Welcome to our updated 2021 Measurement Vendor Reference Guide. This handy directory matches the most frequent problems we hear from communications professionals with the best measurement vendors to solve them.
No longer is media monitoring the one-size-fits-all answer to everyone’s “measurement” question. So, one big upgrade this year is that the problems we include are more numerous and varied, to reflect your expanded portfolio of responsibilities. We’ve included tools to measure internal communications, public affairs, and even your Google search ranking.
We hope you find it useful. As always, please let us know if there are any measurement vendors we’ve overlooked. And if you’ve had any experience with a vendor on our list that might warrant a change.
One word of caution. Very few of the websites for these companies offer useful information. Most are full of buzzwords and “solutions” with very few specifics. Almost none of them offer any useful pricing data. So be prepared to have to go through the agonizing process of requesting a demo and hearing the sales pitches. Before embarking on a measurement vendor search, you might want to read Eric Schwarzman’s Media Monitoring Buyers Guide to help you navigate the territory.
17 Common Measurement Needs and the Best Vendors to Solve Them in 2021
| The Problem You Need Help With ↓ | Recommendation: | The best vendors for it: | What to double-check: |
|---|---|---|---|
| I need a good way to manage my media lists and keep track of what I've sent reporters. | You need the PR equivalent of a customer relationship management (CRM) system that can keep track of all your media contacts, what you’ve pitched them on, and whether they’ve run any stories. | -Agility PR -Burrelles-Luce -Cision -Critical Mention -MuckRack -Salesforce -Intrado | It’s not the size of the media database, it’s about how accurate it is and how often it’s updated. For example, if you are selling spectrometers, you don’t want to be sending releases to The Measurement Advisor. So make sure they update the list several times a year at least. |
| I need a good way to distribute my press releases. | You’ll want a wire service or press release distribution service. | -Agility PR -Business Wire -Cision -Burrelles-Luce -GlobeNewswire -Intrado | You need a service that does more than send out a release. You need one that can send out the right kind of content to the right influencers. |
| I need daily monitoring reports on issues and crises that might affect my brand, and they must include TV, online, and social. | You'll want a company that can monitor for issues, not just Boolean terms. It should offer human curation of clips to ensure you aren't swamped with irrelevant items. | -FullIntel -CoverageBook -Public Relay -SignalAI -Zignal Labs | Make sure the vendor can get all the media that senior leadership and the board think is important, in whatever language they are published in. |
| I need daily alerts from media outlets around the world, so I know what’s being said about us. | You’ll want a monitoring company that can capture all the media that is essential to your business and to your stakeholders. Typically that should include blogs, digital, print, and social. | -BurrellesLuce -Carma -Cision -Intrado -Muckrack -News Power Online -Onclusive -Ninestars -Pressrelations -Talkwalker | For daily alerts, timing is often as critical as content. Make sure they can deliver the alert when you need it and that they get the key media outlets you need. |
| I need to know what people are saying about me on Twitter and other social media platforms. | You’ll want a social listening platform that can identify trends and alert you to trouble. | -Brandwatch -Carma -Converseon -HootSuite -Meltwater -Netbase -Onclusive -Sprout -Talkwalker -Zignal Labs | Make sure that they have good filters. The big problem isn’t getting all the posts, it’s getting the right ones. If they don’t have easy and effective ways to filter out spam, porn, and dreck, then run in the opposite direction. |
| I need to push out my daily coverage to management. | You'll need a system to capture your coverage that also enables you to customize an email to your senior leadership team. | -CoverageBook | Almost everyone will tell you they can do this, but you’ll want flexibility and customization above all. Make sure that the platform you chose can replicate anything you've already created. |
| I need to know what local dailies and other traditional print media outlets are saying about us. | You’ll want a traditional clipping service. | -BurrellesLuce -Talkwalker -Agility PR -Cision -News Power Online -Pressrelations GMBH | Other companies provide it but chances are good the best, most comprehensive data comes from BurrellesLuce. Make sure that you can get the media outlets you need. Chances are good that pay-walled outlets like The Wall Street Journal may be problematic. |
| I need to monitor radio and TV coverage. | Most monitoring services offer the on-line version, but your choices are pretty limited if you want actual airchecks. | -National Aircheck -TV Eyes | Make sure you can capture all the outlets that your stakeholders listen to. |
| I need to monitor podcast mentions. | More and more monitoring companies are adding podcast tracking all the time. | -Cision -Intrado -Meltwater -TV Eyes | Make sure you can capture all the outlets that your stakeholders listen to. |
| I need to capture all my television and broadcast coverage, and be able get broadcast quality videos I can save and show to my boss. | You’ll want a broadcast monitoring company. | -TVEyes -Critical Mention -iQ Media | Most people are happy to just get links to broadcast coverage on their monitoring feed. But if monitoring broadcast is important and you may want to download a real video, you’ll need to go with one of these three. |
| I need help analyzing and measuring my media and social media coverage. | You’ll want a measurement company that can provide customized metrics that match your goals, and that has trained human analysts to actually interpret your data. | -Agility-PR -Carma -Cision -FullIntel -Onclusive -Zignal Labs | You want to find someone with highly trained analysts who can code relevant coverage accurately. You should demand a minimum 85% accuracy in a Scott’s Pi intercoder reliability test. (Call Katie Paine, 603-682-0735, she’ll be happy to run the test for you.) |
| I need to hire a company that can provide detailed social media metrics. | You’ll want a company that can take the API from a variety of sources and automatically extract all the data that Facebook, Twitter, etc., compiles. | -Sprout -Zignal Labs -UnMetric -Talkwalker -Sprinklr -Netbase -Converseon | Make sure that the channels that matter to you are actually tracked by the vendor you select. Many platforms restrict access. |
| I need international monitoring and measurement. | You’ll want a company that has relationships or offices in the countries you care about. | -Cision -Carma -Zignal Labs -Netbase -PressRelations -NineStars | Do not hire someone who only uses Google Translate to determine sentiment and messaging. Make sure they have in-country linguists who can really understand the subject matter. |
| I need a company that will inform me about risks and issues that my company or brand might face from global social and traditional media. | You need someone with the capability to instantly collect and report on breaking news affecting your brand around the world. | -Cision -FullIntel -Public Relay -Talkwalker -Zignal Labs | Make sure they have both the technology and the staff to cope with international demands. |
| I need a good way to measure my internal/employee communications. | You probably need a research company in addition to a good e-mail monitoring company. | -Banana Tag -Polite Mail | In addition to the email company, you will also want a company that can do a Leader Say/Do survey. |
| I need a global enterprise solution that can cope with the demands of multiple business units with global requirements. | You need someone with the capability to collect and analyze data and who offers a robust dashboard that your regional teams can use. | -AirPR -Cision -Carma -Meltwater -Ninestars -Zignal Labs | Make sure they have both the technology and the staff to cope with international demands. |
Thanks for the image to Fabrizio Chiagano on Unsplash.
