels:

• Press release
• Social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram)
• Email newsletters

Timing example:

Measurement & evaluation:

• Media coverage
• Social media mentions
• Newsletter open/click rates

Template 3: product launch

This template shows how to structure a product launch communication plan using Prowly's tools.

Goal: Drive media attention and customer sign-ups for new product

Target audience: Tech journalists, Existing users, Industry analysts

Key messages:

• What the product is and why it matters
• Unique features
• Launch offer (if applicable)

Channels:

• Press release (using Prowly's tool)
• Targeted e-mail pitch (you can do it with the help of the Prowly e-mail feature)
• Blog post and landing page
• Social media teaser campaign

Timing example:

Measurement & evaluation:

• Coverage from key outlets
• Media pitch response rate (track via Prowly)
• Sign-up conversions on the landing page

Each of these templates can be adapted to your specific goals, channels, and audiences. Use them as a base to build a communication plan that’s measurable, actionable, and aligned with your brand.

How to write a corporate communication plan (step-by-step)

An effective communication plan should be done thoroughly and involve some crucial points that make it usable and helpful. Such a plan should also be in line with the communication strategies of your brand.

Remember that the company communication plan is a core part of its messaging and communication.

Below we define the communication plan construction to help you create your own.

Step 1: Define your goal

👉 What are you aiming to achieve? Be specific.

In business, each process starts by defining the aim. By clearly stating what your organizational communication plan is trying to achieve, you are ready to draw a roadmap. This will guide everything from messaging to measurement. Keep it specific and outcome-focused.

Example: Secure 10 media placements in Tier 1 outlets in 30 days.

Step 2: Get to know your audience

👉 Tailor the plan to audience needs. Use segmentation.

To create effective communication strategies, you need to know who your audience is. Identify the key groups you're communicating with and what they care about. Tailoring your messaging and channels to each audience is crucial for impact and should be a solid point of your communication strategy.

Example: Tech journalists, early users, and the sales team.

💡 Tool Tip: Build segmented media lists using the Media Database. Filter journalists by beat, region, or past coverage to target only the right contacts.

Step 3: Craft your key messages

👉 Develop 2–3 concise messages per audience.

Now it's time for specifics. Make sure your messages are clear, relevant, and reflect your brand voice.

Example: Our new tool helps freelancers save 5+ hours a week, powered by AI, built for real work.

💡 Tool Tip: Use the AI Assistant to generate and refine key messages. You can use the AI Assistant in the release editor to create audience-specific messaging in seconds.

Step 4: Choose your channels

👉 Pick channels based on audience behavior and reach.

Your communication strategies and your plans are not just about the messaging. They are also about the way of sending it out. Decide where and how your messages will be delivered. Think about reach, relevance, and what’s proven to work for your audience.

Example: Press release for media, targeted email for users, Slack announcement for internal teams.

💡 Tool Tip: Publish on your Newsroom and pitch directly from the PR CRM.

Step 5: Set timing and responsibilities

👉 Assign owners, align timelines across teams.

Outline when each message will go out and who’s responsible for making it happen. But do not be overenthusiastic with this schedule. Keep it realistic and coordinated across channels.

Example: Day 1 – Press release, Day 2 – email, Day 3 – internal update

Step 6: Measure success

👉 Choose 3–5 KPIs to track the plan’s effectiveness.

Look at both reach (e.g., open rates) and impact (e.g,. engagement, signups, sentiment).

Example: 15 media mentions, 500 email opens, 50 demo requests within two weeks.

💡 Tool Tip:
➖ Use built-in analytics to track pitch responses, coverage, and newsroom traffic.
➖ Generate branded reports with a few clicks to share campaign results with stakeholders in minutes.
➖ Prowly’s AI Assistant helps you turn your goals into story ideas and ready-to-pitch press releases. You can draft the whole communication plan in one tool.

Avoid these common communication plan mistakes

Vague objectives

⛔️ If your goal is something like “get more visibility,” it’s too broad to guide real action or measure success.

How to fix it: Make your objectives specific and outcome-based. For example: “Secure 10 media placements in top-tier outlets within one month.”

No timeline

⛔️ Without clear deadlines or task owners, even great ideas stall.

How to fix it: Assign roles and dates to every deliverable. Use a shared calendar or campaign dashboard to keep things moving.

No audience customization

⛔️ One-size-fits-all messaging rarely works. Different audiences care about different things.

How to fix it: Shape your key messages and channels for each group, such as journalists, customers, execs, etc. Use the Prowly Media Database to segment contacts and the AI Assistant to tweak messaging by audience.

Ignoring follow-ups and feedback

⛔️ Launching isn’t the end, follow-up and feedback are essential for long-term impact.

How to fix it: Build in time for pitch follow-ups, internal check-ins, and performance reviews. With Prowly, you can track open rates and responses with the Media CRM and use Campaign Reports to gather insights.

💡 Tool Tip: Prowly lets you track open rates, auto-schedule follow-ups, and create stakeholder-ready reports.

Turning a plan into PR results: ShePR’s strategic communication plan case study

ShePR is a boutique, women-led PR agency focused on amplifying women-led companies and voices.

How did ShePR use Prowly to succeed?

• Planning & Research - they started by using the Media Database to find the right journalists fast.
• Press Release Distribution -the agency publishes and distributes releases from one place via Prowly's Newsroom + CRM.
• Reporting - they started to track success with real-time analytics, replacing tools like CoverageBook.
• Pitching - they switched from Gmail to Prowly’s pitching tool, improving deliverability and personalization.

Dive into their communication plan sample and strategy–learn all key details in the case study.

How Prowly supports smarter comms planning

From the first idea to the final report, Prowly helps in quicker and clearer creation of communication strategies and plans .

What you can get with Prowly

From strategy to reporting, Prowly helps teams:

• Generate ideas with the AI Assistant (brainstorm angles, improve clarity, or rewrite content on the fly, right inside your workflow)
• Write press releases with structured suggestions (follow a structured writing flow with built-in suggestions that guide your tone, format, and focus)
• Pitch journalists with smart subject lines and AI refinement (generate AI-powered subject lines, find journalist matches, and boost deliverability with best-practice prompts)
• Monitor media and sentiment (track brand mentions, measure sentiment, and refine your messaging based on real-time feedback)
• Report results with visual analytics and auto-generated coverage summaries (create visual, client-ready reports and complete with tags, sentiment analysis, and measurable outcomes)

FAQ - communication plan

💬 What should a communication plan include?
Goals, target audiences, messages, channels, timing, and KPIs.

💬 How do I write a communication plan quickly?
Use a tool like Prowly. Start with a goal, define audiences, write 2–3 key messages, select channels, and schedule messaging.

💬 What’s the difference between a communication plan and a marketing plan?
A communication plan focuses on internal and external message clarity. A marketing plan is about promoting products.

💬 What tools help with communication plans?
Prowly stands out with built-in planning, pitching, and analytics. Here you can get to know more AI tools for Public Relations.

💬 Can AI help me create a communication plan?
Yes—tools like Prowly’s AI Assistant generate press releases, segment contacts, and auto-track results.

Final summary: what is a communication plan?

What is a communications plan? Hope you now know the answer. But if not:

A communication plan is a key part of any PR and communication strategy.

It indicates how you’ll share the right message with the right audience at the right time, whether for a product launch, internal update, or crisis response. Unlike a marketing plan, it focuses on messaging clarity, stakeholder alignment, and efficient information flow.

A well-crafted plan includes goals, audiences, messages, channels, timing, and metrics.

Whether for a product launch or brand reputation management, having a comms plan means staying in control—even when things go off script.

The post How to Write a Communication Plan (with Templates & Tips for AI Visibility) appeared first on Prowly.

The answer lies in media databases.

With the right database, you can find relevant journalists, create targeted media lists, and build meaningful public relations for many years to come. It's a much more effective alternative to buying media lists, as they will never be 100% tailored to your needs.

In this guide, you will read everything you need to know to choose the best media contact database for PR as well as compare top providers in 2025.

If you don't feel like comparing journalist databases, Prowly's media database software is free for 7 days with full search access, so you can see if it's a match for yourself.

TL;DR: Best media database tools by use case

1. Prowly: Ideal for PR teams seeking an affordable, all-in-one platform with over 1 million contacts, AI-assisted search, and integrated press release tools.
2. Meltwater: Best suited for large enterprises requiring comprehensive global media monitoring and analytics across news, social, and broadcast channels.
3. Muck Rack: Perfect for PR professionals who prioritize real-time online news tracking and journalist engagement through social media integration.
4. Cision: Tailored to organizations needing an extensive media database with advanced outreach automation and detailed analytics.
5. Propel: Designed for teams focused on PR workflow management, offering CRM-like features and AI-driven pitch recommendations.
6. Agility PR: Suitable for users looking for a versatile platform that combines media outreach with multi-channel monitoring capabilities.
7. Roxhill: Best for UK-based PR professionals seeking a curated database of journalists and media outlets with a focus on quality over quantity.
8. Critical Mention: Ideal for those needing real-time broadcast monitoring alongside online and social media tracking.
9. Notified: A comprehensive solution for enterprises aiming to manage PR campaigns, investor relations, and event communications in one place.

What is a media database (and why do you need one)?

A media database is an organized directory of journalists, editors, bloggers, and media outlets. It usually includes:

• Journalists' contact information
• Topics they cover
• Where they work
• How they prefer to be contacted

PR professionals use media databases to find the right people for their stories. Instead of guessing or researching from scratch, you get instant access to relevant contacts.

This helps you:

• Build media lists faster and find new journalists easily
• Personalize your outreach (e.g. based on a journalist's recent articles)
• Manage ongoing relationships

In short, a media database saves time and helps you land better media coverage.

List of journalist databases for PR

Unfortunately, many media database providers do not publicly share much information about their media databases (such as pricing), requiring you to contact them directly to find out more.

When choosing a media database, the most important thing is to check how many journalists in your niche are available and whether the data is up-to-date. The best way to find out is to sign up for a free trial or demo call with the database provider and check the quality of the contacts directly.

Prowly

Prowly is a user-friendly platform ideal for small to medium-sized PR teams. It provides access to over 1 million media contacts, AI-assisted search, and integrated press release tools.

With transparent pricing starting at $258/month and a 7-day free trial, Prowly is an excellent option for anyone who needs an all-in-one PR solution.

Key features:

• Media database with over 1 million contacts.
• AI-powered search for relevant media contacts.
• Customizable online newsrooms with SEO capabilities.
• Integrated press release creator and pitching tools.
• Media and social media monitoring.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface.
• Affordable pricing with transparent plans.
• Comprehensive feature set for PR needs.

Cons:

• Limited functionality in basic plans.

Pricing:

Prowly‘s media database costs $258/mo for the most basic plan, which includes the ability to use or export 1,000 media contacts. The price can be upgraded to 3,000 media contacts, which brings the total to $393. More contacts are additionally available upon request.

Meltwater

Meltwater is designed for large enterprises requiring comprehensive global media monitoring and analytics. It offers access to over 380,000 media contacts and integrates news, social, and broadcast monitoring.

Key features:

• Global media database with extensive contact information.
• Comprehensive media monitoring across news, social, and broadcast channels.
• Advanced analytics and reporting tools.
• Integration with social media management.

Pros:

• Powerful media monitoring capabilities.
• User-friendly interface with customizable reports.
• Strong customer support during setup.

Cons:

• High price, starting from $6,000/year.
• Some users find the platform's development immature.
• Additional features may come at extra costs.

Pricing:

Meltwater's media database pricing is also not available on their website. From our data, we estimate it to cost $6,000 per year if purchased for a single country. With more countries, the price can increase to $8,000 annually.

→ For more on Meltwater pricing, click here.

Muck Rack

PR professionals love Muck Rack because it prioritizes real-time online news tracking and journalist engagement. It has a database of over 300,000 contacts and emphasizes accurate, up-to-date information.

Key features:

• AI-powered media database indexing hundreds of millions of data points.
• Real-time media monitoring and alerts.
• PR campaign management and reporting tools.
• Collaboration tools for PR teams.

Pros:

• Comprehensive and up-to-date journalist profiles.
• User-friendly platform with strong customer support.
• Effective media monitoring capabilities.

Cons:

• High price, approximately $10,000/year.
• Some reports of outdated contacts.
• Limited AI insights compared to competitors.

Pricing:

Muck Rack's pricing is also hidden, but we estimate their database to cost around $10,000 per year or more, with no available monthly option.

Cision

Cision caters to organizations that need an extensive media database with advanced outreach automation and detailed analytics. With over 1.4 million contacts, it has a wide range of tools for press release distribution and media monitoring.

Key features:

• Extensive media database with over 1.4 million contacts.
• Advanced outreach automation and detailed analytics.
• Press release and email distribution, media monitoring tools.
• Social media listening and content management.

Pros:

• Comprehensive PR software with a wide range of tools.
• In-depth media databases and monitoring services.
• Flexible and user-friendly interface.

Cons:

• High price, starting at approximately $10,000/year.
• Requires annual contracts.
• Some users report high bounce-back rates on emails.

Pricing:

Based on our insights, Cision's media database pricing is around $600 monthly. Because Cision only offers annual plans, the database will cost a hefty $10,000 each year or more.

Cision's PR database is one of the most expensive available on the market, partly because it requires buying the other tools that Cision offers to get full use of it. Pricing is not publicly available on their website and requires potential users to contact their sales department.

Propel

Propel is designed for teams focused on PR workflow management. It offers CRM-like features and AI-driven pitch recommendations. It includes a global media database with over 1 million journalists and integrates with Gmail and Outlook.

Key features:

• AI-powered journalist recommendations.
• Media database with over 1 million contacts.
• PR CRM for workflow management.
• Integration with Gmail and Outlook.

Pros:

• Affordable pricing starting at $2,400/year.
• Strong analytics and reporting tools.
• User-friendly interface with responsive customer support software.

Cons:

• Limited enterprise features.
• Some users find the UI clumsy.
• Running reports and obtaining metrics can be challenging.

Pricing:

Propel offers its media database with its PRM4TM subscription, which includes four users. The tool also includes media monitoring and other useful PR features.

Agility PR

Agility PR Solutions is a versatile platform that combines media outreach with multi-channel monitoring capabilities. It offers a media database with over 1 million contacts and tools for press release distribution and PR measurement. Pricing details are undisclosed.

Key features:

• Media database with over 1 million contacts.
• Media outreach, monitoring, and analytics tools.
• Real-time alerts and sentiment analysis.
• Customizable reports and competitor analysis.

Pros:

• Suitable for agencies with multiple clients.
• Excellent customer support.
• Ease of use and intuitive interface.

Cons:

• Pricing can be high, with annual plans only.
• Media database personalization features could be improved.
• Some users report data inaccuracies.

Roxhill

Roxhill is best for UK-based PR professionals seeking a curated database of journalists and media outlets with a focus on quality over quantity. It provides personalized media insights and media monitoring tools. Pricing is undisclosed.

Key features:

• Database of over 190,000 journalist profiles.
• Real-time articles and journalists' social feeds.
• Advanced search technology and ready-made lists.
• Integrated media intelligence and monitoring.

Pros:

• Sophisticated and up-to-date media database.
• Intuitive to use with great list functions.
• Excellent customer service.

Cons:

• Some users report that details are often not up to date.
• Occasional slowness, possibly due to internet speeds.

Critical Mention

Critical Mention is ideal for those needing real-time broadcast monitoring alongside online and social media tracking. It offers near real-time tracking of brand, competitor, and keyword mentions across various media, including TV, radio, online news, social media, and podcasts. Pricing is estimated between $2,500 and $10,000 per year.

