3 Pain Points a Public Relations CRM Can Solve
As a public relations professional looking for a PR software update, you might be considering CRM. And you might have heard that CRM is extremely profitable from a growth standpoint. But how exactly can it help a creative organization, such as your PR firm? How can CRM solve challenges in the PR world?
Let’s take a look at three PR challenges that customer relationship management software can solve.
Pain Point #1: The Contact Management Nightmare
In the world of public relations, it can be difficult to keep track of all your media contacts and keep their information up-to-date. Right now you may rely heavily on Excel spreadsheets, address books, or your email platform to manage your many connections, client conversations, and PR campaigns. You might also spend many precious minutes searching through your media lists or pitch histories to track down important reporter information. You are not alone. Contact management is one of the most common pain points for PR professionals. It is also one of the most advantageous features of a PR CRM.
One of the core surface appeals of a public relations CRM system is that it’s designed to keep extensive contact information from all different sources organized in one, comprehensive solution. Similar to a contact management system, the database of a CRM makes it so that all of your PR, marketing, and client contacts are organized, accessible, and automatically current.
As a whole, however, CRM is about relationship management. Email conversations and reporter interactions are automatically captured into the CRM database so that your team always has the most up-to-date, accurate information. With a CRM system, your PR firm can easily search for contact details as well as past pitch histories, reporter interactions, demographics, interests, and more.
Pain Point #2: Double-Pitching Reporters
If you work at a larger firm, you understand how difficult it can be to keep your PR teams tied together. You may not always know who is pitching to which reporter or when your team last reached out. With a constant flux of campaigns to manage, it can be a struggle to keep this important information anchored and centralized.
A lack of visibility into your PR teams’ activity can eventually lead to inconsistent communication, double-pitching, and damaged relationships with valuable reporters. With a public relations CRM, you can easily access pitches, reporter interactions, and campaign activities across your entire firm, better enabling you to engage and strengthen relationships.
Pain Point #3: Lost Reporter and Campaign Intelligence
As a PR pro, it is critical to tailor your pitches effectively in order to generate responses and build meaningful reporter relationships. Yet creating the perfect pitch for each individual reporter can often feel like an daunting task. You must have an understanding of each reporter’s interests, demographics, and personal preferences. It can take years to cultivate this valuable information. It’s important, therefore, that it is properly stored.
Public relations CRM software both gathers and stores important data surrounding your media contacts. It automatically captures every conversation and contact update, while giving you insight into who on your team has the best relationship with a reporter and what times are the best to reach out. You can use this data to make more informed decisions within your PR firm.
Do you want to learn what else is keeping PR professionals up at night? Download Bullhorn’s free whitepaper here to discover eight additional PR challenges faced by today’s agency leaders.
