R Public Relations Firm
7 Apps to Improve Your PR Productivity
Public relations (PR) moves incredibly fast, especially in the digital era! PR professionals often have to take work on the go, whether while traveling for client events, hopping across town to manage an interview, or dealing with an off-hours crisis. There are hundreds of phone applications that can make the job easier, but we narrowed it down to our team’s seven favorites. These PR apps help pros tackle everything from project management to news monitoring from the comfort of their phone screen. Read on and download them all!
1. Apple News
This app gives you access to more than 300 popular magazines, newspapers, and other publications, many of which are currently behind paywalls. Users only need to pay a monthly fee of about $10, but you can pay less if you purchase a yearlong subscription upfront. Apple News helps PR pros monitor coverage for clients, curate competitor coverage analyses, and keep a pulse on trending news stories so they can pitch the best angles for their clients without ever worrying about running out of free articles!
2. Mailtrack
An important part of PR professionals’ jobs is pitching reporters and media contacts stories on behalf of clients. When sending out dozens of emails a day, it can be challenging to track which reporters have responded and which have not. Mailtrack allows PR specialists to keep a pulse on which contacts have opened their emails and which have not, allowing them to better allocate follow-up resources. It may also provide insight into which contacts are interested in hearing from them in the future, thereby helping the PR pro create more efficient contact lists. For contacts that never open emails, PR team members can switch to phone calls or DMs.
3. Slack
Slack is one of the best PR apps for keeping in touch with colleagues and clients while on the go. Rather than relying on texting, which can be spotty at best, PR pros can send messages directly to individuals and groups. This means all conversations can be kept in one place—and out of employees’ personal inboxes. Slack also allows you to schedule messages for the following morning or even the following week, which can be helpful when communicating after hours or while someone is on vacation. Slack ultimately helps build better, healthier boundaries between work and personal life while maintaining efficiency.
4. Grammarly
Grammarly is another excellent PR app. Users turn to Grammarly to catch grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. But the app is even more powerful than that—it has the ability to catch tonal errors and suggests significant copy edits. If you’re typing out an important business email on your phone, it’s worth downloading Grammarly to ensure your message is coming across in the most professional manner possible.
Keep in mind that Grammarly is currently only available on handheld Apple products, but it is available on all desktops.
5. Buzzsumo
Buzzsumo is an all-in-one content marketing app with functionality for discovery, research, and monitoring. The influencer marketing and creator marketing industries are so new, and there are very few accurate tracking platforms, but Buzzsumo effectively boils campaigns down to the KPIs that matter most. It also makes researching potential content partners much easier. Gone are the days of scrolling through Instagram hoping to come across a well-suited influencer for a client. While PR pros are killing time between interviews or traveling, they can be working on their next influencer campaign with the Buzzsumo app!
6. Monday, Asana, or Similar PR Apps
PR is all about teamwork! Keep tabs on all ongoing projects, their statuses, and important updates from your phone with Monday, Asana, or a similar project-tracking platform. Most of these platforms offer various viewing formats, the ability to create subtasks, and the ability to filter by tasks that are assigned to you for the most efficient management possible. Other great options include Wrike and Notion, both of which offer easy-to-use apps.
7. Splashtop
For the PR pros that really need to keep work moving at a rapid pace while away from their computers, Splashtop is a lifesaver. This app allows you to access your desktop remotely to grab documents, access important platforms that don’t have apps or browse the web. No matter what tool you need to get the job done faster and better, Splashtop can help you access it!
How often do PR professionals need to work from their phones?
The answer to this question depends entirely on the company and client load of the professional in question! Some PR team members work many events and travel quite a bit, so they may find themselves working on campaigns from the airport or in an Uber. Others can dedicate most of their time to working in front of a screen. Ultimately, working in PR is about being prepared for anything, so we recommend all individuals in the industry download these seven PR apps.
I’m having trouble managing all of my PR apps and campaigns. How will I know when it’s time to hire an agency?
Not only do you need to dedicate time to executing PR campaigns, but the best-laid plans also require lots of research and strategy on the front end, plus analysis on the back end. There’s no wrong time to hire an agency to help you manage campaigns you’re already working on or layer in new ones. If you need help now, contact us to schedule a call and chat through options for support!