Key features:

• Real-time broadcast monitoring (TV, radio, podcasts).
• Online news and social media tracking.
• Customizable reports with graphs and charts.
• Media contact database.

Pros:

• Comprehensive media monitoring capabilities.
• User-friendly interface.
• Responsive customer support.

Cons:

• The media database may not be as robust as its competitors.
• Some users report outdated contact information.

Notified

Notified provides a comprehensive solution for enterprises aiming to manage PR campaigns, investor relations, and event communications in one place. It includes tools for media monitoring, press release distribution, and analytics. Pricing details are undisclosed.

Key features:

• Media monitoring across various channels.
• Press release distribution and analytics.
• Investor relations and event communications management.
• Integrated PR campaign tools.

Pros:

• Comprehensive solution for enterprises.
• Combines PR, IR, and event communications.
• Robust analytics and reporting features.

Cons:

• Pricing details are undisclosed.
• It may be more suitable for larger organizations.

What to consider when choosing a media database

Media contact database size

Whether you're looking for a national or international media database, it's worth noting how many media contacts are available. While more is not always better, it increases your chances of finding the right journalists who will be most interested in your news story.

The largest media databases will have at least 1 million media contacts available, although this number can be lower if the database covers only a certain region.

Prowly’s Media Database has more than 1.1 million contacts, making it one of the biggest media contact databases on the market.

However, access to a large email database doesn't guarantee coverage. The key is identifying the right outlets and journalists.

PR experts note a shift towards research and data-driven decisions due to changes in the media landscape. With fewer traditional outlets and more niche platforms, effective pitching requires thorough research. Only about a quarter of pitches are relevant to a given journalist's audience.

Prowly enhances contact searches with unique features:

👉🏼 Partnership with Semrush provides exclusive data on audience and traffic.
👉🏼 AI keyword suggestions

International media database size

If you're looking for international media contacts, don't just look at the total number of media contacts available—find out how many are in the regions, countries or cities that you're interested in.

Some databases may have a large international media contact list, but the quality and quantity of the contacts can vary from region to region. If possible, ask about the number of contacts in the location you're interested in or find out if there's a free trial to have a look for yourself.

Available contact information

At the very least, a media contacts database should contain basic information about the media contact that lets you identify if they would be interested in your story and how you can contact them. These include:

• name and surname
• position
• email address
• phone number
• beat/topics covered
• media outlet
• social media accounts

More advanced databases will contain additional information such as:

• languages used in the case of multi-lingual journalists
• influence score or similar metric
• what articles they've recently written
• suggestions for new contacts generated by the system based on similar criteria, which you have followed so far

Accuracy and update frequency

Even if a media database checks all the boxes above, it can leave you frustrated if the media contact information is outdated or inaccurate.

In order to figure this out, it's worth asking these two crucial questions:

• How frequently the database is updated?
• What is/are the sources of the available media contacts?

Media contact information can be sourced from one channel or from various locations on the web. If possible, look for a database that gathers data from multiple sources.

For example, Muck Rack uses only Twitter to generate its media contacts. The downside – if the journalist is not on Twitter or doesn't update their profile, they may not be in the database or their information may be incorrect. This is a thing to keep in mind since more and more journalists are switching to Twitter alternatives.

Available search filters

As a journalist database can contain a lot of contacts, check what are the options for narrowing down your search in order to find the most relevant journalists. For example you can:

• search media outlets where your target audience is and then check contributing journalists
• search articles with keywords (expanded with AI keyword suggestions) and get contacts to the authors

The most common filters are:

• journalist's name
• location
• beat or topics of interest
• media outlet
• position/role
• keywords based on written articles
• keywords based on Tweets

Make it easier to find journalists and build relationships with highly targeted contacts — learn everything about using Audience Analytics and AI Keyword research from this article.

Media database sample or free trial

Absolutely make sure that the media database tool you're interested in offers a sample of the available contacts—or better yet, a free trial. Blindly buying media lists or contacts can lead to wasted time and money.

Most providers will provide a sample on request or display available contacts during a product demo. This is better than nothing, but it doesn't always give you the full picture and can leave you wondering if you'll find the right contacts.

If possible, find out if the media database provider offers a free trial. This lets you explore the application and see if it meets your needs.

Prowly offers a free 7-day trial with full search access. Contact details are hidden, but it allows you to see which contacts are available to be confident in your decision before purchasing.

Pricing & contract length

Media databases usually aren't cheap and some are only available with annual subscriptions. There is no free media database, but there are a few tools with free trials and free pitch credits.

Unless your PR budget is unlimited, take into account the following factors when doing your research:

• Compare media database pricing for different providers, keeping in mind that more $$$ does not always mean creating your own media list and making it exceptional
• Flexibility—does the vendor offer various plans depending on your needs and the size of your team (especially if you're a freelancer or small business), so you can adjust your PR strategy later
• Check what the minimum length is for a contract; some companies require you to pay upfront for a whole year

Unfortunately, most of the pricing plans for top media databases are not publicly available on their websites, but their subscription costs are estimated to start at around $400 per month or $5000 per year.

We were able to provide estimated pricing for the most popular databases based on third-party data and publicly available reviews.

Other media database pricing

Unfortunately, it's unknown how much the other databases cost. They do not disclose their pricing and require potential users to contact their sales teams. But pricing plans will depend on the number of users and features required.

💡 If you need even more details, check out this article featuring examples of Prowly alternatives. You can also simply ask us anything you'd like to know!

Questions to ask the media database provider

Even if you think that a chosen media database matches all your expectations, it’s better to ask the following questions before investing your time and money in it:

How is the media contact base relevant to the industry the customer works in?

When reviewing the size of a database, it's important to determine the number of relevant contacts. For example, the quantity of contacts that specialize in your industry topics. The sales team should provide you with custom research and showcase a possible media list based on your specific query.

💡 Learn how to create effective media monitoring queries from this article based on real-life examples.

What’s the number of unique contacts in the media database? 

The provider should be able to showcase the diversity of media types, such as journalists and bloggers, as well as their location and other filters that you can use on the platform.

Is it possible for customers to add necessary media contacts to the media database, such as specific journalists, influencers or outlets? 

It should be possible but may require a request to the customer support team.

What type of customer support is provided? 

Ask what the customer support process looks like - will the customer support team help you with ongoing questions on the platform or is there any training program offered? Ensure that the company is willing to guide you through the setup and provide prompt solutions to any questions that may arise.

Is it possible to export your contact lists?

It should be possible to download your list in CSV, XLS, or XLSX formats. 

Is it possible to create a personalized pitch right on the platform?

You should be able to tailor your email pitches to different recipients based on factors such as your relationship with them, their location, or their area of expertise simply by incorporating these details into your messages.

Does the platform have enough functionality to manage media contact lists?

You should be able to have different access levels for your team to work with, to add your own notes and tag contacts, to follow chosen journalists and receive notifications when they publish new articles, etc.

List of media databases for PR

Below you can find a list of the major media databases with US & global media contacts:

• Prowly
• Meltwater
• Muck Rack
• Cision
• Propel
• Agility PR
• Roxhill
• Critical Mention
• Notified

Looking for UK or Australian media contacts? Check out the comparison of UK media databases and Australian media databases respectively.

PR Trends 2025

Get our ultimate guide to what’s next in PR with expert-backed tips

Buying a media list or a media database – what's the difference?

You might wonder whether it's better to buy a media list or a media database or what the difference is between the two.

A media list is what it sounds like—a concrete list with media contacts, often narrowed down to a specific industry and/or location.

On the other hand, a media database gives you access to every single media contact and media outlet available (as long as they're in the database).

The upside to buying a media list is that it's already made and waiting to be used. You don't have to put in a lot of effort.

The downside, however, is that it can be outdated, inaccurate, or, most commonly, poorly customized for your specific needs.

A media database helps you to find the most relevant contacts for your story and make your own targeted media list. This greatly increases your chances of getting your story noticed and picked up by the media because you're reaching out to people who are waiting for a story like yours.

My go-to PR tools are online media databases and journalist source request platforms. It can be difficult to keep track of current journalists or media professionals' contact information, so online media databases like Prowly or Cision help connect with the right person for the right article on your clients' behalf. Using these helpful PR tools is key to advancing in the industry and making the most of every opportunity. - Brandi Sims, Founder & CEO @ Brandinc PR

💡 Tip: To get to know the top magazines to pitch in the US market, explore this article.

Conclusion

Choosing a media database can be frustrating, mainly because there are so many and the majority require you to talk with sales to get a sample of the available contacts.

Start by figuring out what exactly you're trying to achieve with a media database and what kind of contacts you're trying to find. Once you have that written down, look for providers that offer a free sample or trial to get an idea of the quality and accuracy of the database.

Frequently asked questions

1. What should I look for when choosing a media database?

When selecting a media database, consider the following factors:

• Relevance: Ensure the database includes contacts pertinent to your industry and target audience.
• Accuracy: The database should be regularly updated to maintain current contact information.
• Functionality: Look for features like advanced search filters, integration with PR tools, and analytics capabilities.
• Support: Reliable customer service and training resources can enhance your experience.

2. How does a media database differ from a media list?

A comprehensive, searchable media database contains many media contacts, including journalists, editors, and influencers. It allows users to build customized media lists tailored to specific campaigns or audiences. In contrast, a media list is a static compilation of contacts, often lacking the dynamic features and regular updates provided by a media database.

3. Are media databases suitable for small businesses or freelancers?

Yes, many media databases accommodate various needs and budgets. Some platforms provide flexible subscription models or pay-as-you-go options, making them accessible for smaller operations. Additionally, certain databases focus on specific regions or industries, allowing users to target their outreach effectively without unnecessary expenses.

The post Best Media Database in 2025: Top 9 Tools for PR Pros appeared first on Prowly.

PR ROI (Public Relations Return on Investment) shows how your public relations efforts are helping your business grow. You can measure it by looking at things like media mentions, website visitors, search engine rankings, and how much your brand stands out compared to others.

Tools like Prowly make it easy to track these results, link them to your goals, and share clear reports on how well your PR efforts are paying off.

This guide breaks down what PR ROI is, why it’s tricky to measure, and the specific metrics that help you show impact—not guess at it.

What is PR ROI?

PR ROI, or return on investment in public relations, is about more than just money. It shows how your PR work helps build your brand’s reputation, increase awareness, and earn the trust of your audience.

While sales and revenue are important, PR ROI also includes these bigger-picture benefits that help your business grow over time.

Why is it so hard to measure PR ROI?

Measuring PR ROI may seem like a difficult task, but the path from your PR efforts to business results is often long and complex.

PR influences customers via multiple touchpoints over time. So there is no one specific action to follow and measure.

Many valuable outcomes may not be visible in a simple graph, but they make your brand shine none-the-less. Improved brand reputation, increased trust, and greater visibility are more intangible an don’t show clearly in traditional financial metrics. PR teams often also struggle with limited or inaccurate tools that can’t fully capture or connect these diverse impacts to concrete business goals.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

Fortunately, by setting clear objectives, using a mix of qualitative and quantitative metrics, and with the right tools, it’s possible to overcome these challenges.

💡 With Prowly, you can monitor all indicators that reflect how your brand is doing. Mentions, media monitoring (offline and online), and even create, distribute and track press releases. All of the data is collected and displayed in a comprehensive dashboard.

But to really understand the full impact of your PR efforts, it’s important to track the right things. PR influences many areas, from media mentions to online buzz, so focusing on a mix of raw numbers and their quality helps you see the full picture.

Here are the key things to measure to get a clear view of your PR ROI:

What to measure to track PR ROI metrics

PR influences many areas. So keep your fingers on the pulse to allocate your budget efficiently. You need to know what works and where.

#1 Website traffic and conversion

Check the number of people who visit your website through your PR stories. This shows whether your coverage is bringing in customers.

It also reflects how your brand resonates with your target.

#2 Media mentions and coverage

Follow the media who mentioned your brand. Verify their credibility and their volume of generated mentions. Plan outreach and responses, both in their feeds and in their emails, especially for those who pull a lot of weight in your industry.

#3 Share of Voice (SoV)

Use Share of Voice to see how much your brand is talked about compared to your competitors. Compare the coverage buzz your brand creates over time.

The bigger the share, the more control you have over your market.

#4 Social media reactions

Your social media presence is one thing, but engagement is another. Track likes, shares, comments, and other interactions with your PR content.

This indicates how well you know your audience and you can refine your strategies of reaching them.

#5 Sentiment and message impact

Pay attention to whether mentions are positive, negative or neutral and track if your key messages are coming through clearly.

Positive coverage that highlights your main points builds trust.

P.S. Want to dive deeper into sentiment analysis and how to use it to strengthen your PR? Check out these articles:

• How to Measure Brand Sentiment in PR - The 2025 Guide
• How to Use Sentiment Analysis in PR? The 2025 Guide
• 20+ Top Sentiment Analysis Tools for PR Pros - a 2025 List

#6 Skip AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent)

AVE tries to put a dollar value on PR by comparing it to ad costs, but it doesn’t show real impact and is considered outdated. There are a lot of other, more accurate indicators (like the above) that reflect your PR efforts more accurately.

Tools like Prowly make it simple to keep track of all these metrics in one place, helping you see how your PR efforts are paying off and making it easier to share your success. All the data is collected in one dashboard where you can analyse it, notice trends, tailor your strategy accordingly, and generate full PR reports.

#7 SEO signals (links and brand searches)

Look at the backlinks your PR generates and whether more people are actively searching for your brand online. Also, track what topics your brand is being associated with—there may be smart opportunities to boost visibility while staying aligned with your messaging and strategy.

Backlinks and branded search volume still play a role in visibility—but in the AI search era, PR-driven signals like brand mentions, trust, and media credibility are becoming even more influential.

SEO matters, but PR is now doing more of the heavy lifting when it comes to how your brand is surfaced, summarized, and recommended in AI-generated results.

Why brand mentions and trust are the new ROI drivers in 2025

As AI-powered search becomes more common, brand mentions and trust are starting to outweigh backlinks in shaping visibility.

Generative engines like ChatGPT and Google Search Generative Experience pull answers from sources they deem credible—not just those with the best SEO.

This means PR-led signals like earned media, sentiment, and consistent messaging now play a bigger role in how your brand is found and trusted.

Tools like Prowly help track those signals—so you can measure PR ROI not just by traffic, but by influence.

Prowly helps you track and grow the exact signals that influence your brand’s presence in generative search:

• Media mentions across top-tier and niche outlets
• Tone and sentiment of your coverage
• Share of Voice against competitors
• Clarity and consistency of your key messages

💡 With Prowly, you're not just tracking traditional PR metrics—you’re building the kind of visibility that AI trusts, ranks, and repeats.

This is why modern PR ROI must account for GEO. It’s no longer just about rankings—it’s about being recognized, cited, and trusted across the sources AI engines pull from.

5 PR metrics that matter most

#1 Media mentions and reach

What is it?
This tracks how many times your brand appears in the news, on blogs, or in other media. It also estimates how many people could have seen those mentions.

Why it matters:
More mentions and a wider reach means your brand is getting noticed, which builds awareness and credibility.

How to track it:
Platforms like Prowly can help you count mentions and estimate audience size for each placement. You can easily set up notifications about new mentions and follow them in real time.

#2 Website traffic and conversions

What is it?
The number of visitors to your website that came from your PR materials in media coverage.

Why it matters:
If people are clicking on your site, it shows your PR is sparking real interest and driving potential customers to learn more.

How to track it:
Use Google Analytics to monitor referral traffic and set up UTMs to see traffic sources.

#3 Share of Voice

What is it?
Share of voice compares how much your brand is talked about in the media compared to your competitors.

Why it matters:
A big share means you are a big player in your niche and allows you to share details over your growth over time.

How to track it:
Media monitoring tools like Prowly can help you see how your coverage stacks up against the competition.

#4 Social media engagement

What is it?
Engagement means likes, shares, comments, and all interactions on social media posts that result from your PR coverage.

Why it matters:
High engagement means your PR stories touch your audience's interests. In other words, they work.

How to track it:
Social media dashboards like Sprout Social make it easy to follow engagement numbers. You can also monitor it manually.

#5 Sentiment and messaging clarity

What is it?
Sentiment analysis checks if your main messages are being communicated and received, and whether your media coverage is positive, neutral or negative.

Why it matters:
Positive coverage and clear messaging help build trust and reinforce your brand’s reputation. If negative mentions arise in numbers, it should be your red flag to react and take some preventive steps to avoid a brewing crisis.

How to track it:
Tools like Prowly analyze sentiment and show if your key messages are being picked up. You can be notified about negative sentiment spikes and monitor active cases to react quickly.

How to calculate PR ROI (a simple formula)

To calculate ROI, use this formula:

PR ROI = (Value of PR Outcomes – PR Costs) / PR Costs

Example:

You spend $2,000 on a PR campaign that brings you $12,000 in measurable value (leads, sales, coverage).

ROI = ($12,000 – $2,000) / $2,000 * 100 = 500%

This means every $1 you invested brought you $5 more.

How to connect PR to business goals? Framework to follow

Linking your PR efforts to business goals is not a piece of cake, but with this framework, it can go more smoothly.

👉 First, define which of the above goals is closer to your needs: raising awareness, encouraging people to learn more, or driving sales.

👉 Then, choose the specific metrics that align with each goal.

This way, you can clearly demonstrate how your PR activities contribute to your company’s success and thus make it easier to track progress and optimize your strategy accordingly. Keep monitoring and tailor it to the shifting market as you go.

What tools help track and report PR ROI?

Combine monitoring, analytics, SEO, and lead-related activities. This way you can cover all the bases and create a multichannel strategy. Thus, your efforts will have even greater impact and your ROI will improve. Prowly connects all these in one intuitive, ready-to-share dashboard.

How to report PR ROI to stakeholders

Measuring PR ROI matters most to stakeholders.

When sharing PR results with stakeholders, keep things simple and focus on impact, not just activities. Instead of listing how many press releases you sent or mentions you got, show how these efforts helped the business, like in boosting brand awareness, increasing website visits, or generating leads.

Use easy-to-understand visuals like charts and graphs to keep them interested. It’s also helpful to show progress over time, so present how it was and how it has changed. Speak in plain language that connects PR results to business goals, drop complicated terms and industry jargon.

To make reporting even easier, tools like Prowly offer features that help you create clear, visual reports that tell the story of your PR success in a way everyone can understand.

FAQ: Your top PR ROI questions and answers

What does PR ROI really mean?

PR ROI is the measurable return you get from public relations, including visibility, traffic, and brand equity.

What are key PR metrics?

Media coverage, web traffic, backlinks, sentiment, and share of voice.

Is PR ROI tied to revenue?

Yes, especially when using analytics and CRM tracking tools to link earned media to lead gen and conversions.

What’s better than AVE?

Actual impact metrics like traffic, backlinks, and quality media placements which can be tracked through platforms like Prowly.

PR ROI - summing up

Smarter PR means making your efforts measurable and data-driven. What once felt intangible, like brand reputation or trust, can now be tracked and quantified with the right numbers in hand.

Today, PR is no longer just about stories and your image; it’s a discipline grounded in clear metrics and real business impact. With modern tools and strategies, you can easily show the impact of your work value.

Does your PR really matter?
With Prowly, it’s easy to keep tabs on media coverage, build reports, and show the real impact of your work. Whether you're getting your name out there or bringing in leads, your PR should speak for itself and shine.

The post How to Measure the ROI of PR (With Metrics That Actually Matter) appeared first on Prowly.

This guide skips the basics. Instead, we dive straight into advanced crisis media monitoring strategies backed by real-world examples from brands like KFC, California Pizza Kitchen, and even the Tiger Woods incident.

TL;DR – What you’ll learn in this guide

• How to use real-time alerts to spot crises before they escalate
• Why sentiment analysis drives smarter PR decisions
• How to build high-precision Boolean queries that catch everything
• What to track across digital, social, broadcast, and print media
• How to design crisis dashboards that drive action
• 3 case studies that showcase real-world applications
• 4 recurring themes in successful PR crisis responses

6 advanced best practices for crisis media monitoring

1. Set up proactive alerts and threshold triggers

Monitor all kinds of keywords ahead of time. Your own brand, hashtags, competitors, CEO, stakeholders, or anyone (or anything) that can potentially be at the scrutiny of the media. Additionally, set up alerts for things like an unusual spike in mentions, so you know when a crisis is starting to hit.

🛠️ With Prowly, you can set real-time alerts for spikes in mentions, specific stakeholders, or regional media—giving you a head start on response.

2. Build smarter queries—without the Boolean complexity

Effective monitoring starts with flexible, inclusive queries. Instead of wrestling with traditional Boolean syntax, group keywords into logical themes—like product names, spokespersons, or crisis topics.

Don’t forget to include common misspellings, abbreviations, hashtags, or language variations your audience might use.

💡 Prowly’s intuitive query builder lets you cluster keywords using “ANY,” “ALL,” and “NONE” logic—making it easy to cast a wide net or zero in on specific mentions, all without needing technical expertise.

3. Track sentiment and narrative changes dynamically

Truth is, sentiment simply drives decisions. Are people excited for your new campaign? Confused? Angry with a statement you've put out? Is your brand the laughter of the internet now? An advanced media monitoring PR tactic will have these covered with intuitive dashboards.

💡 Prowly’s dashboards visualize sentiment shifts across all media types—TV, social, online, and print—so you can adjust messaging in real-time.

4. Monitor across the web, social media, TV, and print

While social media usually gets hit first, it's not until it spreads to national broadcasts and more popular magazines that more people hear about it. You know, a Reddit thread will slightly question your integrity, but a segment on the evening news might turn it into a fact for the public.

💡 Prowly covers online, social, broadcast, and print channels—so you can spot narratives as they evolve and take action before they hit mainstream media.

5. Build dashboards for crisis response teams

It doesn't matter if they're pretty. It matters if they're actionable at a quick glance. Stakeholders and managers need to view sentiment and volume trends quickly, while social media and PR coworkers need live mentions.

💡 With customizable widgets and real-time data, Prowly dashboards let you build stakeholder-friendly views that highlight key metrics instantly—no spreadsheets required.

Tip: include benchmark metrics from calm periods so your team can immediately spot if something is out of the ordinary.

6. Respond to emerging misinformation quickly

Ready, set, go! When that first comment hits, you literally have about 15 minutes to re-think your entire strategy in that moment. While aiming for a perfect response is crucial, being on time is even more important. What's even better? Having a proactive media monitoring crisis strategy in place.

💡 Prowly’s real-time alerts and keyword spike detection help you catch misinformation the moment it starts trending—so you’re always one step ahead.

Case Study 1: Rolling Hills Estates & Tiger Woods crash

In February 2021, Tiger Woods was injured in a high-speed rollover crash around the Rolling Hills Estates in California, USA. He was twice over the speed limit, collided with a neighborhood sign, crossed into oncoming traffic, and rolled into a tree.

The crash brought intense attention, even though he was reportedly not intoxicated. However, a toxicology test was never conducted because police said there was no probable cause since Woods was lucid and cooperative.

This is an exact scenario where carefully curated Boolean queries and sentiment analysis are the most important, for both Woods as a celebrity, and the Rolling Hills Estates as a community. Things like baseline sentiment dashboards help comms teams view narrative shifts, from shock to speculation.

Then, of course, preventing rumours and misinformation since they're easy to appear out of no where especially when the case involves a high-profile celebrity.

📡 Prowly’s broadcast and local print monitoring capabilities would help comms teams detect narrative shifts early—even before they trend nationally.

Case Study 2: KFC Chicken Shortage in UK

In 2018, UK's KFC ran out of chicken across hundreds of locations nationwide. Days later, more than 600 restaurant chains closed temporarily, sparking debates and rumors on why, along with negative sentiment towards the brand.

Unfortunately, the public's reaction ranged from sarcastic frustration to empathy, but mostly it kept on escalating quite fast on social media. However, KFC shot it all down with humor themselves, rearranging their logo to say "FCK" on an empty bucket as a sign of apology.

This is a classic example of how real-media monitoring can help in cases like these. Spotting sentiment overflown with negativity (but some humor), their team was probably able to assess who the critics within the audience are, and turned a potential PR disaster into a cheeky brand win.

📈 By visualizing sentiment patterns using Prowly’s customizable dashboards, PR teams can quickly adapt tone and messaging—turning a crisis into an opportunity.

Case Study 3: California Pizza Kitchen TikTok Crisis

Around July 2024, a user named Riley (@fumptruck) went viral on TikTok after there was nothing but cheese in her mac & cheese order from California Pizza Kitchen. The video had over 3 million views and sparked a hefty conversation in the comments.

While things like these happen and it could have been a simple human error, the community did not leave a dry thread on California Pizza Kitchen. Had the company not utilized platform-specific monitoring, they would miss their shot on responding to the crisis effectively.

In return, California Pizza Kitchen sent Riley a care package and a voucher for completely free mac & cheese for a year.

Additionally, because they knew the sentiment and humor of their audience, they launched a funny chef video showing how to make the dish properly. You know, actually add the pasta.

P.S. We've gathered 16 more crisis management examples—explore them all here.

4 key themes across effective crisis management

To continue using the same examples, let's follow up on what similarities all the above mentioned case studies had. There are surely plenty of other occurrences which would fit here as well, but for the purpose of this article, we'll focus on what we've discussed.

In order to effectively put out their own fire, media monitoring crisis teams look for similarities across the strategies and responses of brands to shape their own approach. Here are the four key themes that emerge:

Theme 1: Speed

Each one of these teams responded quickly before the topic died down or got out of hand. The reason they were able to do it usually consists of several different things: effective media monitoring using solid PR crisis communication tools, a proactive crisis management plan, and making sure everyone at the organization knows what they need to do when a situation like this arises.

Most of the time, the best crisis management teams have several statements ready long before anything happens. These statements just sit there, waiting to be used, but they're usually vetted by all the stakeholders, align with the company's voice and tone, and ensure everyone is prepared as much as possible.

⚡ Prowly’s immediate alert system and email digests ensure no key moment is missed.

Theme 2: Real-time alerting

Media monitoring in crisis management is sort of the same, but then different. Yes, they also create queries of all the keywords that need to be tracked, but they're much more meticulous and detailed in doing so.

Real-time monitoring tools that allow for Boolean queries and platform-specific alerts are key here.

Just because you're going down on TikTok, doesn't mean your Facebook community shares the same sentiment. By knowing these nuances, teams can better understand what's going on and respond successfully.

💡 With Prowly, you can set tailored alerts for each platform and issue—so no comment, tweet, or local news report goes unseen. And here you can compare Google and Prowly alerts.

Theme 3: Platform-specific communication

A short, snappy video will probably not work for the audiences that watch national television, so knowing what content to place on what channel is absolute key. For all the companies we've discussed above, their response strategies were effectively tailored to the platforms and channels where the conversation first began.

Takeaway? There's no such thing as one-size-fits-all messaging. Especially in times of a fragmented media landscape.

💡 Prowly helps PR pros identify which channels are gaining traction through intuitive filtering by source type—TV, radio, blogs, or social.

Theme 4: Thorough sentiment analysis

Sentiment isn't just a cool graph that shows who's happy and who's upset. In sentiment analysis crisis PR, it becomes a tactical lever that shapes the tone of apologies, guides replies, and helps organizations stay ahead of misinformed gossip.

💡 Track mood in real-time, not just numbers. Prowly helps tailor response tone by mapping sentiment across stakeholder groups.

P.S. Don’t stop here—our PR crisis management guide is packed with extra tactics the pros keep to themselves.

Stay ahead of any comment with real-time media alerts PR crisis teams rely on. Start your free 7-day trial with Prowly. No contracts, no credit card needed.

How Prowly helps in media monitoring for crisis teams

#1 Real-time alerts

What's good about an alert that will come several hours after the comment has been posted? Absolutely nothing. In this day and age, Kerry will write something at 1:02pm, and by 2:00pm you have a full-blown crisis in the comments if whatever Kerry wrote sticks the wrong way.

With Prowly, you'll get immediate, real-time alerts delivered right into your inbox. This is in addition to special alerts, such as a spike in mentions so you know there's something cooking up if you get it. Pretty sure that's exactly how California Pizza Kitchen caught their viral TikTok video before it got out of control.

#2 Sentiment analysis

Prowly's tools measure the exact feeling your audience has about whatever campaign you've put out. The tool will track mentions in comments, on forums, customer feedback, and more, so you know if they're rather positive or negative towards an event.

For example, in the above-mentioned KFC chicken outage, the team must have monitored the sentiment closely in order to know if they need to come out with a formal apology, or add a bit or laughter.

#3 Offline tracking

With Prowly, you can monitor traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, and broadcast television. Therefore, if something has shown up even in local news, you'll know about it right away. That was probably the case in the Tiger Woods crash.

Although he's a celebrity, the community is pretty tight knit in these areas in California. Before national outlets picked it up, you bet it was local TV, radio, and newspapers that wrote about it first. Without proper offline monitoring, it would be nearly impossible to spot these mentions.

#4 Comprehensive dashboards

Life isn't easy when you need to juggle several tabs in order to digest all the information. That's why Prowly features easy-to-read dashboards, so you can quickly spot trends, opportunities, and outliers just by looking at it.

It's also effective if you're trying to explain something to a stakeholder that might not necessarily understand PR. After all, everyone understands the basics of when a line goes up, down, or what colors mean.

👉 Looking for more crisis management tools? This comparison covers 6 top-rated PR crisis management platforms.

Quick FAQ

💬 How does media monitoring help in a crisis?

Media monitoring allows teams to quickly understand what is going on in their respective landscape, where did the crisis appear first and who started it. Additionally, it also allows teams to check out what their competitor's are doing when a crisis hits them, so they can learn from their successes and failures.

💬 Why is real-time media monitoring important for crisis communication?

Real-time media monitoring is an indispensable component of all successful crisis strategy. It helps teams assess the risks of current issues, spot communications they need to respond to immediately, and prioritize in times of havoc.

That way, they can engage the right stakeholders to speak to the public, coordinate with other people, and minimize the damage to a minimum.

Final thoughts

If there's one thing you should take away from this post, it's the notion that if you're not prepared, you're already behind and failing. Those little first signs of negative comments here and there surely build momentum and can potentially spiral down further rather quickly.

Prowly gives you the right tools and features to pick up on the first spark and not be caught in a surprise. Start your 7-day free trial today and experience how media monitoring for crisis teams can turn your work from reactive to proactive.

The post Media Monitoring for Crisis Teams: Advanced Strategies for 2025 w/Case Studies appeared first on Prowly.

This guide breaks down how to write a clear, credible, and effective PR statement—complete with real examples and expert tips.