9 Fascinating facts about publicists you probably didn’t know
Being a publicist—also known as a PR professional—means you must master various skills, from managing communication strategies to building corporations’ credibility. Publicists are social media coordinators, brand strategists, masters of internal communications, and wordsmiths with a knack for writing. These multi-skilled individuals are in demand by large companies, non-profits, celebrities, and even public figures, as their unique set of skills makes them useful for brand overhauls, crisis management, proactive storytelling, and more. Keep reading to learn more publicists facts so you know what to look for when it’s time to make a hire for your own team.
1. Publicists handle more than just advertising
Contrary to popular opinion, publicists are not the same as advertisers! Advertising is the practice of paying for a certain amount of impressions, clicks, or actions. Publicity, on the other hand, encompasses more than that. Publicists manage overarching communications strategies, which can include but are not limited to pay-to-play advertising campaigns. Successful PR strategies hinge on both paid and organic placements, meaning publicists spend significant time building relationships with media and nurturing stories that reflect their clients’ values and strongest initiatives. Paid advertising is a great way to drive website traffic and conversions, but to build long-term loyalty, organic coverage is also essential.
2. Publicists can build solid relationships with media personnel
Not every story will be a slam dunk on the first try. Occasionally, a publicist’s success will hinge on the strength of their relationships with reporters. Building relationships with overworked reporters is a challenging job. It takes a lot of time and effort, but the payoff is certainly worth it. Organic coverage in top-tier outlets builds unmatched credibility for brands.
3. Publicists can help your business grow in a cost-efficient manner
Publicists don’t require massive advertising budgets to make a difference for your brand. They add value by leveraging their relationships to promote your business on popular media channels, building and adjusting various strategies, and placing authentic coverage about your brand that more effectively spreads the word about your mission than a paid ad. Billboards and out-of-home ad placements cost a fortune, and tracking who’s actually being reached is hard. But a publicist can spend a fraction of that cost on highly targeted media pitching and see similar results.
4. Publicists can help businesses grow at every stage
Another interesting publicist fact is that PR services are designed for businesses at every single stage in their lifecycle, not just for start-ups. Goals might shift from awareness and driving traffic to brand loyalty and targeting specific consumer segments, but the overarching PR strategies can be applied in many ways to support brands both large and small, old and young. Every business needs the help of a publicist to maintain a steady beat of positive coverage and share new and evolving messages with audiences.
5. Publicists possess wide-ranging skills
To see continuous growth in the PR industry, publicists must not only remain proficient in baseline skills like media pitching and business writing, but they must also develop new skills as the times change. In the past several years, this has included learning many social media platforms, adapting to digital publications, learning how to manage virtual events, and getting acquainted with a 24-hour news cycle. All this knowledge means PR professionals can help fill in knowledge gaps at your company so you can focus on larger organizational goals.
6. Publicists manage your story from start to finish
A publicists' work is not finished after they submit your press release or pitch. They manage the process of sharing stories from start to finish. Their core skills help them outline key messages in the form of media alerts and leverage their network to get stories picked up, but they can apply these skills to other communications needs, like social listening, SEO strategy, email marketing, and beyond.
7. Publicists possess incredible persuasion abilities
There are so many products on the market these days! Publicists have a knack for convincing potential customers that their client's products and services are the best in the business. They have honed their persuasion skills for years. They have an exceptional ability to narrow down key differentiators, turn messages into catchy elevator pitches, and find the best placements for each story. Publicists are adept at crafting messages that appeal to specific target audiences’ desires.
8. Publicists often work around the clock
Not every newsworthy event or crisis happens during working hours. That means publicists must be ready for anything at all hours of the day. Hiring a publicist doubles as an investment in your customer service, as you’ll have round-the-clock support for your business. This is crucial in times of crisis, but also extremely helpful to gather feedback in slower times, too.
9. Publicists are always learning
This is a publicist fact that remains mostly unknown. But PR pros tend to get bored when working on one project for too long. Collaboration with all sorts of brands and learning the ins and outs of what makes their businesses and industries tick are both exciting and highly stimulating for publicists who love to expand their knowledge. You can leverage your publicist’s desire to learn more by inviting them to participate in various team meetings and initiatives. You never know—it might spark an idea for your next big story!
I’m ready to hire a publicist. What are the next steps?
The above publicists facts might have you convinced that now is the time to hire a PR pro for your business. But before embarking on the hiring process, clearly define your business’s goals and make sure multiple stakeholders weigh in. Your publicist must have a clear sense of the work you need to be done before building your strategy. If you’d like more info about how a publicist can help grow your business, you can schedule a discovery call and get answers to all your questions today.