TL;DR:

• Learn how to structure a professional PR statement in 5 key parts
• Understand when and why to issue one—crisis, campaign, or company news
• Discover tone strategies that build trust and avoid backlash
• See good vs. bad PR statement examples from Shopify and BrewDog
• Get practical tips on tailoring messages to media, customers, and stakeholders
• Explore how tools like Prowly help monitor sentiment and manage communications

What is a public relations statement?

A public relations (PR) statement is an official message from a company designed to shape public perception. Typically written by a media relations or communications team, it's used in response to crises, product launches, or news events involving the brand.

So, why write a PR statement? Here are some common scenarios:

• To generate media buzz around a new product launch
• To reinforce a positive reputation after an ESG or DEI campaign
• To address negative press and clarify your company’s position

Whether proactive or reactive, a well-crafted PR statement can build trust, redirect narratives, and ensure your voice is heard first.

How to write a public relations statement?

A strong PR statement can make or break public relations and crisis communications for your brand. Whether it's an official statement from government officials, or a few sentences to reduce negative publicity, it needs to follow a structure that prioritizes transparency, empathy, responsibility and direction.

Here are five essential elements every effective PR statement should include—plus ways to support each stage with smart planning, cross-functional alignment, and the right tools.

5 key building blocks of a PR statement

#1 Acknowledge the situation

Start by clearly stating what happened, when it occurred, and—if relevant—where. This shows transparency and sets the stage for the rest of the message.

Example: “On Sunday, January 12, one of our representatives made false claims about our organization and its employees.”

🛠️ Many PR teams begin this step inside a press release creator with real-time editing support—like Prowly’s AI Assistant, which helps structure key messages and maintain tone consistency while drafting.

#2 Explain the impact

Address who was affected and express empathy. A human tone goes a long way in showing your brand takes the matter seriously.

Example: “We understand this outage caused delayed and canceled flights, disrupting many travelers’ plans.”

🛠️ Empathy also comes from listening. Media monitoring tools like Prowly’s help teams surface early reactions and keyword sentiment across channels, making it easier to reflect real concerns in your messaging.

START MEDIA MONITORING FOR 7 DAYS FREE

#3 Own the responsibility

Avoid deflecting blame. Instead, be direct about what went wrong and your company’s role in it.

Example: “We recognize that our actions didn’t align with the values we stand for.”

🛠️ Tracking media responses to your messaging helps teams understand whether the tone of accountability is resonating—or needs recalibration.

#4 Outline your response

Let your audience know what steps you're taking to fix the issue. Even if the situation is ongoing, communicate the direction you're moving in.

Example: “We’re issuing full refunds to everyone affected and reviewing our response process to prevent future incidents.”

🛠️ Once your response is outlined, you’ll likely need to communicate it to multiple groups—media, partners, or customers. Prowly users can distribute statements through branded newsrooms or targeted journalist emails, keeping the message aligned across channels.

#5 Commit to change

Wrap up with a clear statement of what will be done long-term. This helps restore trust and signals accountability.

Example: “We’re implementing new safety protocols company-wide and will report back on progress.”

🛠️ This step isn’t just about saying the right thing—it’s about proving it. Reporting tools like Prowly’s let you track and visualize earned media coverage over time, so you can demonstrate how public sentiment shifts as changes roll out.

BUILD TRUST WITH BETTER PR TOOLS

Additional tips for strong PR messaging

👉 Tailor your format

Different audiences consume information differently. Consider creating:

• A headline summary for social or media alerts
• An executive summary for internal or investor updates
• A full-length version for press releases or newsroom use

👉 Know your audience

Customize your statement based on who's reading:

• Customers want to know if their service or product will be impacted
• Employees need reassurance and transparency
• Investors look for signs of stability and future-proof planning

👉 Use media monitoring to stay ahead

Once your PR statement is live, the job isn't over. Use a media monitoring tool like Prowly to track how the message is being received across social media, online news, and even broadcast and print. This helps you adapt quickly, manage sentiment, and stay in control of the narrative.

👉 Align internally before publishing

Make sure your marketing, legal, and leadership teams are on the same page before anything goes public. The faster your internal alignment, the quicker—and safer—you can respond.

👉 Enhance with visuals

Infographics, video messages from your CEO, or a visual timeline of events can help clarify complex updates and build connection with your audience.

In public relations, creating a PR statement is just a piece of the puzzle.

For public relations professionals, it means they need to communicate in a way that aligns with what the company believes it, while at the same time protecting its reputation and strengthening relationships with journalists, the media, and the public.

There is no resolution without building trust

Your public relations statement might check all the technical boxes—but does it genuinely build trust?

A defensive or overly polished tone can backfire. Audiences are quick to sense when a message feels performative or insincere. True accountability and transparency are the foundation of trust, especially during a crisis or high-stakes announcement.

Trust signals that strengthen PR statements

To make your message more credible and trustworthy, include these critical elements:

• Be specific: Use concrete timelines, name the individuals or departments responsible, and clearly state what actions have been taken.
• Create follow-up mechanisms: Keep your audience informed over time—not just in the moment. This could mean posting updates, issuing secondary statements, or using a newsroom.
• Understand your audience: Speak directly to the concerns of your stakeholders—customers, employees, investors—not just what you think they need to hear.
• Maintain tone consistency: Your statement should align with your brand’s voice, previous communications, and core values. Sudden shifts can feel disingenuous.

Brands that are transparent and credible follow up on the state of things. For example, when a company isn't clear on ethical practices and receives backlash for a questionable product launch, your company needs to prove they will take actions that will increase customer satisfaction and strengthen broken relationships.

What if a PR statement becomes the story itself?

Even if our public relations statement is written according to all the rules and with the best intentions, sometimes the media can misconstrue it anyway. Sometimes, the best public relations specialists can't predict what will go wrong (or right).

Here are some contrasting examples of public relations statements that journalists picked up and made into headlines:

Good PR statement: Shopify CEO’s layoff message

In 2022, Shopify announced they were laying off around 10% of their employees. However, instead of creating a PR statement full of jargon rarely anyone understands, Tobi Lutke, the CEO, released a company-wide message that was received as raw, full of reflection, and something that doesn't happen often in the tech industry: humanity.

Instead of sugar-coating and spilling out a bunch of words that wouldn't make anyone feel better in that situation, he explained (or the PR professionals on his team did) that they miscalculated the acceleration of e-commerce growth during the times of the pandemic.

He took full responsibility for what happened, showing honesty and humility. The communication was direct and easy to understand without reading in between the lines.

“Ultimately, placing this bet was my call to make and I got this wrong,” he wrote.

Plenty of public relations specialists have analyzed it and examined it since, highlighting that it was the greatest response in crisis communications in many, many years. Additionally, the company received less backlash than other tech layoffs have seen in social media (which is always a win).

Bad PR statement: BrewDog’s apology after toxic workplace claims

Contrast that with BrewDog, which faced intense criticism in 2021 after more than 60 former employees published an open letter accusing the company of fostering a culture of fear, pressure, and exploitation.

In response, CEO James Watt issued a public apology...

But the tone fell flat. It was too vague, too sanitized, and lacked any real accountability. The statement didn’t address the specific allegations raised. Nor did it outline steps the company would take to improve working conditions or repair internal culture.

Critics quickly pointed out that the apology felt more like damage control than genuine reflection. The lack of a forward-looking plan—and the absence of emotional acknowledgment—only intensified the backlash.

Conclusion – writing for the moment and the memory

A great PR statement shows customers how your organization handles pressure, public scrutiny, and shows accountability.

In crisis communications, the language you choose shapes perception and helps build a favorable public image that can outlast the headlines which are damaging to your company.

When writing a PR statement, PR professionals need to conduct thorough research to craft the type of communication that respects the urgency of the situation and the long-term well-being of their audience. It's a tough balancing act, and this type of communication is certainly difficult to write.

It doesn't matter if your company is addressing journalists, employees, customers, or simply keeping stakeholders informed — a well-crafted reactive PR statement or a proactive holding statement can make or break the business you're doing public relations for.

The post Crafting the Perfect Public Relations Statement: A Guide for Success appeared first on Prowly.

By understanding and tracking brand mentions and PR results, you can clearly see the difference between a thriving brand and one that’s struggling to capture attention.

TL;DR

Brand mentions are any instances where your company is referenced online—often without a backlink. They're key indicators of brand visibility, PR effectiveness, and share of voice. This guide breaks down what brand mentions are, why they matter, and how to track and leverage them to strengthen your PR strategy.

What are brand mentions? (definition & examples)

Brand mentions are cases when a specific brand is mentioned online, discussed, or referred to on any digital platform in various forms of communication. This could be on blogs, social media posts, news articles, or forums, just to name a few.

There are two types of mentions:

• Linked mentions, which include a hyperlink to your website
• Unlinked mentions, which reference your name without a link

Both are valuable for PR and reputation management. Even without links, mentions show that your brand is part of public conversations.

Examples of brand mentions:

• A news article covering your latest product launch
• A podcast host discussing your brand as a category example
• A Reddit post asking for opinions on your company
• A LinkedIn comment where someone tags your brand during an industry debate

Mentions can occur in three different types of sentiments: positive, neutral or negative. They are a key indicator of your brand's presence and reputation in the public sphere.

Why tracking brand mentions matters (for PR strategy & ROI)

For businesses across industries, brand mentions are a thermometer for the health of their brand. Through onlinementions, businesses can monitor their online reputation, their customers' opinions of them, and the effectiveness of their PR strategies.

Tracking brand mentions is the practice of setting up a filter and getting notifications every time someone uses your brand name or designated keywords. It sounds simple, but it's a tool that can super power your PR.

Here’s why tracking mentions matters:

• Understand brand visibility
  See how often your brand is discussed, where it's showing up, who’s talking about it, and how.
• Measure campaign impact
  Mentions help you gauge whether your press releases, announcements, or events are getting attention.
• Monitor reputation and sentiment
  Track the tone of mentions to identify positive buzz—or spot potential PR crises before they snowball.
• Improve media outreach
  Discover which outlets and journalists already cover your brand or topic area.
• Prove PR ROI to stakeholders
  Use mention volume, reach, and Share of Voice (SOV) data to show your team’s value.

Effectively monitoring and responding to brand mentions can enhance your brand image, boost customer engagement, and provide valuable insights into the public perception of your brand.

The different types of brand mentions

There are several different types of brand mentions, depending on the source the mention comes from:

A good brand mentions tool captures all of these mentions and groups them according to source and sentiment.

1. News mentions (earned media)
Articles in online media, industry publications, or local news outlets referencing your brand in coverage.

Example: A product launch mentioned in TechCrunch or a quote from your CEO in a trend piece.

2. Social Media Mentions (shared media)
Comments, posts, or tags on platforms like Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok.

Example: A journalist tweeting a link to your press release or an influencer tagging your product in a post.

3. Blog and forum mentions
Mentions in niche blogs, customer review sites, or forums like Reddit or Quora.

Example: A blogger reviewing your product or users discussing your company in a Reddit thread.

4. Podcast and video mentions
Spoken mentions in audio or video content that reference your brand or product.

Example: A podcast host citing your brand as a case study or a YouTube creator discussing your campaign.

5. Unlinked mentions
Your brand is mentioned without a hyperlink. These are common—and valuable—even without direct SEO benefits.

Example: A journalist references your brand by name but doesn’t link to your site.

6. Reviews and testimonials (customer-driven mentions)

User-generated content on review platforms like Amazon, TripAdvisor, Yelp, G2, Capterra, or TrustRadius. These mentions can reflect satisfaction, dissatisfaction, or comparison with competitors—and they influence buying decisions and brand perception.

Example: A 5-star review on G2 praising your media monitoring features, or a Capterra comment noting ease of use compared to a competitor.

7. Broadcast Mentions (TV, radio, podcasts)

Mentions of your brand in traditional or digital audio/visual media. This includes TV news segments, radio interviews, and podcast discussions. These often require specialized media monitoring tools to detect but can significantly boost brand credibility.

Example: A PR segment on a morning news show featuring your CEO, or a podcast host referencing your brand during an industry conversation.

Pro tip: With Prowly, you can monitor all of these mentions in one place and get real-time alerts whenever and wherever your brand is talked about.

Why brand mentions matter

If you're wondering whether it’s worth the time and budget to monitor brand mentions, the answer is simple: it’s essential for protecting your brand image, building trust, and proving PR value. Here’s how tracking brand mentions across digital and traditional media channels benefits your PR strategy

1️⃣ Reputation management

Brand mentions can be both positive and negative. While many boost your brand reputation, others can damage it—especially if left unaddressed.

Using brand monitoring tools like Prowly, you can track online conversations, including social media posts and reviews, in real time. This helps you manage negative mentions and reinforce positive ones, creating a healthier brand image and public perception.

💡 Tip: If you want to make your PR strategy truly robust, read these articles to learn how to manage and protect your brand reputation.

2️⃣ Customer perception and trust

Brand mentions provide valuable insights into how customers perceive your business—without needing extensive research. By tracking mentions across social media platforms, blogs and review sites, you can better understand trust levels and customer sentiment. 

3️⃣ Social proof

Track mentions that showcase testimonials, quotes, videos, or articles about your brand—this is social proof in action. These organic endorsements shape public trust and influence purchase decisions.

By using brand mention tools, you can automatically dig up this proof and attach it to PR reports with metrics like reach, sentiment, and engagement.

4️⃣ Crisis management

Wondering how to spot a brewing crisis? Set up alerts to monitor brand mentions across the web. A spike in negative mentions or sudden surge in volume on specific social media accounts can signal reputational risks early on.

This allows you to take control of the narrative before the story spirals, protecting your brand reputation.

5️⃣ Competitor analysis

Brand monitoring isn’t just about you. Track how people talk about your competitors—what gets praised, what triggers backlash, and how audiences respond.

Using tools like Prowly, you can follow competitor social media channels, websites, and review platforms to identify patterns and gaps in their PR strategy.

P.S. For those searching for the best tools available for competitor analysis, check out this article.

6️⃣ Monitoring digital & traditional media mentions in one place

Collecting clippings manually is a daunting task, especially since most print media comes out with new issues every single day. That's when a media monitoring solution can take all the work off your hands.

With print monitoring you can:

• Instantly access global and local newspapers, magazines, and journals.
• Track brand mentions, competitors, and industry trends across all outlets.
• Analyze insights using a user-friendly dashboard.
• Ensure comprehensive coverage from diverse sources.
• Evaluate print media investments and campaign ROI with advanced filters.

💡 Want to make the most of your print coverage? Discover how to turn print media monitoring into a powerful part of your PR strategy.

Broadcast monitoring lets you better understand the media landscape by analyzing your media presence across TV, over the Radio, and in podcasts on both local and global scales.

Monitoring broadcasts allows you to:

• Gain comprehensive coverage data
• Track all mentions across the US, Canada, and the UK
• Capture relevant broadcast content for your market
• Get detailed insights on your media presence
• Obtain metrics like estimated reach, publicity value, and sentiment analysis
• Analyze all media sources from a single, unified tool

7️⃣ Industry trends

Brand names are not the only thing you can track with brand mentions software. You can also type in industry categories, product names, new technologies and anything else that comes to mind.

For example, if you want to keep up with the latest news about ChatGPT, you can just track the term and get notified when news and other mentions roll in.

You can also learn all about using social monitoring for PR from The Complete Social Media Listening Guide for Public Relations.

How to find and track brand mentions (free & pro tools)

Before investing in a dedicated platform, there are manual and free ways to begin brand monitoring. These options can help you start finding brand mentions and understand your brand’s online presence—though they’re limited in scale and insight.

Free & manual methods to find brand mentions

1. Manual search

Start with a basic Google search using your brand name, product names, or spokespersons. Try it in incognito mode and use tools like the Google’s “News” tab to focus on news sites only. You can also use filters to view recent results or limit them by region.

🔻 Limitation: You’ll miss mentions on social media platforms, forums, or in spoken formats like podcasts.

2. Google Alerts

Set up keyword-based alerts to monitor brand mentions from websites and indexed media. You’ll get email updates when those keywords appear.

🔻 Limitation: Doesn’t include social media channels, podcasts, or sentiment indicators.

→ Read more about Google Alerts alternatives in our article "The Best Google Alerts Alternatives for PR Pros."

3. Social media search

Use the built-in search features of social media platforms like Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram to manually check for mentions, hashtags, and tags.

🔻 Limitation: No unified view across channels. You’ll miss context, trends, and brand sentiment behind the mentions.

4. Review sites

Check platforms like G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, or TripAdvisor to monitor what customers are saying about your brand. These reviews can reveal both praise and negative mentions, shaping your brand reputation and trust.

🔻 Limitation: No automated alerting or way to track trends over time.

5. Forums & online communities

Search Reddit, Quora, or niche industry forums using Google with the site:operator (e.g., site:reddit.com “your brand”). These online conversations can uncover hidden insights about your audience and competitors.

🔻 Limitation: No sentiment analysis, limited visibility into volume and engagement levels.

Media monitoring tools (with Prowly walkthrough)

As your media presence grows, free methods become unsustainable. Media monitoring tools offer comprehensive, real-time coverage—and Prowly is built to meet your needs end-to-end.

What to look for in Brand Monitoring Tools

Effective brand monitoring tools should help you:

• Monitor brand mentions across all channels: news sites, blogs, podcasts, social media platforms, review sites, and broadcast media
• Detect brand sentiment and flag negative mentions using sentiment analysis
• Set up customized keyword alerts for your brand, competitors, or campaigns
• Consolidate mentions into a unified dashboard for analysis and reporting
• Track trends over time and measure your Share of Voice vs. competitors

Pros: fast, accurate, covers all types of sources: digital media (including social media) and traditional media (print & broadcast), lets you add mentions to PR reports with just a few clicks

Cons: free for seven days only

Tip: Read this full guide on brand monitoring software to choose the right one.

How to track mentions with Prowly

1. Set up your brand monitoring dashboard

Start by heading to your mention tracking dashboard. Enter the brand terms, campaign hashtags, or spokesperson names you want to monitor.

Customize your monitoring by:

• Language and region (e.g., only Japanese-language results)
• Type of media channel (e.g., social media, blogs, TV, forums)
• Choose specific journalists or authors

2. Create smart alerts that fit your workflow

Once your terms are set, configure email notifications to fit your team’s rhythm, like:

• Immediate alerts for spikes or negative sentiment
• Daily or weekly roundups for ongoing coverage and positive mentions
• Scheduled digests (daily, weekly, or custom intervals)

This way, your team never misses a beat—but also doesn’t get flooded.

3. Monitor sentiment & impact across all channels

Get a real-time view of:

• Audience sentiment and tone (positive, neutral, or negative)
• The volume and source of each mention
• What’s trending in customer feedback and user mentions

Use these insights to adjust your marketing strategy, manage your online reputation, and strengthen customer satisfaction.

4. Add print & broadcast mentions to your PR reports

Need to track mentions beyond digital? Prowly also helps you:

• Monitor print coverage from global and regional outlets
• Track broadcast media, including TV, radio, and podcasts
• Easily insert traditional media mentions into PR dashboards

These features are ideal for reporting on high-visibility campaigns or executive interviews.

Here are some examples of how traditional media mentions appear in your PR reports:

5. Generate custom PR reports in minutes

At the end of your reporting cycle, generate stunning, data-rich PR reports with just a few clicks. Customize layout, highlight key wins, and present clear insights your manager or clients will love.

🎯 No more screenshots or spreadsheets—just clean, credible data backed by real results.

Tips for tracking brand mentions

If you're new to tracking brand mentions, we have a few handy tips to help you get started.

📌 It's not just the brand name

Brand mention tools let you track literally any term you can think of. This means you can choose a wide variety of terms alongisde your brand name. For example:

• spokesperson names
• online authors
• authors you want to track online
• product names (e.g. "CRM software")
• category terms (e.g. "healthcare communications")

And all of this for yourself and for your competitors.

While your brand term should be the first thing to start with, don't limit yourself. Every brand mentions tracking tool comes with a number of keywords you can track by a specific plan, so make good use of those keywords.

📌 Analyze your sentiment on the fly

Great monitoring software like Prowly does more than just collect brand mentions. As each mention comes in, Prowly analyzes the context around it and sorts the mentions according to sentiment, organizing them into three groups:

• positive
• neutral
• negative

This lets you sort all of your brand mentions automatically using language learning algorithms. For example, if you see a large number of negative mentions coming in over a short period of time, this means that a crisis is looming and you need to look into it.

📌 Track variations of your brand name

If you assume that your (potential) customers know how to spell your brand name perfectly, you're wrong. Depending on what the brand name is, there could be many alternatives that people use. For example, you could search for "Mailchimp" or "mail chimp" with equal success. If you set up just one of these as a term to track, you could miss out on valuable mentions.

📌 Don’t underestimate print, TV or radio mentions

Although most of our information comes from online sources, print, TV, and radio remain crucial media types. They are often seen as more "prestigious" since earning mentions in these outlets is generally more challenging.

Conclusion

Tracking brand mentions is not an afterthought, it's a vital part of a great PR strategy. No matter what industry you're in, tracking brand mentions allow you to stay on top of reputation management, avert crises, and keep an eye on your competition.

And it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to get started, either. With Prowly, you can start monitoring the web for your branded (and other) terms today completely free for 7 days.

The post What Are Brand Mentions and How to Track & Analyze Them appeared first on Prowly.

The real opportunity? Turning those scattered mentions into insights that actually drive strategy. That’s where media intelligence tools step in — helping PR, marketing, and comms teams cut through the noise, spot trends early, and prove the value of their work with real numbers.

TL;DR:

• Media intelligence turns media mentions into insights that inform PR, marketing, and brand strategy.
• It goes beyond monitoring — helping you analyse sentiment, track competitors, and spot PR risks early.
• Tools powered by AI (like Prowly) make it easier to measure impact, optimize campaigns, and align PR with business goals.
• In 2025, media intelligence is essential for staying ahead in a fragmented, fast-moving media landscape.

What is media intelligence?

Media intelligence includes gathering, analyzing, and processing information from different media sources to gain insights and help drive decisions. With it, brands can understand their audience, customers, and competitors better, using it to elevate their campaigns in the direction they want to.

Media monitoring vs. media intelligence

Kind of the same, but different. Why? It depends on the tool.

Essentially, media intelligence involves media monitoring, but the latter doesn't necessarily result in media intelligence.

Media intelligence goes several layers deeper than just collecting mentions. It includes spotting trends, analyzing sentiment, gathering metrics from social listening, benchmarking competitors, and so on. Sounds like media monitoring, right?

However, media intelligence goes even a step further and offers deeper analysis of the data, making it easier for you to make informed decisions based on data-backed interpretations and context.

Why do businesses need media intelligence in 2025?

The short answer: media complexity is exploding. There are simply too many platforms, channels, and conversations to monitor — and too much reputational risk in missing what matters.

Even if your audience mostly lives on Facebook or LinkedIn, it doesn’t mean that’s where your reputation is being shaped. You may be getting clicks there, but brand sentiment could be shifting elsewhere — unnoticed.

That’s why businesses are upgrading from basic media monitoring to full-scale media intelligence — using advanced media analysis tools to uncover what’s really driving their brand narrative.

#1 Media fragmentation requires smarter media intelligence

Your audience is scattered across dozens of platforms — from TikTok and newsletters to niche blogs, Reddit, and YouTube. Owning the narrative in just one place no longer works.

A modern data-driven PR strategy depends on tools that turn scattered mentions into brand reputation insights — going beyond monitoring to unlock earned media analytics at scale.

💡 According to Harvard Business Review, 67% of consumers use multiple channels before making a purchase.

That journey might include an ad on Instagram, a mention on Facebook, and a review on Reddit — all influencing a single decision.

Only media intelligence tools can track this full arc and make it actionable.

#2 Real-time media insights prevent brand damage

Crises don’t wait. Public sentiment shifts within hours — and traditional monitoring tools just can’t keep up.

That’s why brands rely on real-time media insights and sentiment analysis to stay ahead of emerging issues. According to Deloitte’s Reputation Risk Survey, brands that actively monitor sentiment recover 30% faster from crises.

With the right tools, you can:

• Catch PR threats before they escalate
• Track how competitors handle crises using competitive benchmarking
• Build smarter response strategies powered by continuous media analysis

#3 Stakeholders demand proof, not gut instinct

What's the impact? Do you have proof? How do you translate things like brand awareness into numbers that stakeholders will understand?

Leaders want metrics — not “we think it worked.”

Modern earned media analytics take your reporting from:

“We got coverage,” to

“That coverage drove 2x web traffic, improved sentiment by 15%, and gave us 3x more share of voice than competitors.”

By moving from media monitoring to media intelligence, you gain a clear picture of what’s working and why — and turn PR into a measurable growth driver.

Ready to show real PR impact?
Tools like Prowly help you go beyond basic reporting with media intelligence features built for proving results. From sentiment analysis to share-of-voice benchmarks, you’ll get the data stakeholders actually care about — and a clearer view of how PR drives business outcomes.

Turning data analysis into decisions

Dashboards are powerful — but they don’t make decisions. People do.

Say your latest campaign earned twice as much coverage in Canada but triggered negative sentiment. Was it a messaging misstep? A cultural blind spot?

These are the kinds of insights media intelligence tools uncover — helping you not just measure results, but act on them.

What is a media intelligence solutions company?

A media intelligence solutions company collects and analyzes data from news, social media, reviews, blogs, and other earned, owned, and shared media.

But it’s not just about counting mentions — it’s about identifying patterns:

• Where is sentiment shifting?
• What’s fueling competitor growth?
• How does media exposure tie into reputation risk or campaign traction?

Modern media analysis platforms go beyond vanity metrics to deliver actionable, predictive insights.

Is media intelligence just another term for sentiment analysis?

Absolutely not. While sentiment analysis is part of the equation, media intelligence spans much wider. It can show you connections like:

• PR coverage to web traffic
• Social buzz to investor behavior
• Media narratives to real business performance

It’s not just what people say — it’s what that means for your next move.

Real-life media intelligence examples

Theory is great — but here’s how businesses actually use media intelligence platforms to drive smarter, faster decisions:

• Optimize campaign performance
  Test how your messaging and storytelling land across different outlets, formats, and demographics. Did your headline gain traction in the UK while making no commotion in Texas? Media intelligence helps you spot these gaps and adjust your strategy in real time.
• Spot PR crises before they trend
  Think of media intelligence as an early warning system. It helps catch brewing issues before they spill over, so you can fine-tune your reputation management strategies and respond proactively — not reactively.
• Benchmark competitors effectively
  Keep tabs on your industry without guesswork. Analyze share of voice, sentiment trends, media volume, and the quality of your coverage — all from a single dashboard. That’s competitive benchmarking made simple.
• Improve investor relations
  Track market sentiment and brand visibility to show that PR isn’t just about awareness — it’s a measurable asset. Media intelligence gives you the numbers your CEO and CFO actually care about.
• Fuel product decisions with real-world feedback
  Use insights from reviews, forum comments, and media mentions to iterate smarter. Whether it’s product features, messaging tweaks, or UX changes, earned media analytics reveal what your customers really think — without waiting for a formal survey.

What to look for in a media intelligence tool

If you really think on it, a monitoring tool can also be a media intelligence tool. However, that's not always the case. If the software only tracks mentions and gives you data you don't really know what to do with or how to analyze, then you can't add it to the media intelligence solutions bucket.

Features that will get you actionable insights

👉 AI-based sentiment analysis

After all, this is exactly what artificial intelligence is good at — predicting sentiment based on more than just a few words within an article, blog post, or comment. The best media intelligence solutions will be able to detect the difference between a "hit" being something positive ("Brand's latest release was an absolute hit"), and it being negative ("Brand name took a hit due to...").

👉 Entity and topic clustering

A core feature of predictive media intelligence. It's based on grouping related terms, themes, names, and trending issues into clusters, so it all makes some kind of sense all together. It shows how conversations evolve, connect, and form based on thousands of articles so you can see the bigger picture.

👉 Customizable dashboards and reporting

There is no one-size-fits-all dashboard, and many professionals struggle with getting value out of a tool that isn't tailored to their needs. Surely, a dashboard should be customized depending on who is using it: a stakeholder, a client, a coworker, or someone external.

👉 Analytics and CRM integration

PR doesn't live in a silo and it always affects different metrics that revolve around advertising, marketing, sales, and more. So the best media intelligence solutions will be able to show you trends between an increase in media exposure for a particular campaign and the number of sales you've hit thanks to it.

👉 Multilingual, multichannel coverage

You can't be successful if your tool only allows you to monitor half of the popular media channels, or picks and chooses which sources they monitor for you. It's all too common that a brand thinks they're wildly popular in one country, only to find out they've swept up a niche audience in their industry in another country.

Is Prowly a good media intelligence tool?

Yes — Prowly is more than a PR tool! It’s a media intelligence platform built to help public relations teams track performance, monitor sentiment, and prove ROI with real data.

While Prowly is best known for its all-in-one PR workflow, it also delivers powerful media intelligence capabilities thanks to features like:

✅ Audience analytics

To create the most curated media lists with various media data points about the traffic of online media outlets and visitor data on countries, interests, gender, age, income distribution, occupation, education level, and household size.

✅ Customizable dashboards

So you can show off your work and progress in a way that suits your stakeholders, managers, clients, or simply highlights the key parts of your campaign strategy.

✅ Competitor benchmarking

Monitor mentions across channels to compare share of voice, sentiment trends, and media volume — all within a unified dashboard.

✅ Smart press release builder

A press release creator tool that will allow you to write customizable press releases based on questions you'd typically get from a journalist (so you know exactly what to mention and what to leave behind).

✅ Pitching & email engagement insights

Powerful email statistics including how long someone has spent reading your email and how many times they clicked on it, timestamps included, which is useful in evaluating and predicting further follow-up and pitching actions.

Do you need a media intelligence strategy?

With where things are heading, that's a solid yes. The current trend is to predict what will happen next, rather than analyze the past and what's happening now.

The future of communications is where narratives meet attributions and PR effortlessly proves the ROI it brought in. Remember that if you're not keeping up with everyone else, you're being left behind.

Some of the emerging trends in media intelligence include predictive modeling and automated alerts, tools that can help you spot correlations between earned media and traffic to your site and sales, as well as deeper integrations with business intelligence tools.

The coolest of them all? Real-time crisis simulation models (can't wait for this one to go mainstream).

Media intelligence is the new influence

Making decisions based on feelings is no longer relevant, especially thanks to all the metrics and insights available to PR professionals.

Media intelligence gives communications teams monitoring and social media monitoring on steroids. It shows who is saying what, where, and why, thus making influence more measurable and repeatable.

Think of it this way — you've placed dots on the map and media intelligence is what pulls them together into the cohesive narrative you need to succeed.

The post What is Media Intelligence and What Can It Do for Your Business? appeared first on Prowly.

Whether you're a fast-growing brand, a small in-house comms team, or a PR agency looking for a more intuitive, flexible, or cost-effective solution, this guide will help you explore the best Cision alternatives of 2025.

Below, you’ll find a breakdown of tools that offer strong media relations capabilities—many with faster onboarding, more user-friendly interfaces, and modern features built for agile teams.

You will also learn about alternatives to Cision’s PR Newswire in the areas of:

• Alternative to PR Newswire: media pitching tools
• Alternative to PR Newswire: distribution websites

TL;DR: Why consider Cision alternatives?

Cision is a legacy platform with powerful capabilities—but it isn’t always the right fit, especially for smaller teams. If you’ve experienced any of the following, it might be time to explore your options:

• Lack of pricing transparency
  Cision does not publicly share its pricing plans; subscriptions often start around $10,000/year, average between $12,000–$15,000, and can reach up to $30,000/year depending on contract scope and features.
• Complicated interface and steep learning curve
  Adjusting search queries often requires advanced Boolean logic, making everyday tasks harder than they need to be.
• High cost for diminishing value
  Many users report rising prices alongside declining monitoring quality, especially since migrating to CisionOne.
• Inconsistent coverage and missed mentions
  Even long-time users have noted gaps in tracking—sometimes for outlets previously monitored.
• Fragmented customer support experience
  Frequent turnover among account reps and long response times can lead to delays and repeated explanations.
• Built for enterprises, not lean PR teams
  Cision’s structure and features are often better suited to large corporations with compliance-heavy needs, not smaller teams looking for efficiency and flexibility.

When to explore Cision competitors

Not every PR team needs an enterprise-grade platform. Here are a few signs that it might be time to consider alternatives to Cision:

• Your team is small but growing
  If you're part of a lean in-house comms team or a mid-sized agency, you may not need all the advanced, compliance-focused features that Cision provides.
• You value usability and speed
  If your team spends more time navigating the platform than using it to get results, a more intuitive tool could save hours each week.
• You want more flexible, transparent pricing
  Budget-conscious teams often find Cision's pricing hard to justify—especially when costs increase without a clear return on value.
• You need modern outreach features
  Tools like AI-powered journalist discovery, real-time analytics, or Semrush-backed media insights can dramatically improve pitching outcomes—and aren't always available in legacy platforms.
• You’re not getting the support you need
  If switching reps, long wait times, or lack of onboarding are blocking your progress, it may be time for a more responsive solution.

Best Cision alternatives: shortlist

Here’s a quick overview of the top Cision alternatives to consider in 2025:

• Prowly – best all-in-one PR platform for small and mid-sized teams
• Meltwater – ideal for enterprise teams needing deep media intelligence
• Muck Rack – known for a strong media database and journalist profiles
• Mynewsdesk – suited for companies focused on newsroom publishing
• Critical Mention – strong real-time broadcast monitoring
• AgilityPR – balanced mix of media database and distribution tools
• Brand24 – lightweight, budget-friendly media monitoring option

Cision alternative #1: Prowly

Prowly is an all-in-one public relations software solution that helps small and medium PR agencies and in-house PR teams manage media relations, create press releases, pitch the right journalists, and monitor PR campaigns, all backed by the power of AI.

Best for: Small to mid-sized PR teams looking for smart journalist targeting and built-in PR tools.

Pricing: Starts at $258/month, billed annually.

Free trial: Free 7 day trial available.

Key features:

• AI-powered journalist search enhanced by Semrush traffic and audience insights
• Pitching tools with personalization and automated follow-ups
• Press release creator with built-in newsroom hosting
• Advanced email analytics (open rates, clicks, optimal send times)
• Print and broadcast media monitoring
• Intuitive UI and fast onboarding
• Live customer support and dedicated onboarding help

Prowly vs. Cision: Which one’s right for you?

If your team is smaller, more agile, or just tired of overbuilt legacy software, Prowly may be a better fit. It’s designed to help you get results faster—without needing to decipher Boolean logic or go through layers of account reps to make changes.

Where Cision leans towards enterprise, Prowly is optimized for usability, flexibility, and modern PR workflows.

Why PR teams choose Prowly

Prowly stands out for teams who value speed, flexibility, and smart workflows over complex enterprise features. Here’s why small and mid-sized PR teams are making the switch:

• Faster, smarter media outreach
  With AI-powered journalist discovery backed by Semrush audience insights, Prowly helps you target the right contacts with less guesswork.
• Intuitive and easy to adopt
  No complex setup, no long learning curve—teams can get started quickly without training sessions or tech support tickets.
• Support that feels like an extension of your team
  Real human support, one-on-one onboarding, and responsive live chat make a difference when you’re on a deadline.
• Built for your budget
  Transparent pricing, a 7-day free trial, and no enterprise upsells. Prowly is designed to deliver real value without the overhead.

“As a fast-moving agency, we needed a tool that scaled with us—not slowed us down. Prowly gave us speed, flexibility, and access to niche media that larger platforms just didn’t.” — She-PR agency team. Read the full case study →

Lakesha Cole, CEO and Founder at ShePR, after evaluating various options, chose Prowly to streamline their PR workflow. A choice which saved them time, effort, and on the costs associated with running their agency.

Cision vs Prowly: pricing

Cision alternative #2: Mynewsdesk

MyNewsDesk is a digital PR and communications platform that helps organizations manage public relations efforts. It allows users to create and distribute press releases, manage media contacts, and analyze PR campaign performance.

Best for: Companies that want to centralize their PR content and focus on visibility through an owned newsroom.

Pricing: Unknown.

Free trial: Yes.

Key features:

• Digital newsroom creation and hosting
• Press release distribution to Mynewsdesk's media network
• Basic media monitoring and analytics
• Contact database and pitching tools
• Multimedia content support (images, videos, documents)

Cision vs MyNewsDesk: pricing

Mynewsdesk offers an all-in-one PR solution: from preparing and pitching press releases, to newsrooms, media monitoring, and a contact database.

✅ Pros

• you can manage the entire pitching process, together with communication analysis
• content agency offers

source: G2

🔻Cons

Users on G2 complain a bit about their editing tool. One person also advises you to keep track of the notice period and remember to terminate it 3 months before the contract expires.

source: G2

Cision alternative #3: Meltwater

Meltwater is an enterprise-grade media intelligence platform offering global media monitoring, social listening, and analytics. It’s best known for its extensive data coverage and advanced reporting capabilities for large-scale PR and marketing teams.

Best for: Large enterprises and corporate comms teams managing complex, multi-market campaigns with high compliance or investor relations needs.

Pricing: Based on our research, Meltwater costs an average of $15,000 to $20,000 per year.

Free trial: No, you can only request a demo call.

Key features:

• Global media monitoring (online, print, broadcast, social, podcasts)
• AI-powered sentiment analysis and brand tracking
• Influencer identification across earned and social media
• Competitive benchmarking and market intelligence tools
• Collaboration and workflow features for large comms teams

Cision vs Meltwater: pricing

Both tools require custom quotes, but Meltwater can often be slightly more affordable than Cision depending on the scope. However, many teams find both platforms overbuilt or overpriced for small to medium PR operations.

✅ Pros

Cision shares many similarities with Meltwater. According to user reviews on G2, Meltwater assists in identifying relevant media for pitches and offers strong media monitoring capabilities, as well as the following benefits:

• quality of mentions
• no limits on queries
• customer service is often praised

source: G2

🔻Cons

Users have reported outdated information in the media database and slow responses from customer service.

source: G2

Cision alternative #4: Muck Rack

Muck Rack is a PR software platform known for its journalist database and media monitoring capabilities. It offers tools for media outreach, press release distribution, and coverage tracking, with a strong focus on transparency and reputation management.

Best for: PR professionals who prioritize journalist research, tracking their brand's media presence, and pitching based on verified reporter profiles.

Pricing: We estimate that Muck Rack costs an average of $15,000 annually.

Free trial: No, you can only request a demo call.

Key features:

• Verified media database with dynamic journalist profiles
• Real-time media monitoring and alerts
• Pitching tools with engagement tracking
• Centralized newsroom for press release hosting
• Collaboration tools for agencies and large teams

Cision vs Muck Rack: pricing

✅ Pros

Users on G2 commend Muck Rack for its effective TV and radio monitoring capabilities. Additionally, the tool is noted for its excellent user experience and intuitive interface. The coverage reports are particularly valuable for identifying new individuals discussing your company.

🔻Cons

Muck Rack is positioned at the higher end of the pricing scale, making it suitable for teams with larger budgets. However, despite the cost, it has several drawbacks, such as inconsistent results compared to other tools and an abundance of media alerts without the ability to prioritize key mentions.

Cision alternative #5: Critical Mention

Critical Mention is a media monitoring service that tracks and analyzes broadcasts, online channels, and social media content. It provides real-time insights and analytics to help organizations manage their media presence and public relations efforts.

Best for: PR and comms teams that prioritize broadcast media monitoring—especially in regulated industries or high-visibility campaigns.

Pricing: Critical Mention costs between $2,500 and $10,000 per year.

Free trial: No, you can only request a demo call.

Key features:

• Real-time monitoring of TV, radio, and online broadcasts
• Instant access to video/audio coverage and transcripts
• Searchable media archive
• Media contact database and distribution tools
• Coverage reports and engagement metrics

Cision vs Critical Mention: pricing

✅ Pros

• they monitor various sources: broadcasts, podcasts, and even paywall content (through print-only stories)

source: G2

🔻Cons

• no details on their media database - you need to schedule a demo to learn more
• to cover other PR activities, you'd need a separate PR tool

source: G2

Cision alternative #6: AgilityPR

Agility PR Solutions is a comprehensive PR platform offering media database access, press release distribution, and media monitoring. It’s positioned as a more affordable, mid-market alternative to traditional enterprise platforms like Cision.

Best for: Mid-sized PR teams that want a mix of media outreach, monitoring, and basic analytics in a single tool.

Pricing: Unknown—you need to request a demo call to find out.

Free trial: No—you can only schedule a demo call.

Key features:

• Global media contact database
• Press release distribution via AgilityWire
• Media monitoring and sentiment tracking
• Customizable coverage and performance reporting
• Email outreach tools with limited automation

Cision vs AgilityPR: pricing

✅ Pros

• if you need to cover just one area with a PR tool, you can buy one package
• you can ask the team for a full editorial review of your press release
• the customer service is widely appreciated
• a bunch of recognition badges from G2

Source: G2

🔻Cons

• with annual plans, there's little space for flexibility
• they offer poor message personalization options
• users claim its pricing lies on the higher side
• some features are only available for extra money

Source: G2

Cision alternative #7: Brand24

Brand24 is a social listening and media monitoring tool designed to track online mentions across news sites, blogs, forums, and social media platforms. It's lightweight, fast, and built for teams that want to stay on top of conversations about their brand.

Best for: Small businesses, start-ups, and marketing teams looking for a simple, affordable way to monitor media and social chatter.

Pricing: From $199/month.

Free trial: Free 14-day trial available.

Key features:

• Real-time media and social media monitoring
• Sentiment analysis and trend detection
• Shareable reports and alerts
• Influencer identification
• Slack and mobile app integrations

Cision vs Brand24: pricing

✅ Pros

• cool brand monitoring options and mention sources
• clear interface
• numerous teams (marketing, product, customer service, sales) will benefit from Brand24

🔻Cons

• it's not a PR-focused platform - you'd need other tools to support different PR activities

💡 Brand24 is a great choice if you only need media monitoring and want to keep your PR work in Excel. When you prefer to keep your work all in one place, an all-in-one solution like Prowly might fit you better.

Alternative to PR Newswire: media pitching tools

PR Newswire is a global news distribution service by Cision that helps companies and organizations disseminate their press releases and other information to media, investors, and the public.

PR Newswire pricing

Starting price: From $195 per release

🔻Additional costs:

Determining the exact cost of a service can be challenging, especially with no free plans or trial offers available. Additional add-ons or membership fees can further complicate an understanding of the final amount you'll need to pay.

Pitching vs. Cision PR Newswire

PR Newswire is a news distribution service from Cision. It ensures broad reach and visibility, but what about outcomes?

Here's why you should consider sending personalized emails to journalists as a PR Newswire alternative:

• targeted outreach: with a personal email pitch, you increase the chance of getting published
• strategic releases: media pitching lets you go with exclusive pitches and embargoed releases - a valuable aid in building relationships
• measurable ROI: the stable, monthly cost of Prowly gives you a clearer expense and ROI estimation - and a chance to make an impact with each press release
• investment in strategic partnerships: the focus for 37% of PR specialists, according to our latest research in PR trends for 2024, well-thought out, personalized messages help you foster closer relationships

The difference? PR platforms offer a noteworthy advantage regarding the volume of press releases you can send. Using their extensive media databases, you can efficiently reach out to numerous media contacts for announcements for a fraction of the cost.

Pitching tool examples

You can try pitching the right media with Prowly, where you can get everything: from a media pitching tool to craft your message, through a huge database to find the right contacts right away, to an AI Assistant that helps you write your pitch, tweak it, and find the best media contacts.

Plus the press release creator, PR reports, media monitoring and online newsrooms are already counted into the price.

Who is Prowly best for?

PR agencies and in-house teams that are focused on building relationships and don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a single press release. A perfect mix of efficiency and cost effectiveness.

No newswire service can guarantee your story gets picked up - so you need to invest in other distribution methods anyway.

Alternative to PR Newswire: distribution websites

Another alternative to Cision’s PR Newswire is to use other PR websites, like Business Wire, for their press release fee distribution.

Who is it best for?

Corporations who need to share press releases through newswire services - e. g. for legal reasons.

You can try out solutions like:

• EIN Presswire (from $99.95 /release)
• Globe Newswire (contact for a quote)
• Newswire (from $349.00 /release)
• Presswire (from $250 /release)

💡 Compare the most popular choices and learn more about the best press release distribution websites in this article.

Which solution fits you best?

With numerous Cision alternatives, it can be challenging to make up your mind. Here are our takeaways:

• pricing might be the biggest differentiator, especially with tools that don't share it upfront
• all-in-one PR platforms let you combine data from various PR areas all in one tool
• not all media databases are equal, so make sure to test them out or ask for a sample

While there’s no simple answer, the best way to choose your solution is by trying it out on your own.

Ready to start testing your options?

Besides transparent pricing plans, Prowly offers you a full 7-day free trial period. No credit card required, no pressure 👇

The post The 7 Best Cision Alternatives for 2025 (Features & Pricing) appeared first on Prowly.

The problem is that there are so many media measurement tools that it can feel hopeless just getting started. To help, we've collected over 30 traditional and digital media measurement tools which we've divided into seven categories.

From measuring website traffic to the success of your social media campaigns, we have something for everyone.

What are media measurement tools?

Media measurement tools help PR teams see what’s working and what’s not.

They track how your press coverage performs across channels, highlight the impact of your campaigns, and provide data to back up your results when reporting to clients or leadership.

Common features of media measurement tools:

• Media monitoring: Track brand mentions across news sites, blogs, TV, radio, and social media.
• Sentiment analysis: Flags whether coverage is positive, negative, or neutral. This audience measurement method is usually driven by AI.
• Share of voice reports: Compares your brand's performance and presence to competitors.
• Reach and impressions: Estimates how many people saw or could have seen your coverage.
• Coverage scoring: Rates each media hit based on relevance, reach, sentiment, or custom criteria.
• Campaign performance tracking: Groups media hits by campaign, user behavior, and more, and shows what got the most traction.
• Custom reports: Builds branded coverage reports you can send to stakeholders, e.g., key performance indicators relevant to your social media performance.
• Influencer and journalist tracking: Shows which contacts drive the most valuable media hits.
• Alerts and notifications: Sends real-time updates when your brand is mentioned.

What are marketing campaign measurement tools?

While media measurement tools focus on earned media and PR impact, such as coverage volume, sentiment, and share of voice, marketing campaign measurement tools are built to track performance across paid and owned channels. These include email campaigns, PPC ads, social media posts, and landing pages.

They help marketing teams understand which campaigns drive clicks, conversions, and revenue. For example, a marketing team might use these tools to see how many leads came from a paid LinkedIn campaign, which ad creatives performed best, or how email open rates varied across audience segments.

In short, media tools show your influence in the press, while marketing tools show your return from direct outreach and ad spending.

Traditional media measurement tools

These tools help you measure the effectiveness of traditional media channels, like TV and radio.

Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron)

Source type: Radio

Use case: Measures radio audience size, reach, and demographics to assess the impact of radio ads or mentions

Limitation: Does not capture streaming radio or podcasts accurately, and regional data can be limited

Circulation Figures

Source type: Print

Use case: Local newspapers or trade publications often publish their own distribution stats to support ad sales or sponsorship pitches

Limitation: These are often unaudited and self-reported, which may affect reliability

Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC)

Source type: Print

Use case: Verifies the print circulation numbers of newspapers and magazines, often used to estimate potential reach

Limitation: Measures distribution, not actual readership or engagement

BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board)

Source type: Television (UK)

Use case: Tracks TV viewing figures in the UK, useful for evaluating brand mentions in TV news or talk shows

Limitation: Data is sampled from a small panel and may not reflect niche or regional programming

Traditional campaign & media measurement metrics

For traditional media formats, there are two main types of metrics you can track:

• Media impressions: the number of times a piece of content is viewed across different platforms.
• Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE): a metric that estimates the value of media coverage by comparing it to the cost of purchasing the same amount of ad space.

💡 Remember that although AVE is a traditional method, it’s not the best way to measure your PR tactics’ impact. In digital PR, there are many better ways to make data-driven decisions. Find out more in this article: What is Advertising Value Equivalency in PR? (+ AVE Alternatives)

PR campaign and digital media measurement tools

Before we dive deep into other measurement tools, just one quick note. We'll get into what you can measure with Prowly, as we have detailed information at our fingertips. We lack detailed testing data for all the other listed tools, but you can discover more by booking a call or utilizing a free trial where offered.

P.S. Here's a whole article about PR metrics that will show you what to measure exactly and why (with examples).

Prowly

Prowly is an all-in-one public relations software solution that uses AI to help small and medium PR agencies and in-house PR teams manage media relations, create press releases, pitch the right journalists, and monitor PR campaigns.

It offers PR CRM, pitching tools, a media database with over one million contacts, an AI Assistant, a press release creator, media monitoring tools, and a detailed PR reporting suite.

Prowly is best for agencies and in-house PR and marketing teams, especially small-to-medium-sized businesses, and any business that wants to gain valuable web or social media insights.

Pricing: starts at $258/mo billed annually, and a free trial is available

What metrics can you track with Prowly?

Share of Voice

Domain Authority

Domain authority, calculated by Semrush on a scale of 0 to 100, reflects a website's overall quality and SEO performance, with higher scores indicating stronger authority.

Backlinks

In Prowly’s PR Reports tool, you can track your PR success by comparing your number of backlinks through different periods, showing year-over-year growth, for example. Backlinks are counted automatically and you will see them in each project's main Media Monitoring dashboard.

Media tiers

Set up media tiers in Prowly based on the preferences of your target audience, not just visitor numbers. Track how often your brand is mentioned in Tier 1 outlets and monitor the number of press mentions in each tier to assess their value.

Top mentions

Prioritize top mentions from media outlets that best match your target audience, using filters like country and sentiment. In Prowly, you can generate and sort a list of top mentions by industry category and domain authority to effectively measure your PR activities.

Sentiment analysis

The solution uses algorithms and machine learning to perform sentiment analysis, which Prowly groups into easy-to-follow categories.

Data visualization

With Prowly, you can personalize your data visualization. You can export your data to Excel (.XLSX), Numbers (.CSV), or copy it into a PR report to easily share your outcomes with your clients or company.

Prezly

Prezly is a PR CRM for agencies and businesses that want to reach out to a large number of media professionals systematically.

It offers email outreach, sites and newsrooms, CRM for public relations, PR and media analytics, and linking coverage to the PR CRM for more valuable insights.

It is best suited for PR agencies.

Pricing: Prezly pricing starts at $90 per user, per month, billed annually, and has a free trial is available

Meltwater

Meltwater is a data analytics platform that gives insights into media, social, and consumer trends.

Its features include media intelligence, media relations, consumer intelligence, influencer marketing, and sales intelligence.

It is a best fit for agencies, so smaller PR teams are better off looking at Meltwater alternatives.

Pricing: It has not been disclosed publicly, but our research on Meltwater pricing shows it's around $6,000-10,000 per year. There is no information about a free trial, but you can book a demo.

Press clipping services

These services send you updates and summaries of content where your brand was published, both online and offline. It's a tool that has been around for a while and is available in Prowly too.

With Prowly you get press clippings and a host of other PR features with a flexible pricing plan and a free trial period.

Marketing campaign measurement tools

These digital analytics tools for marketing performance measurement give you insights about specific marketing channels.

Mixpanel

Mixpanel is a product and website analytics platform that helps you better understand your customers and how they behave in your app or website.

Features include website metric analysis, research validation, KPI monitoring, website and product performance reporting, and feedback collection.

It is best for product businesses and marketing teams.

Pricing: starts at $24 per month and there is no free trial.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free tool for measuring any aspect of your website's performance. GA shows everything from visitors to conversions and the performance of individual pages.

Features include website analytics, campaign performance tracking, conversion rate tracking, website visitor behavior tracking, and more.

It is ideal for any business with a website.

Pricing: This tool is free to use.

Meta (Facebook & Instagram) analytics

This tool helps you track the performance of your organic and paid media content on Meta's platforms.

It offers metrics and trends tracking, visual reports, ad performance overview, demographic reports and more.

It is a good fit for agencies, in-house marketing teams, and anyone with a business account on Meta.

Pricing: free to use

Adobe Analytics

Adobe Analytics is a web analytics platform that helps you track the customer journey across digital channels.

It offers website analytics, drag-and-drop segmentation, ad hoc analysis, page reports, mobile dashboards, cross-device analysis, and more.

It is best suited for business owners and agencies.

Pricing: not disclosed publicly, research shows that it starts at $2,000 per month and there is no free trial

Kissmetrics

Kissmetrics is an analytics tool for tracking human behavior on your website and removing bottlenecks to additional revenue.

It comes with real-time website metrics, tracking across websites and products, funnel tracking, and detailed customer activity monitoring.

It is a good choice for business owners and e-commerce stores.

Pricing: starts at $125.99 per month. A free trial is available, but only after a demo.

Social media monitoring tools

Social monitoring tools give you details on your brand's performance on social media channels.

Prowly

Prowly is a PR and media monitoring tool that gives real-time insights about your brand terms and target keywords.

Prowly offers real-time monitoring, keyword combinations, context, sentiment analysis, estimated mention reach, and region and language filtering.

It is a great choice for agencies, in-house PR and marketing teams, or anyone who wants a detailed and accurate social media report.

Pricing: starts at $258 per month, billed annually, with a free trial available for 7 days

Brand24

Brand24 is an AI-powered social media tracking and listening tool for marketers and brands.

It comes with competitive analysis, reputation management, hashtag analytics, PR measurement, white label reporting, and detailed analytics.

It is a solid choice for In-house teams, agencies, and freelancers.

Pricing: starts at $119 per month and a free trial is available for 14 days.

Talkwalker

Talkwalker by Hootsuite is a consumer intelligence platform that gives you detailed insights about your customers.

It comes with social listening, media monitoring, social benchmarking, audience insights, customer feedback analytics, social content ratings, and more.

It is best suited for larger in-house marketing teams and agencies.

Pricing: not publicly available and there is no free trial.

Brandwatch

BrandWatch is a consumer intelligence platform that helps businesses understand how customers interact with them across platforms.

It comes with content searching and segmentation, sentiment analysis, real-time consumer data access, and an AI-powered analytics search engine.

It is best suited for agencies and in-house teams of larger businesses.

Pricing: not publicly available and there is no free trial

Social media analytics tools

The best social media measurement tools reveal the performance of your social media channels through specific metrics.

Hootsuite analytics

Hootsuite is a free social media measurement tool that lets you measure performance through organic and paid social media channels from a single dashboard.

Features include publishing and scheduling, social media analytics, AI content creation, help figuring out the best time to post, social engagement tools, inbox and messaging tools, and more.

It is best for agencies, in-house teams, and freelance social media marketers who need marketing measurement tools.

Pricing: starts at $99 per month and a free trial is available for 30 days.

Sprout Social

SproutSocial is a social media management platform with analytics and monitoring capabilities.

Its features include social media engagement, publishing, social analytics, social listening, influencer marketing, and employee advocacy tools.

It's a great tool for agencies and internal marketing teams.

Pricing: starts at $199 per seat per month, billed annually, and a free trial is available for 30 days

Buffer Analyze

Buffer Analyze is a part of the Buffer suite of tools that helps you understand your social media platform performance.

Features include content idea libraries, scheduling, publishing, social analytics, a customized landing page creator, and an AI assistant.

It's a good choice for agencies, freelancers, and in-house marketers.

Pricing: starts at $6 per month per social media channel and a free trial is available for 14 days.

Keyhole

Keyhole is a full-stack social media tool that lets you manage your online presence, create and schedule posts, analyze their performance, and more.

Features include social media analytics, social listening, historical insights, publishing, and scheduling.

It is best for freelancers, in-house teams, and marketing and PR agencies.

Pricing: starts at $40.83 per month for the analytics suite and a free trial is available for 14 days

Rival IQ

Rival IQ is a tool for real-time social media analytics, reports, and real-time alerts.

Features include competitive analysis, channel social media analysis, social media audits, and social listening.

It's a great choice for agencies and in-house marketing teams.

Pricing: starts at $199 per month, billed annually, and a free trial is available

SEO tools

These tools help you uncover opportunities to upgrade your SEO performance and rank better with great content.

Moz

Moz is an SEO tool for monitoring your SEO performance and finding new ways to improve your rankings.

It comes with domain analysis, keyword explorer, link explorer, competitive research, backlink research, and reporting tools.

It's a good tool for agencies and in-house SEO teams.

Pricing: starts at $99 per month and a free trial is available for 30 days

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an SEO tool that helps you create great content, do keyword and competitor research, and improve your search engine rankings.

Features include keyword research, competitor research, website analytics, backlink monitoring, site audits, and content explorer.

It's a great choice for agencies, in-house SEO teams, and freelancers.

Pricing: starts at $129 per user per month and there is no free trial.

Semrush

Semrush is an all-in-one SEO tool that helps you create better content and rule search engine results.

Top features include keyword research, competitor analysis, rank tracking, content creation and distribution, PPC keyword research, and many others.

It's a solid choice for agencies, in-house teams, and SEO freelancers.

Pricing: starts at $139.95 per month and a free trial is available for 7 days

P.S. If you’re searching for the best tools available for competitor analysis, check out this article.

Google Search Console

GSC is a tool for monitoring your presence in organic search results.

It offers page performance tracking, keyword rankings and monitoring, measuring impressions and clicks, and helps keep up with search performance trends over time.

It's a great tool for anyone who has a website. Coupled with Google Analytics, it covers your SEO basics.

Pricing: This tool is free to use.

P.S. If you want to dive deeper (not only) into PR metrics, check out this reach vs. impressions comparison.

Heatmaps

These tools analyze your website to reveal patterns in how visitors access them. The "hotter" the heatmap, the more visitors come to that part of your website.

Hotjar

Hotjar is a user experience and data analytics platform that shows you insights about how people access your website.

Its features include heatmaps, polls, feedback collection, video recording sessions, surveys and interviews.

It is a good tool for any marketing team or agency.

Pricing: starts at $32 per month and there is no free trial, but there is a forever-free plan

Crazy Egg

Crazy Egg is an analytics tool by Neil Patel that helps website owners understand the behavior of their visitors.

Features include heatmaps, visitor recordings, A/B testing, traffic analysis, error tracking, surveys, goals, and CTAs.

It is best for marketing teams.

Pricing: starts at $99 per month and a free trial is available for 30 days

Email analytics

These tools help you understand the performance of your email campaigns and key metrics such as CTRs, open rates, conversion rates, and more.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a popular email marketing tool that lets you build your email lists and create campaigns for different audiences.

It has a visual email builder, audience segmentation, detailed email analytics, a landing page builder, email personalization, and more.

It is best for small businesses, marketing teams, agencies and anyone who needs to send business emails.

Pricing: starts at $13 per month and there is a forever-free plan for up to 500 contacts

Get response

GetResponse is a marketing automation platform that lets you harness the power of emails combined with other marketing channels.

Its features include email marketing, SMS marketing, an AI email generator, website builder, landing pages, live chat, and much more.

It's a great choice for marketers, agencies, small and large businesses, and anyone serious about email marketing.

Pricing: starts at $15.58 per month and there is a 30-day free trial

Benefits of using media measurement tools

Besides getting a seat at the table and growing your budget for PR activities, digital and traditional media measurement tools have a number of benefits.

1. Track the real impact of press coverage

Instead of guessing how far your story reached, you can measure impressions, sentiment, and audience engagement. For example, if your product launch gets picked up by five outlets but only one drives traffic or engagement, you’ll know where to focus future outreach.

2. Prove ROI to clients or leadership

Clients often ask, “What did we get from this campaign?” Tools like Prowly let you generate reports showing how many people saw the coverage, the tone of any mentions, and whether your share of voice increased. It’s easier to justify continued investment when you have the numbers to back it up.

3. Spot issues early and act fast

If a negative story starts gaining traction, tools like Mention, Prowly or Brand24 can alert you in real time. That allows you to issue a response, correct misinformation, or brief spokespeople before things spiral.

4. Understand which messages actually resonate

Not every press release lands the way you intend. With sentiment analysis and engagement tracking, you can see which parts of your messaging stick. For example, if journalists keep quoting a specific stat or angle from your release, you’ll know to lead with that hook in future pitches.

Join 1,000+ businesses and start measuring your PR campaigns with Prowly.

Practical applications of media measurement tools

Now that you've seen the different tools for measuring the effectiveness of your PR and media strategies, let's show you how a few of them work in real life.

Prowly lets you track media coverage and analyze how your PR efforts land with journalists and the public. For example, after sending a press release through Prowly’s media database, you can monitor who picked it up, what the sentiment was, and how much reach it generated.

If your campaign gets coverage in multiple outlets, you can use Prowly’s reporting tools to group those mentions by campaign and instantly create a clean report to share with clients or leadership.

With Mention, you can stay on top of what people say about your brand across social platforms and news sites. You'll be alerted immediately if there’s a sudden spike in brand mentions. This helps with real-time crisis response or spotting organic buzz you might want to amplify with paid media.

While basic, Google Alerts still serves as a free way to track media mentions. If you're running a small campaign with limited resources, setting alerts for your brand name and campaign keywords can give you a low-maintenance way to stay in the loop without paying for full analytics.

Frequently asked questions

What are media measurement tools?

Media measurement tools are software solutions that track and analyze your brand's presence across various media channels. They help PR and marketing teams understand the effectiveness of their campaigns by providing insights into reach, engagement, sentiment, and more.

Why are media measurement tools important for PR professionals?

These tools let PR professionals quantify the impact of their efforts, demonstrate ROI to stakeholders, and refine strategies based on data-driven insights. By understanding what resonates with audiences, teams can make informed decisions to enhance future campaigns.

How frequently should I analyze media coverage?

Regular analysis is beneficial. Depending on the volume of media activity, weekly or monthly reviews can help you stay informed and make timely adjustments to strategies.

The post Best Media Measurement Tools for PR in 2025: 30+ Top Choices appeared first on Prowly.

Understanding who's discussing your or your client's brand, knowing their sentiment, remaining well-informed, swiftly addressing issues, and fostering a positive brand image are key tactics in PR. 

Prowly is the best brand monitoring software that ticks all the boxes, but there are plenty of other solid choices. In this article, we take a look at the best brand monitoring software for PR professionals, agencies, and in-house communication teams:

1. Prowly
2. Semrush
3. Brandwatch
4. Brand24
5. Sprout Social
6. Mention
7. Google Alerts
8. Talkwalker
9. Hootsuite
10. BuzzSumo
11. Awario
12. Keyhole
13. X Pro

In the second part of this article, you'll find answers to the following questions:

• How do you monitor a brand?
• How to choose a brand monitoring tool?

What is brand monitoring software?

Brand monitoring software is a tool that helps businesses keep track of how their brand is being mentioned and perceived across various channels. It collects and analyzes brand mentions from sources such as:

• news sites
• blogs
• social media
• forums
• and other online sources

Such software typically includes media monitoring, social listening, and journalist tracking features.

It can identify when your brand is mentioned, flag emerging stories or narratives, and analyze the tone and sentiment behind each mention, whether positive, neutral, or negative.

Brand monitoring software is especially useful for understanding consumer perception, spotting potential PR risks early, and identifying media or influencer relationships worth pursuing. It allows brands to stay informed and control how they are talked about in public.

Key features to look for in top brand monitoring software

When evaluating brand monitoring tools, look for features beyond basic tracking. The best platforms offer a combination of speed, depth, and workflow support. Here are the most important ones to consider:

What to monitor for your brand (and why)

To understand how your brand is performing, it’s important to track more than just mentions. Here are some of the most valuable brand metrics to keep an eye on:

• Share of voice – How often your brand is mentioned compared to competitors
• Sentiment – Whether mentions are positive, neutral, or negative
• Media reach – The potential audience size of your coverage
• Top sources and channels – Where your brand is getting the most attention
• Key topics and narratives – What themes are consistently linked with your brand
• Audience engagement – Likes, shares, and comments on brand-related content

These metrics help you measure visibility, reputation, and relevance over time. For a full breakdown, check out this guide on brand metrics.

Top brand monitoring software to try in 2025

Now that you know which features you need to measure brand awareness, stay on top of industry trends, and improve your overall brand health, let's discuss the best brand monitoring tools you can choose in 2025.

1. Prowly

• Price: starting from $258 monthly
• Free trial: Yes, for 7 days
• All-in-one PR tool: Yes
• G2 rating: 4.2/5 (103 reviews)

Prowly is the only tool on our list that's focused entirely on a PR specialist's needs. It covers your entire PR workflow - with an online newsroom, media database, AI press release creator, and, of course, tracking brand mentions.

Prowly offers fast onboarding, with a clean user experience, allowing anyone to track their brand mentions online without a steep learning curve.

Prowly's data is powered by Semrush, which means it's accurate and up to date. It also offers cutting-edge features such as advanced email analytics and AI-powered journalist discovery.

Track brand mentions

Prowly's Media Monitoring helps you track brand mentions and analyze metrics that are PR-specific, like AVE, SOV or outlet reach. Together with regular metrics, like reach or sentiment, you can estimate the effects of each campaign.

Prowly’s AI detects the context, sentiment, and over 15 other attributes of every press hit and social mention. Leverage this data to establish tailored filters for viewing only the mentions that matter most to you.

Examples of filters:

• Keyword combinations & context
• Topic of each mention and website (1000+ available)
• Estimated mention reach
• Region and language
• Platform (Instagram, X, Facebook, Tiktok, Youtube)

Build custom reports

The top brand tools make your life easier with clean and neat reports. In Prowly, you can generate a coverage report whenever you need it to sum up a particular month or a full campaign. Create coverage reports tailored to what you need with multiple metrics, chart types, and filters. Show how your outcomes correlate with business objectives and save the time usually needed to fill the report manually.

2. Semrush’s Brand Monitoring App

• Price: $79 for the add-on
• Free trial or demo: Yes, you can try the tool for free and schedule free training
• All-in-one PR tool: No
• G2 rating: 4.5/5 (2651 reviews)

Semrush is a comprehensive tool for online marketing — from SEO and content to paid promotion and PR. It's often chosen by agencies and huge players, and that's why it made our list.

If you work for an agency or a big company, chances are you already use Semrush. If your company already uses several marketing tools, you might consider switching to an all-in-one solution.

Then, for brand monitoring purposes, you can add the Brand Monitoring App, developed by Prowly. It covers the entire media monitoring functionality of Prowly's original platform.

💡 Tip: When choosing a media monitoring service, make sure it's tailored to local media — for example, the UK market.

3. Brand24

• Price: starting from $119 monthly
• Free trial or demo: Yes, for 14 days
• All-in-one PR tool: No
• G2 rating: 4.6/5 (296 reviews)

Brand24 is focused solely on your brand's online presence. You can analyze all publicly available data coming from web pages, social media, or - and this is pretty unique - podcasts and newsletters.

With sentiment analysis, estimated awareness metrics, social media monitoring tools and alerts, you'll be the first to find out about an upcoming crisis.

If you're looking for more tools that can help you with crisis prevention, check out this Best PR Crisis Management Software Comparison.

4. Brandwatch

• Price: pricing available upon request
• Free trial or demo: you can book a meeting
• All-in-one PR tool: No
• G2 rating: 4.4/5 (635 reviews)

Brandwatch is one of the most advanced brand monitoring software offerings on our list. Brandwatch tracks brand mentions in both online and offline areas. For example, you can access paywalled news, broadcasts, YouTube, or TikTok - with datasets going back more than 10 years.

You get advanced analytics solutions to manage this impressive list of data sources, backed by machine learning algorithms. Also, you can track your data and brand management efforts on real-time dashboards.

However, if you're looking for a tool that can monitor not only online media but also print and broadcast (meaning radio and TV programs), Prowly is a great choice.

With Prowly's print and broadcast monitoring, you can track mentions not just online but across newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV, ensuring you never miss important coverage. While manual tracking might work for a small client, securing comprehensive media insights—both nationally and internationally—requires automation.

Prowly streamlines this process, combining digital and traditional media monitoring in one powerful platform so you can access all your relevant mentions.

5. Sprout Social

• Price: the Social Listening add-on starts from $999 monthly
• Free trial or demo: Yes, you can try it for 30 days or get a demo call
• All-in-one PR tool: No
• G2 rating: 4.4/5 (4,181 reviews)

Sprout Social is a complex social media management platform. It offers social listening features, such as profile or location monitoring, that you can use to monitor brand reputation, collect customer feedback, or monitor your marketing campaigns.

For each query, it retrieves all historical data, so you can start your analysis right away. With complex queries and filters, you'll get valuable results.

For PR purposes, you can also use trend identification and influencer recognition.

💡 Learn how to create effective media monitoring queries using Prowly from this article based on real-life examples.

6. Mention

• Price: starting from $41 monthly 
• Free trial or demo: Yes, there's a 14-day free trial available, and you can book a demo call
• All-in-one PR tool: No
• G2 rating: 4.3/5 (440 reviews)

Mention is another tool for social media management, combining social listening with post-scheduling. You can track brand mentions from blogs, online news, social media channels, and videos (including YouTube and TikTok).

Moreover, you can track chosen review pages (like Booking or G2) and social media accounts to ensure you don't miss new content.

Mention also lets you evaluate each hit with sentiment, reach, and influence score. In higher-priced plans, it offers insights and more advanced analytics.

7. Google Alerts

• Price: free
• All-in-one PR tool: No
• G2 rating: N/A

Google Alerts is the only free tool on our list. It's popular, easy to use, and (again) free, but you might struggle with getting actual value out of it.

When Google indexes a new page that mentions a phrase you wish to observe, you get an email notification. And basically, that's it. But it can be enough if you need a simple tool or are just getting started.

For professional PR purposes, it's pretty limited. You get the results with a delay, it doesn't cover sources like social media channels, and it might not send you all relevant results. Plus, you don't get analytics, like sentiment info, reach, or trends in your data.

To learn more, check out our article on Google Alerts alternatives. It covers in detail why it is worth making a switch.

8. Talkwalker

• Price: available upon request
• Free trial or demo: No free trial, but you can book a demo call
• All-in-one PR tool: No
• G2 rating: 4.3/5 (132 reviews)

alkwalker is one of the most comprehensive brand tracking tools on the market. It covers over 30 social media channels and 150 million data sources, giving insights into even the most niche topics.

It provides your PR campaigns with sentiment, reach, and engagement analytics. You can use the advanced Boolean search to get only relevant resources. Moreover, Talkwalker tracks visual content, meaning you get information from images and videos too.

You can compare your brand reputation with the competition based on sentiment, engagement and reach. Also, the tool will assist you in finding appropriate influencers.

💡 Tip: If you want to make your PR strategy truly robust, read these articles to learn how to manage your brand reputation and protect its reputation.

9. Hootsuite

• Price: starting from $99 monthly, though Social Listening is an add-on and not included in the main product
• Free trial or demo: Yes, a free 30-day trial (or up to 60% off the plans if you skip it)
• All-in-one PR tool: No
• G2 rating: 4.2/5 (6,216 revie

Hootsuite was created for social media management, with post scheduling, indicators of the best time for posting, and a social media inbox. And it does offer some social listening options that can help with brand monitoring.

Hootsuite analyzes most major social media sites and monitors mentions, keywords and hashtags. It also integrates with other brand monitoring tools, like Talkwalker and Brandwatch.

10. BuzzSumo

• Price: starting from $199 monthly 
• Free trial or demo: Yes, a free 30-day trial
• All-in-one PR tool: No
• G2 rating: 4.5/5 (103 reviews)

BuzzSumo gives you tools to generate buzz about your company or client, either via PR or marketing strategies. It offers a wide range of tools to generate content ideas, spot influencers, and support content research.

In terms of brand monitoring, you can track brand mentions for yourself or your competitors. You can also get alerts when given authors or outlets publish something new. This option can prove valuable if your PR outreach strategy involves engaging with specific people.

11. Awario

• Price: starting at $39 monthly 
• Free trial or demo: Yes, free trial available
• All-in-one PR tool: No
• G2 rating: 4.0/5 (41 reviews)

Awario is a full-time brand monitoring tool. Its web crawler analyzes over 13 million pages and social media channels daily. You can look for results in given locations and use the Boolean search to refine your query.

To analyze the data, you get a simple dashboard with the crucial information on hand. In higher priced plans, you can download white-labeled reports with brand mention analysis.

12. Keyhole

• Price: starts at $179 monthly
• Free trial or demo: Yes, free trial available
• All-in-one PR tool: No
• G2 rating: 4.3/5 (69 reviews)

Keyhole was designed for social media platforms. It lets you analyze profiles, hashtags, or phrases across different channels.

This solution is your ally if you run many PR campaigns on social media channels. You can get insights on your performance, see the most engaging post for your searched term, or find the best influencer for your campaign. What's more, it comes with detailed reports and comparisons.

Apart from the social listening options, you can use it as your social media planning tool. With scheduling and profile analytics, Keyhole helps you squeeze more from social media — both for marketing and PR.

13. X Pro (formerly TweetDeck)

• Price: only available in the X (Twitter) Premium subscription
• Free trial or demo: No
• All-in-one PR tool: No
• G2 rating: 4.3/5 (653 reviews)

Formerly called TweetDeck, XPro was one of the most useful free tools for heavy Twitter users. It lets you open a few X threads on one screen and follow the conversations simultaneously.

Although it's not full-time brand monitoring software, we decided to include it here for those who already spend hours on X threads. It's a nice addition to keep the conversations flowing!

Nevertheless, it won't be enough for more advanced insights. For example, it lacks social media reach and sentiment analysis.

Right now, it's available only with an X Premium subscription.

P.S. Discover more ideas and inspiration by exploring this guide to brand awareness campaigns, complete with examples to spark your creativity.

How do you monitor a brand?

Brand mention monitoring effectively means turning raw mentions into usable insights. Here’s a simple 5-step process to follow:

1. Choose your monitoring tool
   Pick a platform that fits your needs across PR, marketing, or customer teams. Prowly helps automate this process by integrating monitoring with outreach and analytics.
2. Set up keyword and brand name alerts
   Include your brand name, product names, key personnel, relevant hashtags and common misspellings.
3. Track mentions across media types
   Make sure your tool scans online news, blogs, forums, podcasts, review sites, and social platforms for full coverage.
4. Analyze sentiment and reach
   Use built-in AI tools to understand the tone and audience size behind each mention, helping you assess overall brand perception.
5. Take action
   Respond to the press, engage with customers, flag PR risks, and compile internal reports. With tools like Prowly, you can do all of this in one place.

What is a brand tracking tool?

What are brand tracking and monitoring tools? They are based on crawlers - robots that go through (crawl) the Internet, looking for specific information. Depending on the tool or technology it uses, you may access varied sources, such as forums, websites, social media, or offline news, in search of people mentioning your brand.

When you set up a project, choosing keywords, geographical area, or other factors that are important for you, the brand tracking software starts to gather information. In most online monitoring tools, you can get alerts when relevant brand mentions are found.

Most monitoring tools give you access to analytics. These often consist of one main brand tracking dashboard and more detailed views. This way, you can easily compare data for given campaigns or timeframes.

Beware, though, that keeping data for a long time is costly. That's why some news monitoring tools gather data only after you set up a project and store it only for a fixed period. Tools that let you go way back in time usually reflect it in higher pricing.

What is a brand monitoring tool used for? 

Brand monitoring software supports several high-impact use cases across PR, marketing, product, and customer teams. Here’s how companies typically use it:

• Track media mentions
  See where your brand appears across online news, blogs, and media outlets. Tools like Prowly help PR teams identify the best media opportunities and track who’s covering their brand.
• Detect potential PR crises early
  Real-time alerts and sentiment analysis help you catch negative mentions before they escalate into larger issues.
• Analyze brand sentiment
  Understand how your audience feels about your brand over time and spot changes in tone across key channels.
• Measure earned media performance
  Evaluate which media placements delivered the most value in terms of reach, tone, and alignment with campaign goals.
• Monitor campaign impact
  The best brand monitoring tools track how brand mentions increase during campaigns and where your message is landing.
• Identify journalist sentiment and relationships
  Understand which journalists are writing about you, how they frame your brand, and where to build stronger connections.
• Support cross-functional insights
  Sales, product, and support teams can spot patterns in customer feedback and market perception through brand conversations.

Tools like Prowly combine monitoring with outreach and reporting features, making them especially valuable for PR professionals looking to connect insights with action.

Choose your solution

The choice might be difficult, but it's well worth implementing a brand monitoring tool in your daily work. With this kind of intel, you'll be empowered to make better decisions and improve the quality of your PR results.

Read a few more comparisons, try a few chosen platforms yourself, and get the benefits rolling in from brand monitoring. Good luck!

The post 13 Top Brand Monitoring Software for PR Managers Compared (2025) appeared first on Prowly.